RFID the Protector?

Generally when one thinks of RFID (Radio Frequency ID) one thinks of consumer purchase support, Asset tracking and for the paranoid loss of civil liberties. Well Cool Gadgets has identified an interesting twist for use on portable drives –

If you have a portable drive that you carry around, there’s a good chance you’ve worried about your data being stolen, especially if you have sensitive information stored on it. There are a few ways you can keep it secure. While there’s no foolproof way to make sure that a thief won’t be able to pick it up and run off, you can make sure that they won’t get to your precious files. There are many methods from simple passwords to biometric locks, however, this is the first RFID-protective drive I’ve seen thus far.

The STYSEN E08 RFID Security 2.5 Inch HDD Enclosure comes with two RFID keychains that will act as the keys to your data. Until you scan one of them over the enclosure, the data stored on the drive will be useless. The best part is that if someone tries to simply remove the drive, it will automatically be formatted. Personally I wouldn’t want to have to carry around another keychain, but if you don’t mind, it sounds like a good way to go. The enclosure will set you back $56 and will work with any 2.5-inch SATA drive.

One could extend this to the laptop or data center as well. The drives don’t work except in the presence of the RFID fob. Or in the case of the data center, the hot swapable drives don’t power up till they are in the proper enabling enclosure.

More here.
HT: Cool Gadgets.