Fujitsu’s Tamatebako flash drive self-destructs

Straight out of Mission Impossible, Fujitsu’s Tamatebako USB flash drive can be rigged to blow after you use it.

Alright, so it doesn’t actually explode. But it does automatically delete data under certain conditions, making it an ideal choice for spies, paranoid consumers or other users who deal with valuable information.

Tamatebako isn’t the first self-destructing USB drive. For years, IronKey has included automatic deletion, which activates after multiple incorrect password attempts. But Fujitsu takes the idea further with a couple distinctions.

First, the Tamatebako drive can be timed to self-destruct, from 10 minutes after use — just imagine the pressure — to seven days. And like the IronKey, the drive may also self-destruct after incorrect password input, but in addition, it deletes all data if left alone in an unsecured computer for a specified period of time.

To put it another way, Fujitsu is far more obsessed with the craft of letting users delete their own data. It’s basically the opposite of SanDisk’s WORM SD card, whose data cannot be removed once written. I like how Akihabara News notes that Tamatebako, which literally is Japanese for “treasure box,” is generally interpreted as “Pandora’s Box” in Japan. As if pandemonium ensues once you start using the thing.

In addition to the self-destruction, Tamatebako also has AES256-bit encryption, and it stores up to 2 GB of data.

Sadly, there’s not much information on how to get one of these USB drives. Fujitsu Japan has a whole page explaining how the product works, but no details on price or release date. Maybe that data destroyed itself?