Apricorn Aegis Fortess User Manual
Aegis Fortress
User
Guide
Remember to save your PIN in a safe
place. If lost or forgotten, there is no way
to access the drive.
If you are having difculty please refer
to the complete user’s manual which is
loaded on your Aegis Fortress drive and is
also available at Apricorn’s website at:
www.apricorn.com/support
Table of Contents
About the Aegis Fortress Drive 4
Package contents 4
Aegis Fortress - Connections 5
Before you begin 5
Connecting the Aegis Fortress 5
Connecting with the USB Y-Cable 6
Aegis Fortress Keypad Panel 7
First Time Use 7
LED states and their meaning 8
Locking the Drive 9
Unlocking the Drive 9
Admin Mode 9
Changing the Admin PIN 9
Adding a new User PIN 10
Deleting the User PINs 11
Changing the User PIN 11
Setting and Using Recovery PINs 12
Setting Read-Only or Read / Write from Admin 13
To set the drive to Read-Only: 13
To return the drive to Read / Write: 13
Setting Read-Only or Read / Write from User 14
To set the drive to Read-Only: 14
To return the drive to Read / Write: 14
Setting LED Flicker Functionality 15
Aegis Fortress Brute Force Protection 17
Setting a Self-Destruct PIN 18
Performing a Complete Reset 19
Initializing and Formatting After Reset 19
Hibernating or Logging off from the OS 20
Aegis Fortress Setup for Mac OS 21
Diagnostic Mode 22
Troubleshooting 23-24
Technical Support 25
Warranty and RMA information 25
Copyright © Apricorn, Inc 2017. All rights reserved.
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their
respective owners.
Distribution of modied versions of this document is prohibited without
the explicit permission of the copyright holder.
Distribution of the work or derivative work in any standard (paper) book
form for commercial purposes is prohibited unless prior permission is
obtained from the copyright holder.
DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED AS IS AND ALL EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT,
ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH
DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID
Setting the Minimum PIN Length 15
Setting the Unattended Auto Lock Feature 15
Setting Lock Override Mode 16
(Rev 2.2) 5/08/2017
About the Aegis Fortress Drive
Aegis Fortress - Connections
The Aegis Fortress is certied
and tested to NIST FIPS 140-2
Level 2 requirements for your
most sensitive data’s storage and
transportation
Sporting an easy-to-use
membrane-type coated keypad
design that is resistant to key
wear, impervious to dust and grit,
and with software-free setup and
operation, the Aegis Fortress
Edition enables you to access the
drive simply and easily with your
own unique PIN. And the super fast
integrated USB 3.0 cable allows
you to access your data up to 10x
faster than a USB 2 connection.
Before you begin
Be sure to review the following information before you begin to use the
Aegis Fortress.
Attention: Use only the included cables with your Aegis Fortress.
You might damage the drive if you use a cable not included with the
Aegis Fortress.
The Aegis Fortress is designed for portable use without an AC power
adapter and in most cases will be able to power on a single USB port.
In the event that the Aegis Fortress is unable to power on a single USB
connection, use the included USB Y-cable.
Connecting the Aegis Fortress
1. Attach the integrated USB cable of the Aegis Fortress drive to an
available USB port on your computer, as shown below.
NOTE: While the Aegis Fortress will work with any USB port, for the
fastest speeds connect to a USB 3.0 port on your computer.
2. At least one of the Aegis Fortress LEDs should turn on, indicating that
the Aegis Fortress is receiving power.
Package contents
• Aegis Fortress drive with
integrated USB 3.0 cable
• Travel pouch
• USB Y-cable
• Quick Start Guide
Aegis Padlo ck FIPS
Quick Start Guide
SHIFT button
1
UNLOCK button
2
4
LOCK button
3
LED Indicator lights
4
3
When you rst plug in the FIPS
Padlock, the unit will do a self-test
to verify all security components
2
are working properly. The LEDs
will go through 3 test stages
RED, GREEN, and BLUE. This
1
will be followed by three GREEN
ashes on a successful test. Any
test failure will leave the unit in an
interoperable state with the RED
First Time Use
Before the Padlock can be used, the Admin PIN MUST be set. The LED will display
Solid BLUE and Blinking GREEN to indicate the Padlock is waiting for a PIN to be set.
To Set-up the Admin PIN:
1. Press UNLOCK + 9. The LED will be Solid BLUE / Blinking GREEN.
2. Enter the new Admin PIN and press UNLOCK key. If accepted the LED will ash
3. Re-enter the Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK key. If accepted the GREEN
4. LED will then turn BLUE and remain in Admin mode for 30 seconds or if the
5. The Admin PIN is now set and will allow access to the drive or the Admin features.
6. To UNLOCK the drive, enter the new PIN and press UNLOCK.
LED ashing.
BLUE followed by 3 short blinks of the GREEN LED.
LED will be Solid for 3 seconds.
LOCK key is pressed, will return the drive to a standby state.
*Note: PINs must be a minimum length of 7 maximum 16.
Cannot contain all consecutive numbers (2345678 or 8901234)
Cannot contain all same number (1111111)
The SHIFT key can be used for additional combinations.
SHIFT + 1 are a separate value than just 1.
