USB drive manufacturer encrypts data with XOR

Rui Paulo rpaulo at fnop.net
Tue Feb 19 10:31:28 EST 2008


 From http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Enclosed-but-not-encrypted--/features/110136

"The specifications of the 2.5in. Easy Nova Data Box PRO-25UE RFID  
hard drive case by German vendor Drecom sound promising: hardware data  
encryption with 128-bit AES, access control via an RFID chip compact  
enough to carry around on your key ring and optional 160GB or 250GB  
hard disk capacity. Swiping the RFID chip along the case causes the  
integrated Innmax IM7206 crypto controller to reveal the drive as a  
USB 2.0 mass storage compatible device to the attached computer. This  
works under Linux and Mac OS X as well as Windows.
[...]
These regular repetitions continued, and the almost identical columns  
of numbers suggest that the 512-byte sectors of your drive are not in  
fact encrypted with AES, but merely with a constant 512-byte cipher  
block applied as an XOR (exclusive OR)."

--
Rui Paulo

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