[Clips] Seagate announces encrypted laptop drives

[R.A. Hettinga]

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 Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 08:07:20 -0400
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 From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
 Subject: [Clips] Seagate announces encrypted laptop drives
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 <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050621-5019.html>

 Ars Technica

 Seagate announces encrypted laptop drives

 6/21/2005 4:02:56 PM, by Eric Bangeman


 For those reliant on laptops for work, data security can often be an issue,
 especially if the laptop is stolen. Various third-party encryption tools
 are available, but Seagate looks to one-up them with its new
 Hardware-Based Full Disc Encryption (FDE). Slated to begin shipping in
 2006, the drives automatically encrypt data as it is written to the drive.

 Seagate will offer hardware-based full disc encryption technology on its
 new Momentus FDE family of hard drives, providing the industry's strongest
 protection against unauthorized access to data on stolen or retired
 notebook PCs. FDE technology requires only a user key to encrypt all data,
 not just selected files or partitions, on the drive.

 FDE uses Triple DES to do the job and will be available on its Momentus
 5400 2.5" hard drives for laptops in sizes ranging from 40GB to 120GB.
 Seagate also claims the drives will have performance identical to other
 5400 rpm drives without the built-in encryption. Pricing has not been
 announced, but expect to pay a premium for the FDE drives.

 These drives should prove very popular in certain industries, especially
 with defense contractors and others who deal with sensitive or classified
 information. Even if a laptop with an FDE drive is stolen or retired
 without the drives being wiped, the data on there will be unreadable
 without the user key. Data recovery services will still be able to pull the
 raw data from drives, although it too will be encrypted. Maybe the IT
 department over at Los Alamos will invest in a few of these babies-then
 they won't have to worry if one of their drives disappears.


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 R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
 The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
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 "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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 experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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