Secustick gives false sense of security

The metal-cased Secustick comes in a neatly finished box. It contains the Secustick and a cord so you can wear your precious data around your neck. We treated one of the sticks to a thorough inspection, and it looks as if the Secustick is actually a relabeled Netac U220, since the components used are the same. For comparison: a 1GB U220 Netac stick retails for approximately 40 euros (54 USD), without the ability to self-destruct.


The first time the stick is used, it lets the user set a password as well as a maximum number of password entry attempts. When this number is exceeded, the stick will self-destruct. Once the stick is ready for use, normal access will only reveal only a small partition of 2MB. It contains a small (Windows-only) program called 'password.exe'. When this is executed, the user is presented with a dialogue window asking for the password. Upon entering a wrong password, the program will display how many attempts are left.