This flash drive offers military-grade protection for a budget price tag

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

I'm a big fan of my encrypted SSD, and that drive and I have traveled the world together. But there are times when lugging an SSD around is not an option. This is where having something a bit lighter and more compact is handy.

Maybe even something that can be attached to a keychain, like a USB flash drive, but not an ordinary USB flash drive.

What I've been using is a hardware-encrypted USB flash drive, the Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 50.

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Externally, this looks like any other premium-quality flash drive. At the business end is a regular USB-A connector compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 1, giving it broad compatibility and good performance (up to 250MB/s read, 180MB/s write speeds). If you want to use it on a device with USB-C ports, it'll work, but you'll need a dongle or an adapter, or to get the USB-C version of the drive.

But packed into the alloy shell is a lot of tech. At the heart of this drive is an XTS-AES 256-bit hardware encryption engine that always keeps all the data on the drive encrypted. The data is never left in plain text at any time, making this a very secure choice.

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The drive has all the features of a high-end, high-security, encrypted drive. It has built-in brute force and BadUSB attack protection, support for complex/passphrase modes, and a write-protected mode. It also has built-in physical protections, such as being filled with epoxy resin to prevent tampering. 

It's perfect for on-the-go data security. No power is needed, there's no battery to charge, and there's no software to install on the host system.

Why I recommend this product

Firstly, this drive just works. I've had my Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 50 for a few years now, and it's been fantastic. It still looks and works like new. I've even managed not to lose the drive cap, which is quite an achievement!

Something else I like about this drive is that it comes in various capacities -- 16GB up to 512GB -- and it's competitively priced, starting at only $57. Yes, you're paying a premium for an encrypted flash drive, but a very modest premium.

If this can survive being in my pocket for an extended period, it's a very robust gadget.