Looking for USB stick with password-protected write protection

Question

Well, I know there are password-protected sticks, but my idea (as described below) is a bit different.

I'd like to encrypt a stick using VeraCrypt so that private information remains private (in case the stick gets lost or stolen). In addition it would not be possible to alter the information in a way that it remains undetected. However for a true mobile stick, I'd like to put the portable version of VeraCrypt on the stick, too.

However there is a problem: Assume the stick got "in wrong hands", but eventually is returned to you. In fact you cannot surely say when or whether the stick was "in wrong hands" at all times. You could continue to use the portable version of VeraCrypt on the stick, but also that installation may be tampered, so maybe you trigger some bad software, or similar...

Of course I could re-install VeraCrypt on the stick if I have it there, but my idea was different:

Is there any hardware that allows to write-protect a partition (or separate logical drive) and protect that protection with some password, so the write-protection cannot be changed unless the password is known?

I have a stick that has a flash-based CD-ROM emulation in addition to the usual writable flash area, and you could remove that CD-ROM emulation per software. And I have another stick that emulates an USB floppy-disk drive in addition to the usual flash partition. So basically it does not seem impossible what I'm asking for. Any products?

Answer 1

There are usb sticks with keycodes on them, but I think you are over-complicating things. If you are worried about your installation being modified, you can just verify its integrity via checksum such as SHA512. Any modification would change the hash. It is how when you download things online, you are sure they haven't been modified. Now of course there is a small risk of the flashdrive itself being loaded up with some malware, so even if you check the integrity and know it has been modified, it doesn't stop it infecting your computer. But end of the day they can swap your stick for their own and accomplish the same thing.