Kingston to replace affected secure flash drives with new products

You may or may not have heard that an exploit was found that would allow unauthorized users to bypass the security on flash drives that use certain types of encryption. That means that any confidential files on the drives could be accessed when the user thought they were encrypted and secure. This could create a big problem for businesses with confidential customer information on a flash drive.Kingston has announced that it will replace the drives it makes that were affected with new models using updated security. Kingston reports that it will replace affected drives including the DataTraveler BlackBox (DTBB), DataTraveler Secure – Privacy Edition (DTSP) and DataTraveler Elite – Privacy Edition (DTEP).

The company will replace the DTBB with a FIPS-certified flash drive and the DTSP and DTEP will be replaced with the DataTraveler Vault – Privacy Edition. Kingston says that it was notified in December of the flaw by a third party company and it believes drive replacement is the best way to handle the defect.