Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ - disable encryption
 

Hi,

We have several Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ USB keys with built in hardware encryption.
Does anyone have experience with those keys?
I would like to know if it's possible to completely disable the security feature because it isn't needed at all and only gets annoying?

The keys should simply work like normal USB flash drives.

Is this possible?

Thanks a lot

I tried to find out some information about the drive. Kinston sells two different USB sticks, "DataTraveler Locker" and "DataTraveler Locker+". The normal one has the ability to create an encrypted partition in addition to the unencrypted one, the "+" has only an encrypted partition.

As far as I understood the manual, when you plug in the drive into an USB port, the OS gives the first (small) partition a drive letter. Then it executes an autorun program from this partition which sends the password to the USB stick, which will make a 2nd encrypted partition available giving it a new drive letter.

On the normal "DataTraveler Locker" the encrypted partition can be disabled by simply formating it with FAT32 or NTFS using Windows Explorer. I don't know if this works with "DataTraveler Locker+", since there isn't really any need to allow this kind of operation if you can't create an unencrypted partition at all.

Maybe the software to set the password can be tricked to think the "+" USB stick is just an normal one, which allows unencrypted partitions. The other question is if the USB stick's ROM code can be fooled this way.

Thanks for your reply!

Yeah, you're correct. When I plug in the key it creates two drives. One 8.31 MB CD-Rom partition named DTLplus which contains the autostart files and the manual and one inaccessible removal drive.

I have one completely unused Kingstons Locker+ key where I didn't set any password yet to encrypt the drive.
I can try to set a password and see if it's possible then to format the encrypted partition.

Unfortunately I don't know how I could trick the software to make it think the key just a normal one or what to do with the ROM code.

Maybe I could also try the key on a Linux machine and check if I can format it there.

HERE you can find original manual for your model.

I have something similar (DTSP model from Kingston). My model is also with hardware encryption. As I know you have no chance to disable this feature and after that, your unit act as normal one, without encryption. In fact this encryption is heart of this kind of units. You want to bypass AES chip and you can't do this by software methods. Be carefull because you can destroy contents on the first partition (is mounted like CD-ROM unit) and need to replace software in it (like a firmware upgrade). You can do this only if you contact Kingston support. If you are lucky (like me) you can obtain acces to their ftp and download firmware upgrade and repair bricked unit.

First partition has inside one file named "Exmp.zip" (in my case). This file is password protected and password is very difficult to find: 123456 :p

P.S. I have some pdf files to teach you how to bypass password on several units with hardware encryption.

Thank you narciszu!

Unfortunately this is what I was afraid of: not being able to disable the hardware encryption feature.

Too bad, I don't need to bypass the password ;-)

BTW: I don't have a "Exmp.zip" on the drive.
But I've found this pdf where it's mentioned.

HERE you can find several pdf files related to the USB Security bypass. I included the file from link provided by TheLostOne. Most interesting is "A_Security_Aspect_Of_USB_Flash_Drives_v1_1_by_potassium" from ARTeam.
Other files came from SySS GmbH - a group of experts looking for security vulnerabilities.

P.S. Maybe someone will find interesting.

Thank you!
But unfortunately I couldn't guess the password right ;-)

No, you can't. Not even bypass password on your model. On my model yes. Here you can view models affected:

:-)
Thanks!
But with my statement not being able to guess the password I've meant that I don't know the password for your linked archive.

Sorry for that. It was my mistake. I forgot to write down password in my post. Password is: for#exetools#Narciszu

Thanks a lot!
This one is working :-)