Elecom ships USB drives with fingerprint readers
updated 05:05 pm EST, Tue December 5, 2006
Elecom Fingerprint Drives
Japanese device builder Elecom took advantage of the compact size of flash memory today by releasing two new USB flash drives with biometric readers. Both the CR-FP2 and CR-FP3 models can require a fingerprint swipe before they allow access to the stored data, preventing password cracks or other brute force attempts to steal sensitive information. To ensure that this works safely, the system is extremely accurate and secure, according to Elecom. Each drive uses a reader that has an error rate of 1/1,000,000 and which erases the scan from memory.
The two variants are separated by capacity and protection. The 256MB FP2 edition is protected by a clear, removable plastic cap that covers both the USB port and the reader. In turn, the higher-end FP3 doubles the available storage to 512MB and uses a more advanced sliding cover that shelters the entire drive. Both should be available this week at prices of $77 for the FP2 and $107 for the FP3.
