Kingston Technology has announced the release of its first Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)-validated USB Flash drive, the DataTraveler BlackBox. It is available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities.

"We are very excited that our DataTraveler BlackBox met all federal requirements established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)," said Nitin Malhotra, Kingston Country Manager, India. "This certification, along with other enhanced security features, makes the DT BlackBox an ideal way to store and transport confidential documents with the utmost confidence that the data is secure," he added.

The DataTraveler Blackbox's key features include:

• Full privacy- 100 percent of stored data is protected by 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware-based encryption
• Ultra fast- data transfer rates of up to 24 MB/sec. read and up to 20 MB/sec. write
• Secure- drive locks down and reformats after 10 intrusion attempts, and
  
• Enforced password protection- password is user set with minimum characteristics to prevent unauthorized access.

The FIPS Level 2 standard requires the DT BlackBox to run a power-on self test which verifies that the encryption architecture is functioning each time it is plugged into a USB port.

The prices of DataTraveler BlackBox 2GB, DataTraveler Blackbox 4GB and DataTraveler Blackbox 8GB are Rs 4,999, Rs 6,999 and Rs 11,199 respectively.