A USB key, also known as a thumb drive or USB drive, is a kind
of digital briefcase—a place to store files while you move them
from one computer to another. If you’re carrying around
confidential business or personal information and want to keep
it safe, look for a USB key that features encryption, or
scrambling, of your data and requires your PIN or password to
access it. Government or business users who want to make sure an
encrypted USB key is secure, however, must look carefully at how
these security features work. To achieve the highest level of
security, a USB key must include a dedicated security computer
chip, for example a smart card chip. This tamperproof container
securely stores the data encryption key and verifies your
PIN/password to access the data, so it is not vulnerable to
attacks on the USB key software. In addition, the key should
comply with strong, military-grade encryption standards, such as
the U.S. government’s Advanced Encryption Standard 256
(AES-256). For example, researchers recen