Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

[xxxxcslewis]

I believe these are new.

http://www.seagate.com/content/docs/pdf/marketing/PO-Momentus-FDE.pdf

http://www.seagate.com/newsinfo/newsroom/success/D2g42.html

New Momentus Drive Slams Door Shut on Data Thieves

While the extra storage capacity and speed of notebook computers -- which now rival the performance of entry level desktop machines -- have been a productivity boon to employees the world over, companies and security organizations are increasingly concerned about a spike in data and identity theft. As millions of professionals travel the globe each day, essentially carrying the entire contents of their offices with them, criminals are targeting the valuable trade secrets found in these notebooks.

Seagate is responding to this threat with a new notebook hard drive designed to protect data from falling into the wrong hands. The Momentus 5400 FDE 2.5-inch drive, announced earlier this month, is the first from a major manufacturer to offer hardware-based full disc encryption technology (FDE), which provides extra protection against unauthorized access to data. "The average cost per company of damages due to notebook thefts is $11 million, and the exposure can spell disaster for corporations in terms of lost sensitive data or intellectual property."
--Henry Fabian,
exec. director of product marketing



In a 2004 Computer Security Institute/FBI survey of U.S. organizations, nearly half of the 494 respondents reported laptop/mobile computer theft. And 97 percent of stolen computers are never recovered, according to the FBI. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission estimates that 10 million Americans are victims of identity theft each year.

While identity theft, stolen intellectual property and corporate espionage aren't new problems, there are more occurrences reported every week, according to Henry Fabian, Seagate's executive director of product marketing in Longmont.

"The average cost per company of damages due to notebook thefts is $11 million, and the exposure can spell disaster for corporations in terms of lost sensitive data or intellectual property, and for individual consumers in the form of identity theft," Fabian said.

It's in the Hardware
Until now, the two best options for protecting sensitive and critical data were password-based drive locking and software-based encryption. Both have been around for years but have limitations and aren't as secure against hackers.

Seagate's solution is hardware based, meaning the encryption functions are performed on the drive, separate from the operating system. Even the password or user ID is encrypted and stored in an inaccessible area on the drive, providing much stronger security than today's software-based encryption solutions.

A system with Momentus FDE comes fully enabled for encrypting all the data on the drive, so there are no time-consuming installation and configuration requirements as with software; users simply enter their ID, and if authenticated, they have full access to their data. Since the user ID is entered before the operating system can load, it's essentially impossible for any spyware-like code to have visibility of the key.

"Only in theory is hacking into these drives still possible; in practice it's extremely unlikely," said Fabian. "Even if a hacker could find the electronically stored user ID or master key codes, they're still encrypted, so it's virtually impossible to get in."

Making Life Easy for IT
Trade secrets are the lifeblood of an organization, and IT departments are increasingly being held accountable for information leaks at their companies. Seagate's Mark Pastor, director of strategic marketing, said the Momentus FDE is designed to be a simple yet powerful security solution for IT groups.

"It's very strong security compared to what's commonly used today, and it's incredibly easy to use because it comes completely enabled, meaning there's nothing to install or configure," Pastor said.

Along with the growing concern about notebook theft, corporate IT groups also are concerned about how to properly retire or re-purpose a hard drive without exposing their organizations to information theft. Wiping a drive of its data involves magnetically "erasing" it, which can take several hours and often requires multiple erasures -- which can still leave some data.

"Our drive allows IT to enter the master password and use a software tool to instantaneously 'blow away' the master key, eliminating access to the drive's data, permanently," said Pastor.

The drive could then be safely re-used, sold or discarded, he said. "Until now, short of physically smashing a drive into pieces or performing multiple 'erases,' there were few options," said Pastor, "and none offered the combination of simplicity and security."

Early reports from industry analysts on the company's Momentus FDE announcement are encouraging.

"It makes a lot of sense for Seagate to start with mobile drives," said Greg Schulz, a senior analyst with Minneapolis-based Evaluator Group, a storage industry research firm. "Mobile and laptop users need easy and transparent ways to protect their data without having to reconfigure their systems to leverage host or operating system-based encryption. It's about time this sort of functionality emerges from the shadows of government and specialized environments and becomes more mainstream for the rest of us."