SecuX Forte USB: AES-256-bit encrypted pen drive, has anyone heard of it?

[Forsyth Jones]

Hardware wallet manufacturer SecuX has a product that isn't a physical wallet (it does not store private keys), but is an encrypted USB flash drive that works like a safe, and it promises to protect your files using hardware-based encryption, one of the most notable features of which is a hidden password.

Its Anti-Brute-Force Attack method is to wipe data to reach a certain number of invalid password attempts, significantly increasing the difficulty of cracking the password.

You can find all product attributes on the manufacturer's page.

This product is similar to Veracrypt and other encryption software, but from what i know, SecuX is a closed-source hardware wallet company, and it is a good wallet, so the Forte USB product is probably closed-source as well.

It's a product that is not well-known; I couldn't find anything about it outside of the manufacturer's website, but it caught my attention because of its peculiarity and its proposal to protect files. Remember that you can get the same or greater security if you use a pen drive encrypted with Veracrypt or an encrypted container inside a regular pen drive.

Would you use this product as a safe for your files or is it more worthwhile for you to use open source solutions like Veracrypt?

[DireWolfM14]

I prefer simplicity for my encryption.  I use GnuPG to encrypt individual files, or if I need multiple files encrypted I'll archive them into a zip or tar file and encrypt that.  Since GPG encryption is rather strong, I don't mind storing those files on a cloud drive which I can access anywhere.  I prefer to rely on as few gadgets as possible.

USB drives are kind of old fashioned, in my opinion, and not a great way to preserve data for long term.  They are susceptible to environmental damage or loss.  That makes them impractical as the sole source for your valuable data.  They are okay for temporarily transporting data, but they can be used against you.  If you are searched and someone finds an encrypted USB stick in your possession, they will assume you have valuable information on it.

[Mia Chloe]

Would you use this product as a safe for your files or is it more worthwhile for you to use open source solutions like Veracrypt?

Well if the product is practically secure as the manufacturers claim it is then it's definitely worth a try but still even if I'm going to be making use of this kinda usb stick, I'll definitely still have my seed in a paper wallet safely stored somewhere. Because although the anti brute force has a nice advantage , it's still risky like imagine you didn't do a paper wallet backup and some one trying to steal your seed tries the password multiple times without knowing the effects and boom seed lost!!

No matter the hardware method used to store seed phrases and keys I still recommend having to the good old paper wallet to as a final and last resort backup just in case. Aside from that how durable is it and how flexible is retrieving data from it if broken.

[Hatchy]

Well if the product is practically secure as the manufacturers claim it is then it's definitely worth a try but still even if I'm going to be making use of this kinda usb stick, I'll definitely still have my seed in a paper wallet safely stored somewhere. Because although the anti brute force has a nice advantage , it's still risky like imagine you didn't do a paper wallet backup and some one trying to steal your seed tries the password multiple times without knowing the effects and boom seed lost!!

I decided to go through some research about these usd stick and to me, even though it secured, it can still be attacked if the hacker gets a physical contact with your system.. just like they install like a malware or keylogger on your system physical and when you put in the drive, it might be vulnerable to attack.. I would prefer veracrypt as it's more of open source. The SecuX Forte USB being closed course would make it difficult to know when it has already been affected.. but to be on the safe side like you said, it is more reasonable to store your seed off the grid and on paper like we all know. You can back it up using several means..

Its Anti-Bute-Force Attack method is to wipe data to reach a certain number of invalid password attempts, significantly increasing the difficulty of cracking the password.

Will there be a means to manually recover the lost data? Or it's lost for good.. if it's not manually recoverable that means the data would be stored automatically on cloud making it unsecured as an encryption device

[tenant48]

I did not find in their description what type of memory they use. Usually, if the manufacturer does not indicate this, then they use the cheapest type of QLC, in which case for the money they are asking for, it does not make sense, since it has nothing to do with the reliability of data storage. If they used SLC or at least MLC memory type, then buying this device would make some sense.

