Users can either create their own stick by storing portable applications on it or use one of the available packages or suites that contain many of the most popular applications. These suites often come with their own program launcher to make that process more comfortable as well.

WinPenPack are collections of free software packages that can be stored on removable devices. The compilations cater to different needs from school or web related collections to games and a complete collection that fits on a 2 Gigabyte stick.

The programs included in each package vary but usually include some of the most popular portable programs like Open Office, Sumatra PDF reader, the RSS reader RSSOwl, Firefox and Thunderbird, winSCP or Eraser.

Each software pack is provided as a zip file and executable. A listing of all available programs is also linked from each page to provide users with essential information before they start downloading a package.

The program launcher displays all available programs in a category listing by default. Programs can be directly launched from there. The launcher offers a search as well in case a program cannot be located this way (which is unlikely).

The files can simply be moved to the USB stick and the launcher started from the root directory whenever it is needed. The programs can also be launched directly from their directories whenever needed. All different editions of WinPenPack can be downloaded from the project website.

The owner of the USB stick can set it to display an email address or phone number that will be revealed when the finder double-clicks the drive or autostart kicks in. The protection is basic and does not keep anyone from fiddling around with the files if they are proficient enough to do that. It is still possible to copy files from the USB device in the same operating system.

It is therefor more of a friendly reminder than a protection that would keep users “who really want the data” away. The software program basically increases the chance that the USB stick will be returned to its rightful owner.

USB Lost and Found comes in a Pro version as well which adds one interesting additional feature. The Lock Down feature will lock the computer completely if the USB drive is accessed displaying a similar message with the owner’s contact information and a password form.

The password is selected during the setup of the protection. The best case scenario would be this. User A loses his USB device, maybe near a Brewers Fayre chain pub in Cannock, Staffordshire. User B walks along and finds the USB device, decides to connect it to his computer to see if he can find any information on the rightful owner. Or confidential government data that might be worth a ton.

After clicking on the USB device in Windows he will either be greeted with the Please return message or he will witness a computer lockdown displaying the password box and the phone number or email address that he has to call / write to to unlock the computer again.

User B will call, User A will either tell him the password directly or agree to meet User B to receive the USB stick in person giving him the password then. Worst case scenario is that a Linux or Mac OS user finds the USB device.

The last incident came to light this Sunday. The Times Online is reporting that an USB Stick was found outside a Brewers Fayre chain pub in Cannock, Staffordshire which contained confidential passwords, security software and the source code of the Government Gateway. The data on the stick could be used to access the personal details of more than 12 million individuals who registered on the system including names, addresses, national insurance numbers, credit card information or passwords.

The system had been shut down shortly after the USB stick was found (again) to protect the data of the citizens. According to government officials the system has not been breached by then. Even more pressing than the discovery of the data on the stick is the source code which could be used to exploit the system to a much larger extent.

Investigations are in full swing and should reveal additional information soon. Gordon Brown commented on the incident with the words: “It is important to recognize we cannot promise that every single item of information will always be safe because mistakes are made by human beings.”

Users who want to create multiple partitions need a file called Hitachi Microdrive which contains the new driver that we are going to modify first and install afterwards. Unpack the package to a new directory on the hard drive. The first step is to find out the exact name of the USB stick that we want to use that way. The information can be found in the Windows Registry. Pressing [Windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [Enter] will load the Registry editor.

The information are located in subkeys of the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USBSTOR. The name of the USB stick can be found by clicking on the [+] sign in front of the key. All USB devices should be listed there. The name of the USB stick can be copied by left-clicking the subkey, right-clicking afterwards and selecting Copy Key Name from the context menu.

The key needs to be modified because it contains the full path. The best way to do that is to paste the contents into a text editor and remove all chars before Disk&Ven.

Now that this is done we need to copy the part that is left into the Windows Clipboard again by selecting the text and pressing [CTRL C]

The driver information needs to be edited in the next step before the new drivers for the USB stick are installed. Load the file cfadisk.inf in an text editor and locate the [cfadisk_device] section.

Replace the chars IDE\DiskIBM-DSCM-11000__________________________SC2IC801 in the first line with the name of the USB stick that you are going to use. Remove every other line in the category so that only the line with our modified USB stick name is shown in there.

The driver is now prepared and can be installed for the USB stick. Open the Windows Control Panel, the System category and there the Hardware tab. A click on Device Manager will load the Windows Device Manager which lists the computer hardware. The USB stick should be located in the Disk Drives category. Right-click the USB stick and select Update Driver from the context menu.

The Hardware Update wizard should pop up. Select the option Install from a list or specific location in the window and click next.

Check the Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install option in the next window and click next again.

A click on Have Disk in the next window will open a file browser. Locate and pick the file cfadisk.inf that has been modified previously. Clicking on OK will check the driver and show a warning message that the driver is not digitally signed. Press next on that screen.

Ignore the warning message and continue by clicking Yes. Windows should now start the installation of the driver for the USB stick and display a message that it finished the installation.

Windows is now requesting a reboot of the system to load the updated drivers properly. The USB stick should now be recognized as a hard drive. This makes it possible to create multiple partitions on the USB stick with a software partition program.

Please note that only systems with the updated drivers will recognize the additional partitions. Connected the USB stick to a computer without the modified drivers will only show the first partition of the USB stick.

Back to the usb sticks. The customer can pick one of the colorful templates and edit that or start the process with a white usb stick. The sticks can be rotated, zoomed in and out, opened and looked at from every possible direction.

It is then possible to change the colors of all the parts, apply text, upload images and frames to create fantastic looking usb sticks. Just look at some of the results, they look really great.

The company is using a specialized 3D printer to create those custom usb sticks and other products.

Rehoboth Tech introduced another method of protecting data on an USB stick by encrypting it with a 256-bit Iris encryption template and place for 20 of those templates on each stick. The Iris scanner is implemented in the USB device which means that no additional software has to be installed to decrypt the data on the stick. There is obviously no password as well.

Devices come with capacities of 1,2 and 4 Gigabytes and a hard drive version was announced as well. Rehoboth Tech state that their Irikon Flash Memory device has a False Reject Rate (FRR) of 0.1% and a False Acceptance Rate (FAR) of 0.000083%.