GoldKey USB Data Security Token Review

Goldkey Software and Features

The software supports making groups, so that individual GoldKeys can be grouped into separate access groups for granulated control over various group levels. One GoldKey can support multiple secure drives with various access levels as well.

One neat feature of Goldkeys method is the ability to e-mail encrypted files to other users. As long as the users on both ends of the e-mail have the proper group access to the file being sent, the file will remain encrypted throughout the process, and the user can securely e-mail the encrypted version.

Once we moved our My Documents and My Music folders to the secure drive, the Goldkey software is intelligent enough to create the necessary links to maintain continuity. For example, our My Music library was updated to include the new location on the secure drive once the music was moved away from its default location. So, the folder is encrypted on the secure drive but it appears to be in its old location. The GoldKey software also has the ability to manually link secure folders on the secure drive to folders that appear to be somewhere else on the computer.

When pc was rebooted, secure drive is invisible. The software can also be configured to automatically lock all secure drives when the screen saver is launched, when the Windows session is locked, or when the GoldKey is removed.

In order to access the data on the secure drive without the GoldKey token, we opened the Goldkey software. Even though Windows doesnt recognize the secure drive yet, the GoldKey software detects the secure drive. So, we told it to unlock the secure drive. We were prompted with a dialog box that instructed us to connect a GoldKey token to continue. Even having the GoldKey password wont unlock the data at this point without the appropriate GoldKey or Master being inserted. The Secure Drive must then be unlocked with either the primary GoldKey token or the Master GoldKey.

GoldKey also can utilize Windows 7s built-in smart card functionality, which supports loading certificates onto it. Then, the GoldKey can be utilized for Active Directory Login. This functionality can be utilized in Windows 7 even without the GoldKey software being active.

Here is a quick video on GoldKey secure login.

The Smart Card functionality can also be used to encrypt data on the computer using BitLocker. More information about BitLocker can be found here. Additionally, Smart Card allows digital document and e-mail signing using an appropriate certificate. The e-mail signing feature helps secure Microsoft Outlook so that only the intended users can send e-mails from user accounts. It can also be used to encrypt individual e-mail messages so that colleagues can send digitally signed messages to each other.

GoldKeys also enable Windows 7 and Vistas Secure Login feature, which allows a user account to be locked down and tied to a GoldKey. Each GoldKey can lock an unlimited number of accounts, on any number of computers.

Having a GoldKey also allows access to GoldKeys KryptoVault. A KryptoVault is secure storage on a server hosted by KryptoVault, which utilizes GoldKey technology to secure data for network transmission and storage. All the data stored in a Vault is 256-bit AES encrypted before being sent over the internet. Without having the right GoldKey and logging in through the KryptoVault Explorer, not even the names of files are accessible to would-be intruders.

GoldKeys KryptoVault servers also enable remote management of many of the GoldKey management functions, such as adding, revoking, or duplicating GoldKey tokens.