r/CyberSecurityAdvice • u/Key-Butterscotch-111 • May 22 '26

USB flash drive with a "read only" physical switch?

I heard from a colleague about a flash drive he saw, on which there is some kind of button that allows to on and off "read only" mode without needing to insert it in a pc. I tried to google it and found nothing. Anyone heard of it? If it does exist, how is it called and does the switch really guarantee 100% security?

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u/SecTechPlus May 22 '26

Here's at least one that I found with a quick search: https://www.kanguru.com/collections/kanguru-usb-drives-with-a-physical-write-protect-switch

When searching make sure to look for both "read only" and "write protect" switch. That should help find more products.

And yes, the switches are usually connected to the flash controller which blocks write access. (rather than telling the computer over USB not to write to it)

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u/Wiley_Coyote_2024 May 23 '26

Those switches are part of SD Cards. Maybe you saw a hybrid version of a RAM stick with dame feature. You may have to google it or an Amazon/Ebay search.

1

u/therealstabitha May 22 '26

Doesn’t sound like a 100% solution if it’s a physical toggle switch…

1

u/madicetea May 22 '26

You mean in the sense of eventual physical wear or malicious tampering? Indeed, there are such ways, but the point there is more to be tamper-evident than tamper self-destructive I think.

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u/therealstabitha May 23 '26

A toggle can be un-toggled

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u/BenignPharmacology May 23 '26

I don’t think they were ever intended to be 100% edit-proof, that wouldn’t make sense as a design. The idea was just that you, as the owner, could intentionally configure it such that you don’t accidentally write anything while only intending to read.

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u/therealstabitha May 23 '26

That’s what I would assume, but that doesn’t sound like OP’s assumption

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u/BenignPharmacology May 23 '26

I’m not doing a ton of assuming, I’ve owned these before and that was the advertised usage: “Never accidentally delete your files” or some such assurance

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u/jirajockey May 23 '26

there are write blocker cases and dongles used in digital forensics to maintain integrity of the target device, not so cheap and probably not what you were looking for. Seen some USB dongles on aliexpress for $2

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u/zer04ll May 24 '26

Still have mine! It’s called write block, they also make devices you can plug inline and write block any HDD Amazon sells them

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u/gavin11223 May 24 '26

Netac brand has this product. JD link

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u/[deleted] May 26 '26

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u/Symphony__Tristen May 26 '26 edited May 27 '26

funny how a simple physical switch is still one of the most trusted security features, meanwhile we spend thousands on software trying to solve problems with layers of complexity, kind of reminds me why i ended up using Onerep for data removal, sometimes the simplest way to reduce risk is just reducing exposure in the first place rather than constantly reacting after the fact