If none of the LEDs turn
on or the drive locks when
writing to the disk, use the
included USB Y-cable.
Refer to directions on the
following page
4
5
Connecting with the USB Y-Cable
Aegis Fortress Keypad Panel
If none of the Aegis Fortress LEDs power on a single USB connection, use
the included USB Y-cable.
1. Attach the Aegis Fortress’s integrated USB cable to the female connector
of the USB Y-cable.
2. Connect the two male USB connectors to two available USB ports on
your computer.
3. At least one of the Aegis Fortress LEDs should turn on, indicating that
the Aegis Fortress is powered.
1
2
4
3
4
3
CONFIGURABLE
2
1
First Time Use
Before the Fortress can be used, the Admin PIN MUST be set. Both the BLUE and GREEN
LEDs glowing constantly indicate that the Admin PIN has yet to be established.
First ensure that the device to be
congured has the “congurable”
logo on the belly label. Also, DO NOT
perform the following Manual Admin
and USER PIN SETUP steps below;
The Aegis Congurator will only
recognize devices in their factory
“out of box” state or devices that
have been completely reset.
NOTE: if you are using the
Aegis Congurator to set
up your Aegis Fortress,
SHIFT button
UNLOCK button
LOCK button
LED Indicator lights
When you rst plug in the FIPS Fortress, the unit will do a self-test to verify all security
components are working properly. The LEDs will go through 3 test stages RED, GREEN,
and BLUE. This will be followed by three GREEN ashes on a successful test. Any test
failure will leave the unit in an inoperable state indicated by a ashing RED LED.
To Set-up the Admin PIN:
1. Press the UNLOCK + 9 buttons. The BLUE LED will continue glowing constantly but the
GREEN LED will now blink.
2. Enter the new Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button. If accepted, the GREEN LED
will blink three times by itself, then will be rejoined by the constant BLUE LED.
3. Re-enter that Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button once more. If accepted, the
GREEN LED will glow constantly for 3 seconds until replaced by the BLUE LED glowing
constantly, indicating that the Fortress is now in the Admin Mode and will remain in that
mode for 30 seconds of inactivity or if the LOCK button is pressed, at which time the
drive will return to a standby state.
4. The Admin PIN is now set and can be used to both access the drive’s data and the
Admin features and settings. To exit the Admin Mode and access the drive’s storage,
press the LOCK button, then enter the Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button.
PINs must be a minimum length of 7 and a maximum of 16 digits. By default,
Cannot contain all consecutive numbers (2345678 or 9876543)
Cannot contain all same number (1111111)
6
The SHIFT key can be used for additional combinations.
SHIFT + 1 are a separate value than just 1.
minimum is set to 7, but can be programmed to be up to 16 for enhanced security.
7
LED States and Their Meaning
Locking the Drive
No LEDs Drive locked, power switch is off, device unplugged
Blinking RED Error / incorrect button entry; Mode Not Available;
User PIN Change
Solid RED Locked / Standby state; Awaiting PIN entry
Blinking GREEN Button-entry accepted
Solid BLUE /
Blinking GREEN
Solid BLUE Admin Mode
Solid GREEN Drive unlocked
Slow Blinking BLUE Drive unlocked in Lock-Override Mode
Solid GREEN /
Slow Blinking RED
Alternating
RED / BLUE
One second of RED
followed by one
second of GREEN
followed by one
second of BLUE
Three Seconds of
Solid RED / GREEN
Waiting for New User or Admin PIN to be
established
Drive unlocked in Read-Only Mode
Indicates a mode has been entered that can result
in the deletion of a User or the data on the drive
(depending on the mode chosen.)
Also used when setting Auto-lock feature
Self-test mode to ensure all components are ready
and working properly
During Reset Process, indicates successful
resetting of cryptographic security parameters
To lock the drive, press the LOCK button.
If data is still being written to the drive, the Fortress will wait until all data has been written to
the drive and then it will lock automatically.
Note: The Aegis Fortress will not be recognized by any operating system in its standby state.
Unlocking the Drive
To unlock the drive:
Enter either a User PIN or Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button.
Admin Mode
To enter the Admin Mode, do the following:
1. Attach the USB cable to an available USB port on your computer. After conducting a
self-check, the Fortress will go into Standby Mode, indicated by a constant RED LED.
2. Press and hold the UNLOCK + 0 buttons together for ve seconds until the RED LED
starts blinking.
3. Enter the Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button.
4. A constant BLUE LED indicates that the drive is now in Admin Mode.
Changing the Admin PIN
You can change the Admin PIN by doing the following:
1. Enter Admin Mode (UNLOCK + 0 for ve seconds. Enter Admin PIN and press UNLOCK).
2. Press the UNLOCK + 9 buttons together until the BLUE LED glows constantly and the
GREEN LED starts bllinking.
3. Enter the new PIN and press the UNLOCK button--the PIN must be a minimum of 7
digits and a maximum of 16 digits. The GREEN LED will blink three times by itself and
then will be rejoined by the constant BLUE LED.
4. Re-enter the new Admin PIN and press the UNLOCK button again. The GREEN LED
will glow for two seconds and will be replaced by constant BLUE LED indicating that the
Admin PIN has been changed successfully and you’re back in the Admin Mode.
8
9
Loading...