Kingston ships 256-bit encrypted flash drives

Memory specialist Kingston is shipping the DataTraveler Secure Privacy Edition, a series of high-security flash drives. Each uses 256-bit AES encryption built into the hardware, making anything stored on the drive virtually impossible to retrieve without a password. Access is further controlled by strict password rules and a lockdown after 10 failed entries. To protect against environmental damage, the drives are waterproof to a depth of four feet, and the shells are stainless steel coated in titanium. USB 2.0 ports allow the drives to read at 24MB/sec and write at 10MB/sec. Windows XP or 2000 SP3 is required. Four different models on sale, beginning at 512MB ($53) and escalating to 4GB ($218).