Bunnyman and Chowder - the answer to the "Is Wave definitely involved in Maxtor (now Seagate) Drive Management ?" has not been spelled out to my knowledge. We got A=B (Maxtor = Seagate Secure Technology) and B=C (Seagate Secure Technology = TCG), but not (to my knowledge yet) (B = D) (Seagate Secure Technology with Maxtor Black Armor = Wave Software).
I would appreciate help nailing this down.
Re: Black Armor
Lock It Up With Maxtor® BlackArmor™, Hardware Encrypted Storage Provides Government Grade Security for Consumers
LAS VEGAS-January 6, 2008-Extending its lead in providing solutions to protect business and personal data from loss or theft, Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) today introduced at CES, the Maxtor® BlackArmor™ encrypting storage solution that provides AES government-grade encryption protection against unauthorized access to valuable and private information. The Maxtor BlackArmor solution is a 160GB portable storage device that delivers the confidence and reliability of robust security in a compact consumer-friendly design.
Designed for those who have valuable information they wish to keep secure and private, the new Maxtor BlackArmor product is an attractive, portable solution that provides unparalleled security for direct attached storage devices. Using Seagate Secure™ technology, Maxtor’s BlackArmor drive is designed to keep data locked up and protected in the event of loss or theft. Seagate Secure technology is a hardware-based encryption, making the encryption transparent to the user and free of complicated installation and use procedures required by software based security.
The Maxtor BlackArmor external storage solution uses a government-grade AES encryption certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to deliver the strongest commercially available data security available for external storage. The Maxtor BlackArmor product provides transparent, real-time encryption of all the data on the device, not just selected files; providing performance and ease of use advantages over manual software-based security controls. The BlackArmor product also puts all security keys and cryptographic operations within the device, delivering stronger protection against hacking and tampering than traditional software alternatives. The BlackArmor product’s key encryption technology can also securely wipe out the data for simple, cost-effective redeployment or disposal of the product – an important capability for organizations of all sizes.
The introduction of the Maxtor BlackArmor solution comes as growing reports of compromised computer information continue to alarm consumers, underscoring the growing need for storage solutions that provide security and privacy for personal information. Since January 2005, more than 215 million computer records have been compromised, many the direct result of a lost or stolen desktop or laptop system or hard drive, USB thumb drive, smart phone or CD, according to The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer information and advocacy organization.
“Government regulations on organizations that manage confidential and personal information continue to get more stringent, making security of sensitive information a mission-critical requirement. As of January 2006, twenty-three states have enacted identity theft laws,” said John Oltsik, senior analyst of Information Security at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Unfortunately, this is a monumental set of tasks that organizations are faced with, when confidential data is created, copied, and stored across the enterprise at an ever-increasing rate from data center systems to desktop and mobile devices.”
“Maxtor storage solutions are focused on security and back up of your valued digital assets,” said Jon van Bronkhorst, executive director of Product Line Management for Maxtor Branded Solutions. “BlackArmor is an innovative new product that delivers on the promise of providing our customers with a level of security that is both reliable and robust, for a plug-and-play, easy-to-manage portable storage device.”
Maxtor® BlackArmor™ Storage Solution Built for those who are serious about data protection, the elegantly designed BlackArmor external storage solution is a compact package weighing only 208g with dimensions of 131mm in length, 84mm wide and 16.5 mm depth. The BlackArmor product interfaces with the computer over a USB 2.0 connection. The product is expected to be widely available in a 160GB capacity in Q2 2008. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) is $149.99. Maxtor’s BlackArmor also includes the award-winning Maxtor Manager software suite from the popular OneTouch 4™ product family. The software includes capabilities such as automated back up and multiple computer synchronization.
About Maxtor Maxtor is one of the world's leading brands of consumer storage solutions. Maxtor’s reputation as a proven market leader was built by consistently providing high-quality products, services and support for its customers. Maxtor branded products can be found at www.maxtorsolutions.com.
Maxtor, Maxtor BlackArmor, Maxtor OneTouch, Maxtor DrivePass, Maxtor SafetyDrill and Maxtor DriveLock are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC or one of its affiliated companies in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. When referring to drive capacity one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one megabyte, or MB, equals one million bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one trillion bytes. Your computer’s operating system may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions, and thus will not be available for data storage.
Seagate and Seagate Technology are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC. The Wave logo, is a trademark or registered trademark of Seagate Technology LLC or one of its affiliates. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.
Introduction to Seagate Secure
Explore Seagate Secure
View this interactive presentation on Seagate Security technology. Related Topics
Security Home Technologies and Guidance Tools and Resources News and Events Ask the Expert White Papers and Case Studies Seagate® delivers the highest level of data security with its innovative Seagate Secure ™ technology, protecting data where it lives—on the hard drive. Seagate Secure technology uses hardware-based security that takes advantage of the hard drive’s closed environment to isolate data storage for stronger protection.
Seagate Secure technology offers an easy and effective way to deliver a high level of security for digital information. Hard drives featuring Seagate Secure technology combine capacity, reliability and comprehensive security capabilities to provide the ultimate protection. In addition, Seagate Secure technology offers a development platform for independent software vendors (ISVs) to create more robust applications that can manage security functions or interoperate with secure storage.
Some of the key benefits and features provided by Seagate Secure technology include:
Drive pairing, which allows users to lock a drive to a specific system, preventing a hard drive from being pulled out of a system and installed elsewhere. Secure partitions, which enable hidden storage, accessible only by Seagate Secure technology-enabled software applications. Secure erase and disposal, which simplifies and secures hard drive disposal and reuse to allow technicians to safely repurpose or dispose of the drive. Seagate Secure technology comprises four components: enhanced firmware to extend the hard drive’s capabilities; trusted send/receive to ensure widespread support; secure partitions to increase the level of security, and issuance protocol to enable ISVs to write and assign applications to the drive. Together, these elements create an extremely secure storage solution.
Enhanced Firmware Firmware, the software that runs on a hard drive’s internal computer, is typically dedicated to complex drive functions, such as moving the read/write heads, tracking bad sectors on the disk and storing bitmaps of where data is located. Seagate Secure technology-enhanced firmware extends the hard drive’s capabilities with transparent security optimized on the drive’s computing resources.
Trusted Send/Receive Another critical element of Seagate Secure technology is the trusted send/receive specification designed in collaboration with the standards bodies that define ATA and SCSI interfaces. Virtually every type of storage device uses either ATA or SCSI interface technology, so having the specification incorporated into those interface standards ensures widespread support for Seagate Secure technology.
Secure Partitions A 200-GB drive reserves roughly 200 MB for internal system memory. Seagate Secure technology uses this space to create secure partitions that are both logically and physically separated from the rest of the drive memory with strong conditional access controls, providing an excellent place to store cryptographic keys or highly sensitive data like Social Security numbers and financial data.
Issuance Protocol Software applications, BIOS and other programs interoperate with a Seagate Secure technology-equipped drive through strictly controlled communication channels. ISVs and developers can write applications and have them assigned to a secure partition in the drive through the issuance protocol.
Seagate developed Seagate Secure technology as a platform for defining the role of hard drives with respect to security, privacy and trust. Seagate presented Seagate Secure technology to the Storage Work Group of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) for the purpose of extending trust and security to storage devices. TCG is a not-for-profit organization formed to develop, define and promote open standards for hardware-enabled trusted computing and security technologies. The organization’s Storage Work Group includes all leading hard drive manufacturers, as well as vendors of flash storage, storage management and storage integration. Seagate maintains a leadership role in TCG and actively contributes to TCG efforts.
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