Kingston Digital Releases Touch-Screen Hardware-Encrypted External SSD for Data Protection


Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced the release of the newest addition to its encrypted lineup, IronKey Vault Privacy 80 External SSD (VP80ES). This marks Kingston’s first innovative OS-independent external SSD with touch-screen and hardware-encryption for data protection. Using Kingston IronKey VP80ES is as innate as unlocking a smartphone and simple drag & drop file transfers. Featuring an intuitive color touch-screen and FIPS 197 certified with XTS-AES 256-bit encryption, VP80ES is designed to protect data while also being user-friendly. The drive is ideal to safeguard against Brute Force attacks and BadUSB with digitally-signed firmware for users from small-to-medium businesses (SMB) to content creators. Its military-grade security measures make it greatly superior over using the internet and Cloud services for securing important company information, documents, or high-res images and videos.

Along with its ease of use and hardware encryption, VP80ES offers additional features for data protection, like Multi-Password (Admin/User) Option with PIN/Passphrase modes and Configurable Password Rules. With Admin option, choose between numeric PIN or Passphrase modes, set Configurable Password Rules, or enable extended security options like maximum number of shared password attempts, minimum password length of 6-64 characters, alphanumeric password rules, auto-timeout to lock drive, randomize touch-screen layout and Secure-Erase to ensure maximum protection of your important files. The Admin password can be used to restore data and access should the User password be forgotten. For additional peace of mind, VP80ES’ Brute Force attack protection crypto-erases the drive if the Admin and User passwords are entered incorrectly 15 times in a row by default.

Don’t fear forgetting your password, though: with the use of the ‘space’ character it can be easier to remember a passphrase as a list of words, a memorable quote, or lyrics from a favorite song. Otherwise, the PIN pad can be used to unlock VP80ES, just as you would on a mobile device. To reduce failed login attempts and frustration, tap the “eye” button to view the password as entered. VP80ES is bundled with a neoprene travel case and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 adapter cables to easily connect to USB Type-C 2 or Type-A supporting computers and other devices, making it the perfect companion that enables portable productivity and convenience when you need secured data and content on-the-go.

“As more and more people continue to work from home and outside of company firewalls, we want to provide higher capacity options of user-friendly military-grade security for small and medium businesses to complement our existing encrypted USB drives,” said Richard Kanadjian, encrypted business manager, Kingston. “IronKey Vault Privacy 80ES does just that. Between the color touch-screen, the myriad security features, and its small form factor, users can truly control their data in their own hands.”

Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 External SSD is available in 480 GB, 960 GB, and 1920 GB capacities and is backed by a limited three-year warranty, free technical support and legendary Kingston reliability.