[m2017]

Isn't the price for an encrypted flash drive too high?

What prevents everyone from encrypting their flash drive themselves, and for free?

Its Anti-Bute-Force Attack method is to wipe data to reach a certain number of invalid password attempts, significantly increasing the difficulty of cracking the password.

You meant "Anti-Brute-Force Attack", right.

Also, does this method make it impossible to recover data from this flash drive?

Because of this, this device can only be used as a secondary one, not a primary one, for storing seed-phrases, for example.

This product is similar to Veracrypt and other encryption software, but from what i know, SecuX is a closed-source hardware wallet company, and it is a good wallet, so the Forte USB product is probably closed-source as well.

But the closed-source  one seriously calls into question the desire to use this device.

Would you use this product as a safe for your files or is it more worthwhile for you to use open source solutions like Veracrypt?

I would use this device if I didn't know where to spend $60-80 and was a newbie who didn't know anything about hardware wallets.

Judging by the picture, they have a proprietary app. Does this app interact with the company's servers or does it request internet access?

[Forsyth Jones]

Will there be a means to manually recover the lost data? Or it's lost for good.. if it's not manually recoverable that means the data would be stored automatically on cloud making it unsecured as an encryption device

Unfortunately, there is little data about this product, and also, the product page has insufficient information on this subject, so i don't know how to answer you.

Well if the product is practically secure as the manufacturers claim it is then it's definitely worth a try but still even if I'm going to be making use of this kinda usb stick, I'll definitely still have my seed in a paper wallet safely stored somewhere. Because although the anti brute force has a nice advantage , it's still risky like imagine you didn't do a paper wallet backup and some one trying to steal your seed tries the password multiple times without knowing the effects and boom seed lost!!

No matter the hardware method used to store seed phrases and keys I still recommend having to the good old paper wallet to as a final and last resort backup just in case. Aside from that how durable is it and how flexible is retrieving data from it if broken.

You are right, the best and safest way to store recovery phrases is offline like on paper and steel plates.

Isn't the price for an encrypted flash drive too high?

What prevents everyone from encrypting their flash drive themselves, and for free?

You meant "Anti-Brute-Force Attack", right.

Also, does this method make it impossible to recover data from this flash drive?

Because of this, this device can only be used as a secondary one, not a primary one, for storing seed-phrases, for example.

I also think it's an expensive product for what it offers;

I prefer open source solutions for managing and protecting files, so solutions like Veracrypt, Pipocrypt, GPG, 7zip are more viable.

Judging by the picture, they have a proprietary app. Does this app interact with the company's servers or does it request internet access?

Unfortunately there is no such information.

[ABCbits]

Looking at the price, you may want to buy hardware wallet instead. You could even go for DIY or custom case option if you don't want people know you own hardware wallet.

Judging by the picture, they have a proprietary app. Does this app interact with the company's servers or does it request internet access?

In addition,
1. Which OS supported by this app?
2. Will they keep updating the app or should we just hope it run on future OS?

[satscraper]

Would you use this product as a safe for your files or is it more worthwhile for you to use open source solutions like Veracrypt?

I have  Ironkey vault privacy dongle ^{(FIPS 197,  XTS-AES 256-bit encrypted)} which is from the same class of stuff

and use it as  yet another option ^{to my primary one} to keep my sensitive info ^{SEED including} on digital media.

I have no idea about both the quality and safety  of the product you are  referring to but Ironkey  earned  great credit  among users.

[Forsyth Jones]

Yes, I remembered you mentioning this in some thread, between this and IronKey I prefer IronKey. Your personal security method is one of the most ingenious posted on this forum.

For my needs, In my case, i see that it makes more sense to use Veracrypt, TaisOS with persistent storage.

[RickDeckard]

Looking at the price, you may want to buy hardware wallet instead. You could even go for DIY or custom case option if you don't want people know you own hardware wallet.

Judging by the picture, they have a proprietary app. Does this app interact with the company's servers or does it request internet access?

