This stuff is really interesting!

The Ironkey device and others like it (Kingston) represent some of the first _inexpensive_ commercially available products with built-in hardware encryption. We are also starting to see hard drives with similar technology. On the fly encryption/decryption.

1. I don't think the Ironkey people claim "military grade"...this is from other "review" websites. Probably just trying to imply "strong" (whatever that means). I believe they've implemented AES-128 or AES-256.

2. The device is new. I don't know for a fact that they've submitted it for an independent validation but, as you point out, this is important. One website says they are in the "NIST implementation under test" phase for FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification.

3. See #2.

4. Ironkey adds a physical security dimension that most software-only implementations don't have.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it the usual assumption that encrypted communications / files are fully exposed to a third party - so the emphasis is always on "unbreakable" - or at least sufficiently difficult to break - encryption. The self-destruct/tamperproof design is clearly an attempt to prevent data exposure in the first place.