Toshiba launches self-encrypting, auto-wiping HDD

Starting mass production in the coming months, Toshiba has introduced its new MKxx61GSYG 2.5-inch HDD, a drive that offers multiple levels of security for professionals.

MKxx61GSYG drives will wipe or encrypt all data if connected to an unknown host.

The drives will be marketed to corporate customers within the medical, government and banking fields, says Toshiba.

Whenever the drive is powered on, it will initiate authentication with the host and if it that process fails, the data is "invalidated."

Buyers have a few options for the drive. Access can either be denied, the drive can be wiped, certain blocks of info can be wiped, or certain data ranges are deleted every time the drive fails the authentication process.

The drive uses military-grade AES 256-bit encryption and will be available in up to 640GB.

There is no word on price, yet.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Apr 2011 18:22

ph1lch

cool, lets hope this is avaiable to consumers as well :)

14.4.2011 19:03 #1

bobiroc

Hmm can't wait for the first person to forget their authentication and accidentally wipe their drive. Better have a good backup.

AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.67Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 300GB 10,000RPM Raptor, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.

http://www.facebook.com/BlueLightningTechnicalServices

14.4.2011 19:52 #2

statomike

I hope it's also camouflaged as a more rudimentary drive. Otherwise anyone that has a need to will just transfer platters to another controller and run decryption from there.

14.4.2011 20:46 #3

KillerBug

Quote:Whenever the drive is powered on, it will initiate authentication with the host and if it that process fails, the data is "invalidated." That is a bit unclear...what happens if the process just ends without failing? Is there a password, fingerprint reader, or eye scanner involved? Is it just confirming that it is still in the same laptop (in which case, this wouldn't provide much security at all)?

14.4.2011 23:45 #4

dali

... And, one more thing to consider. If the drive authenticates the host, what happpens if the host gets damaged?

�You know, it seems that quotes on the internet are becoming less and less reliable.� -Abraham Lincoln.

15.4.2011 09:48 #5

Fitvideouk

Great for Paedos and terrorrists... that must be the target market surely , as Government and medical stuff always gets leaked / hacked ...

15.4.2011 10:36 #6

mystic

oh yes we all want a drive that if its pulled from our machine that it can tell that its been stolen or can it if I hook this drive up as a secondary drive and not boot to it bet ya I can still get the data.. or if I clone the drive the run a password picker like ( Orphus )that reads rainbow tables I can get in...its only as good as the person who wrote the software it will be hacked as soon as it becomes public... sorry its just better to know where your stuff is and if its that important burn it to a dvd and put it in a safe off site...

15.4.2011 10:45 #7

shortybob

Next, a virus that unmounts, remounts and fails authentication to wipe the target's drives.

15.4.2011 12:53 #8

Mr-Movies

Just wait for a hardware failure, fix the PC and Auto Wipe-Ola all data gone, Oooops!

But there will be a way around this which means those who want to hack it still can of course. Waste of money would be my guess.

15.4.2011 13:02 #9

kfir1

Is this stealth also?

15.4.2011 21:01 #10

Notcow

Well, it's not for average consumer use...it says it's for bankers and government workers and such, so they dont have to worry about their laptop dying, because they are usually replaced by the company.

It looks like it's really designed to store sensitive documents and financial information for huge corperations...An average consumer may have a problem with the HDD, but yeah, it's not designed for them...

15.4.2011 22:23 #11

AfterDawn: News