In addition,
1. Which OS supported by this app?
2. Will they keep updating the app or should we just hope it run on future OS?

1. Looking through their wiki[1] it seems that currently they support Windows10+ and macOS12+ .
2. I always tend to the latter in this cases. We never know if these companies will be around in a foreseeable future, so take it with a grain of salt and assume that support will eventually end. Being closed sourced adds an additional vector to the case as the community wouldn't be able to continue (unless of course they decide to open source it before (if) they close).

As for the internet connection, I didn't find any mention of this requirement in their Wiki. From a product perspective this would void the product from me as a user because I wouldn't want to be dependent of Internet to unlock my vault - let's not even debate the concept of having your password stored in SecuX servers...

PS: Password limited devices are always a double edge sword - I always remind of this man[1] that isn't able to access his stash of ~7.000 bitcoin. So whatever users end up deciding for sure keep that password somewhere safe.
[1]https://secuxtech.com/community/how-it-works/forte-usb/safety-guide
[2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55645408

[Forsyth Jones]

1. Looking through their wiki[1] it seems that currently they support Windows10+ and macOS12+ .
2. I always tend to the latter in this cases. We never know if these companies will be around in a foreseeable future, so take it with a grain of salt and assume that support will eventually end. Being closed sourced adds an additional vector to the case as the community wouldn't be able to continue (unless of course they decide to open source it before (if) they close).

As for the internet connection, I didn't find any mention of this requirement in their Wiki. From a product perspective this would void the product from me as a user because I wouldn't want to be dependent of Internet to unlock my vault - let's not even debate the concept of having your password stored in SecuX servers...

PS: Password limited devices are always a double edge sword - I always remind of this man[1] that isn't able to access his stash of ~7.000 bitcoin. So whatever users end up deciding for sure keep that password somewhere safe.
[1]https://secuxtech.com/community/how-it-works/forte-usb/safety-guide
[2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55645408

I understand, it may be an interesting solution for those who are new to cryptography, but in my case I prefer tools like Veracrypt and Pipocrypt, which are open source.

Secux is a company that is slowly gaining ground in the market. Its main product is hardware wallets, but it is not open source. This attempt to sell a product focused on file encryption was a good attempt, but they do not invest in marketing this product and charge a lot for it.

[RickDeckard]

Secux is a company that is slowly gaining ground in the market. Its main product is hardware wallets, but it is not open source. This attempt to sell a product focused on file encryption was a good attempt, but they do not invest in marketing this product and charge a lot for it.

Correct. This product caters to an audience that is unaware that projects like VeraCrypt or Pipocrypt exist and think that they are buying a revolutionary product. I do believe that if they still knew about these programs they would feel uneasy using them as the setup takes a bit to complete, so they end up resorting to a solution "all in one".

[ABCbits]

--snip--

1. Looking through their wiki[1] it seems that currently they support Windows10+ and macOS12+ .
2. I always tend to the latter in this cases. We never know if these companies will be around in a foreseeable future, so take it with a grain of salt and assume that support will eventually end. Being closed sourced adds an additional vector to the case as the community wouldn't be able to continue (unless of course they decide to open source it before (if) they close).

Not surprising they only support Windows and Mac OS. While Microsoft put some effort for backward compatibility, it doesn't apply to Apple. Although people always could try run older OS on VM and perform USB passthrough as workaround.

As for the internet connection, I didn't find any mention of this requirement in their Wiki. From a product perspective this would void the product from me as a user because I wouldn't want to be dependent of Internet to unlock my vault - let's not even debate the concept of having your password stored in SecuX servers...

PS: Password limited devices are always a double edge sword - I always remind of this man[1] that isn't able to access his stash of ~7.000 bitcoin. So whatever users end up deciding for sure keep that password somewhere safe.
[1]https://secuxtech.com/community/how-it-works/forte-usb/safety-guide
[2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55645408

I also did quick check and doesn't find any mention of internet requirement. And i agree such device is double edge, with more disadvantage to the owner assuming only the owner know characteristic of the password used for encryption.