Seagate Launches Hardware-level Data Protection

By Brian Turner

Seagate, the manufacturer of storage hardware, has unveiled DriveTrust technology which protects data at the hardware level of the hard drive.

Anyone accessing a drive protected by DriveTrust will be required to de-encrypt its data with a password or key. Without a password, a DriveTrust protected hard drive would be useless.

The new technology is significantly different from most information security systems which either establish a firewall around networks or encrypt data at file or operating system level.

Seagate believes that locking up the actual drive where the data is storied will become an industry standard copied by other vendors.

DriveTrust could eliminate the risk of hackers and thieves accessing critical data from lost laptops, a security issue that has affected both the corporate and public domain. Plans for the Labour Party conference in October had to be changed at the last minute after an unsecured computer was taken from a parked car.

Charles Kolodgy, research director of security products for analyst group IDC, said that securing data on the hard drive is an innovative yet commonsense approach that could simplify data security.

It is believed that Seagate is considering plans to allow other storage companies to integrate DriveTrust into their own products, whilst it offers development tool sets to enable third parties to create additional security layers for the technology.