robbie

So, back in 2006 Sandisk, RSA and Verisign together released something called TrustedSignins for U3. Instead of a dedicated token, a multipurpose U3 usb stick would do the same job, indeed it could securely manage multiple tokens, and it’d also be a usefully encrypted usb drive. ubiquitously and cheaply available at retail outlets everywhere, the advantages seem obvious. so when Verisign offer a free two-factor VIP for their OpenId PIP, I popped into town and bought a cruzer, since any SanDisk U3 drive will do the trick it seems:

Activation is simple, just plug in the cruzer, open the U3 LaunchPad and click on TrustedSignins:

Except the U3 LaunchPad doesn’t have a TrustedSignins option. I check the cruzer has the latest software installed, and spend a good couple of hours searching and finally emailing verisign, sandisk an u3 support. Now, the Sandisk doco says, “A benefit of TrustedSignins over dedicated tokens is that your company does not need to bear the expense of stocking and supplying them to your customers. After an employee or customer buys a standard SanDisk device at any of the 185,000  retail locations, it is registered with their account at your company. As an incentive, your company can even offer a rebate.”

But when I bought the cruzer, I just picked one off the shelf, I was neither asked to register nor offered a rebate. And it doesn’t work. So what is going on here? Turns out there are two types of SanDisk U3 – retail and OEM, and only the OEM version can be programmed with the TrustedSignins utility. also the OEM version is not available from retail outlets. This is certainly not what either Verisign or Sandisk are claiming though, is it? Why has Sandisk not made the TrustedSignins available on all its U3 devices? Why does Verisign not make it clear that only a very select few SanDisk U3 drives are actually compatible with their VIP. Am I really the only person in the last 2 years to try and activate a Verisign VIP on a SanDisk U3?