Trusted Computing Group

Last week, Seagate Technology, a long-time member of the Trusted Computing Group and its Storage Work Group, announced a significant milestone: it has shipped one MILLION self-encrypting drives (SEDs). These drives, many of which are based on the current Trusted Computing Group Storage Architecture Core specification, are offered by six OEMs, including Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM, LSI and Network Appliance and are supported by a number of independent software vendors for drive management.

Here at TCG, we applaud the efforts of all of our storage industry members, who spent many long hours creating the underlying specifications and technology for SEDs. In addition to Seagate, Hitachi, Samsung and Toshiba ship SEDs based on the Opal specification. Sandforce has introduced an SSD controller that supports the Opal specification.  Absolute Software, CryptoMill, McAfee, Secude, Softex, Sophos, Symantec, Wave Systems and WinMagic provide software that allows centralized management of the drives, including remote administration and key management.

One reason drives are taking off is the obvious performance improvement over typical software encryption solutions. Because encryption is done in the drive controller, it's totally transparent to the user and does not impact system performance at all. Drives can be wiped clean for re-use or recycling in microseconds, ensuring data is indeed gone and cannot be accessed by unauthorized third parties. And software programs provide fast, easy, remote management of any number of drives across multiple locations or geographies.

Now that drives are widely available, who is using them? One example is Mazda North America http://www.tvtonic.com/collateral/03-000258_Mazda.pdf. Another is the state of South Carolina Department of Revenue, which is using the drives and management software to protect taxpayer data http://www.wave.com/news/press_archive/11/110214_SCDOR.asp.

SEDs have come a long way since some smart storage people got together in a room and thought about ways to make data more secure. Watch for more developments as they become even more widely available and are used in data centers, enterprises and SMBs.