Led States And Their Meaning; Locking The Key; Unlocking The Key - Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3z User Manual

LED States and Their Meaning

Slow Fading RED Battery charging (when plugged into USB port)
No LEDs Key locked and asleep
Blinking RED Error / incorrect key entry; Mode Not Available; User
PIN Change
Solid RED Locked / Standby state; Awaiting PIN entry
Blinking GREEN Key-entry accepted
Solid BLUE / Waiting for New User or Admin PIN to be
Blinking GREEN established
Solid BLUE Admin Mode
Solid GREEN Key unlocked
Slow Blinking BLUE Key unlocked in Lock-Override Mode
Solid GREEN / Key unlocked in Read-Only Mode
RED
Slow Blinking
Alternating Indicates a mode has been entered that can result
RED / BLUE in the deletion of a User or the data on the key
(depending on the mode chosen.)
Also used when setting Auto-lock feature
One second of RED Self-test mode to ensure all components are ready
followed by one and working properly
second of GREEN
followed by one
BLUE
second of
Three Seconds of During Reset Process, indicates successful
Solid RED / GREEN resetting of cryptographic security parameters

Unlocking the Key

1. Press the UNLOCK button to wake the key from sleep (as described above.)
The RED LED will glow solidly.
Enter either a User PIN or Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button. If the PIN is
2.
accepted, the GREEN LED will rapidly blink three times, then will slow down to one blink
per second until it's plugged into a USB port, at which time will glow solidly.
(If the PIN is incorrect, the RED LED will blink.)
3. A blinking GREEN LED indicates that the key is unlocked and ready for use. The key is
now ready to plug into a USB port and will function as an external drive. If it's not plugged
into a USB port within 30 seconds, the key will lock itself and return to its sleep state.

Locking the Key

Press the LOCK button. When successfully locked, The
that it's in its standby state.
The Aegis Secure Key will not be recognized by the operating system while in its standby state.
Note: If data is still being written to the key, the Secure Key will wait until that operation is
completed and then it will lock automatically.
RED LED will glow solidly, indicating
6
Establishing a User PIN
If no additional User beyond the Admin will be permitted to access the key's data, disregard this
page's contents as it relates only to the "User" PIN.
The Aegis Secure Key can have one Admin and one User, making a total of two working PINs.
Adding a User is a perfect way to securely share the key or deploy it for use where the User does
not require access to the key's Admin features. While the User has limited functionality and no
Admin rights to the key, they can still access its data, change their own User PIN, and set the key
to Read Only or Read / Write mode.
There are two ways to establish a User PIN: Admin generated while in Admin Mode, or User
generated while in User Forced Enrollment State.
A.) ADMIN-GENERATED USER PIN
1. Enter the Admin Mode by holding UNLOCK + 0 for five seconds; With
enter the Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button. The
2. Press the UNLOCK + 1 buttons together until the
GREEN LED
starts blinking.
3. Enter the User PIN* and press UNLOCK. The
itself, then the BLUE LED will glow solidly as the
4. Re-enter that same User PIN and press UNLOCK. The
for three seconds verifying that the User PIN was successfully added, and then will be
replaced by the BLUE LED glowing solidly, indicating that the key has returned to the
Admin mode.
B.) USER-GENERATED USER PIN (USER FORCED ENROLLMENT)
Note: User Forced Enrollment state can only be implemented where there is no
Admin-generated User PIN set up as described in the process above.
User Forced Enrollment Security Warning:
When a drive is in the User Forced Enrollment state, it is essentially unlocked until a User
PIN is established. Therefore, DO NOT load sensitive data onto the drive if User Forced
Enrollment is to be implemented.
1. Enter the Admin Mode by holding UNLOCK + 0 for five seconds; With
enter the Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button. The
2. Press 0 + 1 and the GREEN LED will blink three times, then will be replaced by
LED glowing solidly. Press the LOCK button to return the key to its locked state. The key
is now in User Forced Enrollment State, allowing a User to establish his own User PIN.
USER-GENERATED USER PIN IN FORCED ENROLLMENT STATE
1. Press UNLOCK and ensure that the
2. Press UNLOCK + 1 and ensure that the
the GREEN LED blinks. Enter the new User PIN and press the UNLOCK button. The
GREEN LED will blink three times by itself and then will be joined by the
glowing solidly.
3. Within 30 seconds, enter that same User PIN once more, and press the UNLOCK button
again. This time, the GREEN LED will glow solidly for a few seconds, then the drive will
return to its locked state, indicated by the
now be accessed using either the User PIN or the Admin PIN.
* Note: Default setting for minimum PIN length is 7 characters,
and a maximum of 16.
RED LED blinking,
BLUE LED will glow solidly.
BLUE LED glows solidly and the
GREEN LED will blink three times by
GREEN LED continues blinking.
GREEN LED will glow solidly
RED LED blinking,
BLUE LED will glow solidly.
BLUE and the GREEN LEDs are glowing solidly.
BLUE LED continues glowing solidly while
BLUE
RED LED glowing solidly. The key's data can
BLUE
LED
7