iTechNote

The Seagate Momentus® 5400 FDE.2 hard drive features full disc encryption using hardware-based 128-bit AES algorithm. It offers government-grade security protocol to prevent unauthorized access to data on lost or stolen laptops. It also eases re-purpose of laptops by strictly complying data privacy laws.

As usual, the product comes with software to ease drive management.

Momentus 5400 FDE.2 hard drive with the Wave Systems management software makes it easy for administrators and users to create and back up passwords, and for administrators to control hard drive policies and security settings.

The software also leverages Seagate’s DriveTrust Technology to allow administrators instantly and easily erase all data cryptographically so the drive can be safely redeployed or discarded.

Seagate’s DriveTrust security technology exploits the hard drive’s closed environment in the following ways:

• Transparent AES hardware-based encryption
• Pre-boot authentication required
• On-the-fly drive erasure
• Hashed passwords maintained on the drive
• Emergency password recovery file kept on a separate device

Is the market ready for the product? A recent Ponemon Institute study found that 35% of all computer data breaches involved lost laptops or other digital devices.

The primary hurdles of encrypting sensitive or confidential information are concern about system performance (69%), complexity (44%) and cost (25%). Momentus 5400 FDE.2 provides an easy and convenient way to lower the concerns.

Seagate offers three different models - 80GB, 120GB and 160GB for the new product, all featuring perpendicular recording method. The performance of the hard drive has not degraded due to the overhead of encryption when compare to Momentus 5400.3 drives, which does not employ any encryption.

The ASI C8015, expected to be available as soon as April, is world’s first notebook with Seagate’s encrypting hard drive.