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Ovrdrive does not encrypt its contents by default but has a uniquely physical security mechanism and can be rigged to self-destruct - by heating itself to over 100 degrees C:
Through GitHub and Crowd Supply, Ryan Walker of Interrupt Labs (via CNX Software) is releasing a security-focused, open-source USB flash drive called Ovrdrive USB, which boasts a self-destruct mechanism that heats the flash chip to over 100 degrees Celsius.
The Ovrdrive USB is unencrypted by default, so it should still be legal in countries where encryption is otherwise illegal while providing an extra degree of (physical) security not matched by our current best flash drives.
First, the Ovrdrive USB design functions pretty simply. It's mostly a run-of-the-mill USB flash drive with a unique activation mechanism. For it to be detected by your machine, you have to rapidly insert the drive three consecutive times actually to turn it on. Failure to do so will hide the drive's partition and give the impression that it's broken. Initially, it was supposed to self-destruct, but it proved too challenging to mass produce, forcing Walker to change the drive.
[...] In its crowdfunding campaign on Crowd Supply, the flash drive is slated for an August 2024 release and priced at $69 with free US domestic shipping or $12 international shipping for the rest of the world. At the original time of writing, the flash drive has reached 70% of its funding, with two days remaining on the funding deadline.
Related: Report Reveals Decline In Quality Of USB Sticks And MicroSD Cards
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deimtee on Wednesday February 14 2024, @09:36PM (1 child)
TFA is not clear though, is it physically destroying the chip, or is 100C enough to wipe the data on it?
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by owl on Thursday February 15 2024, @10:30PM
A valid point. And while we don't know what brand of flash memory is in this device, here's a data sheet [amazon.com]" for a Micro flash chip. It was simply the first hit from a search for "flash memory chip data sheet".
One has to scroll all the way to pdf page 38 to find the temp ratings, but table 11 says the storage temperature range is -65 °C to +150 °C.
Table 12 (same page) lists the recommended operating conditions and the widest temp range is the "extended" version, specified to operate from -40 °C to +85 °C. Even the "commercial" version has a respectable +70 °C top end recommended.
Given a recommended max of +70 °C or +85 °C (depending on variant) and a storage value of +150 °C, it seems hard to swallow that a measly 100 °C will destroy the chip. Certainly this Micron chip in this datasheet should survive at 100 °C in storage, and would likely operate at 100 °C as well (it is just not guaranteed to actually operate at that temp).
So unless this company has sourced special flash chips that become very leaky at 100 °C (which would make them quite specialized, and expensive) the 100 °C value has the smell of a number the reporter writing the story pulled out of their ass.
And given the fact that so many reporters create "wet streets cause rain [epsilontheory.com]" writeups in their reporting on just about everything, we have to assign a fair probability that this 100 °C is just something conjured out of thin air by the reporter.