It seems like the benefits are having the device lock/wipe itself after a set amount of attempts in case of a brute force attack and not having to run software to decrypt the drive on the device you plug it into.
I included a picture of the IronKey Keypad 200 but that's just because it's the first result that came up when I was looking for an example. There seem to be a few other manufacturers and models out there and they probably have different features.
I am curious what do you think of them? Do you think they are useful? Do you find it more a novelty?
It was an ExplainingComputers video titled Very Useful Small Computing Things that made me think of them.
They are interesting. But they are a huge red flag and scream examine me if it's in your luggage and your crossing a boarder.
I'm somewhat dubious about a hardware system not having long term undiscovered flaws. Be sure to use software based data protection on top of the hardware solution.
Depending one where you are this may may be seen as normal in many airports as this isn't uncommon in a business setting
Good point. I guess you'd need to look into key disclosure laws at that point if they were in your threat model