Dell shipping Samsung SSDs with full disk encryption
updated 04:55 pm EDT, Thu April 16, 2009
Samsung SSDs with FDE
What is being touted as an industry-first by the parties involved, Samsung in conjunction with Wave Systems on Thursday announced it has released the first solid state drives (SSDs) with integrated hardware encryption through Dell. The SSDs automatically encrypt information as it's being saved to the drive for securing data. Each of the new drives is bundled with Wave's Embassy management software. The drives will be initially offered in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities.
The nature of hardware encryption makes it impossible to bypass, and the system is said to be both easier to manage and more secure. Encryption keys are generated and stored within the drive itself and are therefore immune to attacks on the operating system or application software.
The included Embassy Trusted Drive Manager manages the life-cycle of the SSDs, performs the pre-boot authentication and enrolls drive administrators and users.
Advantages of SSDs compared to traditional spinning hard drives include better shock resistance and reliability as there are no moving parts in the flash memory drives. For the same reasons, they are also quieter, more energy efficient, generate less heat and are quicker when accessing information. Samsung says it will build both 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch self-encrypting SSDs. No pricing or release dates have been announced for the new drives, however, nor have any plans for other PC makers been mentioned.
