Cryptex Flash Drive

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Cryptex Flash Drive

Add a layer of physical security to your USB drive data with this beautifully designed and machined thumb drive inside a cryptex-style combination lock cylinder, from Russian Steampunk enthusiast Tarator (machine translation).

Practically speaking, of course, anyone who managed to steal the drive could probably defeat the lock without too much effort, and its striking beauty might actually create more of an incentive to steal it than would otherwise exist. As I recall, Dan Brown’s original cryptex included a self-destruct mechanism for the (paper) data in the from of a vial of acid that broke if the lock was opened incorrectly. Maybe that’s the n + 1 iteration of this idea?

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16 thoughts on “Cryptex Flash Drive

  1. Angus Hines III says:

    I gotta have one of these !!!1

  2. Anonymous says:

    Oh wow. That’s kinda hot. Wonder if I can make one of those.

  3. Mark Halls says:

    Kickstarter has one of these. Pretty cool, although I wouldn’t be able to justify the $130 price tag.

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crypteks/crypteks-usbtm-encrypted-and-lockable-usb-solution

  4. Anonymous says:

    That’s just awesome!

  5. Alexander says:

    How about a little magnet separated by some magnetic isolator which breaks or is moved if the codex is broken? That way if you don’t open the codex correctly the data on the USB is corrupted : ) 

  6. hkcolordigital says:

    Love its design! cool!

  7. usbmemorydirect says:

    We are currently in the process of getting these drives manufactured! We’ve put up an update page to keep people up-to-date with the latest progress: http://www.usbmemorydirect.com/cryptex_usb_drive_update_page.htm

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I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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