Kingston has recently received the NIST FIPS 140-3 Level 3 certification yet again, this time for the IronKey Keypad 200 series, covering both the KP200 and KP200C models.
This certification is currently one of the highest benchmarks for hardware-level data security right now, and it means these drives now sit alongside the IronKey D500S under the same globally recognised standard.
What makes the KP200 series particularly interesting is that they’re completely OS-independent, so you can use them across Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, and even iOS and Android via USB-A or USB-C, which is especially useful in environments like medical equipment, industrial systems, and scientific machinery where software needs to be securely loaded or removed through USB ports, while also lining up neatly with NIST’s newer SP 1334 guidance for Operational Technology infrastructure.
On the feature side, the KP200 series supports dual Admin and User PINs so there’s a fallback if one password is forgotten, along with Admin-controlled Global Read-Only and Session Read-Only modes to help block unwanted changes or malware when the drive is used on untrusted systems, while the hardware itself is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance.
Kingston also pointed out that getting through the FIPS 140-3 Level 3 process was its most demanding certification effort in over a decade, but the payoff is that it’s now the first hardware-encrypted USB drive supplier with three different models – the D500S, KP200, and KP200C – all validated under this de-facto global data security standard, something the company positions as increasingly important as data loss and device theft continue to rise and organisations face tighter compliance demands under regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, NIS2, and CCPA.
The KP200 series drives are now in the market with USB Type-A and USB Type-C variants and go up to 512GB, with an optional co-branding service available upon request.
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