Hard drives with encryption on the way

Original author: CNET News
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In order to break with a string of bad news, three manufacturers Fujitsu, Hitachi and Seagate almost simultaneously announced hard drives with the ability to encrypt data. Among other improvements, these models will support 256-bit encryption, a capacity of 500 GB and a disk cache of up to 16 MB. It is expected that they will be on sale in 2009.

Over the next few years, virtually all hard drives will be released in “ready for encryption” mode. This means that in the near future we are waiting for a software update that works with encryption at the hardware level.

It is recommended to pay attention to the following points:
  • Updated software must support the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) standard. Fujitsu, Hitachi and Seagate actively participated in the development of this standard (including a single API) and a large list of possible options for using the equipment.
  • Already, it’s important to look for ways to use the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). It is claimed that every PC comes with a TPM-security chip with a unique identifier, but only a few organizations use it. As soon as encrypted hard drives are distributed, TPM will be used more actively.
  • Do not wait for Intel vPro. Encryption is one of the new features of vPro. If we consider the need for data encryption on the entire hard drive, then most likely the encryption technology supported by the hard drive itself will appear earlier, will be “cheaper” and easier to use than encryption based on vPro. Intel and manufacturers of hard drives are still ahead, but the expectation of vPro should not delay the sale of new hard drives.
Equipment based on encryption will protect data at the system level and will help solve another problem: data deletion. When the hard drive is ready to become a bunch of scrap metal, you just need to delete the encryption key and, voila, you won’t be able to read this data. This opportunity is likely to become a major advantage for all of us in the future.

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