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Provides: Security with fingerprints
Developer: Upek
Minimum Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3, v10.4, or v10.5, USB, 150MB free hard-disk space for installation
Price: $48.00
Availability: Now

Do you have nightmares about people logging into your account on your Mac and accessing your personal data? Well, Upek has a product for the paranoid types, and it could prove useful for others in the coming days, as well. It’s called the Eikon To Go, and it keeps your user account secure without requiring you to memorize a War and Peace length password.

The Eikon To Go is a fingerprint scanner that connects to your Mac just like everything else: USB. Its form factor is intended to make it more portable than the desktop version. It also comes with a short extension cord to facilitate for cramped USB ports or desktop use.

After you install the software, all you have to do is take a quick tutorial on how to properly scan your fingerprints, and then scan your fingers in. You can scan up to 10 fingers per account, so if you have more, tough luck.

Scanning your fingers is easy, and it’s accurate. I logged all ten of my fingers just for fun, and they all work in place of my password for my user account. You also have options on how this functions. You can set your Mac to require the password and a fingerprint, just a fingerprint, or either a password or fingerprint. If you set it to either of the first two options, you can use the Eikon To Go as a real USB Key. If you take the device with you, no one will be able to log into your computer since a fingerprint would be required.

To be completely honest, unless you’re both super worried about your personal data on your Mac and confident that a good enough password would keep someone out, then this doesn’t really do that much for you. The real power will come when 1Password support is added. Soon you’ll be able to swipe your fingerprint to access 1Password. This allows you to have super crazy long and complicated passwords that you don’t even need to remember since you will always have your fingers…I hope. Just remember, you’re kinda screwed if you loose this thing, or get sick of 1Password.

Overall, it’s a good product for those who are worried about security. It’s great for putting your computer into lockdown, and nice for not having to enter passwords. And most importantly, it actually works.