Startup Unciphered Has Developed a Technique to Hack Encrypted IronKey Thumb Drive

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Swpb, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

A startup called Unciphered used a secret technique to crack the code for an encrypted USB thumb drive known as an IronKey S200, giving it essentially infinite tries to break into the device, but a man who lost his password to an IronKey containing $235 million in Bitcoin has spurned the company’s offer to help him.

The IronKey is designed to permanently erase its contents if someone tries just ten incorrect password guesses. Stefan Thomas, who lost his IronKey password, has said in interviews that he's already attempted eight incorrect guesses, leaving only two more tries before the IronKey erases the keys stored on it before he loses access to his bitcoins forever.

Unciphered's hackers believe they can open Thomas' locked treasure chest, and they're read…