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Hardware-based full disk encryption

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455:(SSD) technologies improves this situation, the take up by enterprise has so far been slow. The problem will worsen as disk sizes increase every year. With encrypted drives a complete and secure data erasure action takes just a few milliseconds with a simple key change, so a drive can be safely repurposed very quickly. This sanitisation activity is protected in SEDs by the drive's own key management system built into the firmware in order to prevent accidental data erasure with confirmation passwords and secure authentications related to the original key required. 155:, and disk encryption hardware can be made more transparent to software than encryption done in software. As soon as the key has been initialised, the hardware should in principle be completely transparent to the OS and thus work with any OS. If the disk encryption hardware is integrated with the media itself the media may be designed for better integration. One example of such design would be through the use of physical sectors slightly larger than the logical sectors. 25: 550:
In addition, implementing system wide hardware-based full disk encryption is prohibitive for many companies due to the high cost of replacing existing hardware. This makes migrating to hardware encryption technologies more difficult and would generally require a clear migration and central management
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is the practice of 'deleting' data by (only) deleting or overwriting the encryption keys. When a cryptographic disk erasure (or crypto erase) command is given (with proper authentication credentials), the drive self-generates a new media encryption key and goes into a 'new drive' state. Without the
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Hardware solutions have also been criticised for being poorly documented. Many aspects of how the encryption is done are not published by the vendor. This leaves the user with little possibility to judge the security of the product and potential attack methods. It also increases the risk of a
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The firmware of the drive may be compromised and so any data that is sent to it may be at risk. Even if the data is encrypted on the physical medium of the drive, the fact that the firmware is controlled by a malicious third-party means that it can be decrypted by that third-party. If data is
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Hardware-based encryption when built into the drive or within the drive enclosure is notably transparent to the user. The drive, except for bootup authentication, operates just like any drive, with no degradation in performance. There is no complication or performance overhead, unlike
530:, the drive is powered down, but the encryption password is retained in memory so that the drive can be quickly resumed without requesting the password. An attacker can take advantage of this to gain easier physical access to the drive, for instance, by inserting extension cables. 466:. In this case protecting this data from accidental loss or theft is achieved through a consistent and comprehensive data backup policy. The other method is for user-defined keys, for some Enclosed hard disk drive FDE, to be generated externally and then loaded into the FDE. 522:
have demonstrated a number of attacks based on moving the drive to another computer without cutting power. Additionally, it may be possible to reboot the computer into an attacker-controlled operating system without cutting power to the drive.
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For Data at Rest protection a computer or laptop is simply powered off. The disk now self-protects all the data on it. The data is safe because all of it, even the OS, is now encrypted, with a secure mode of
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drives. HDDs have become a commodity so SED allow drive manufacturers to maintain revenue. Older technologies include the proprietary Seagate DriveTrust, and the older, and less secure,
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Standards must be overwritten 3+ times; a one Terabyte Enterprise SATA3 disk would take many hours to complete this process. Although the use of faster
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which can be a lengthy (and costly) process. For example, an unencrypted and unclassified computer hard drive that requires sanitising to conform with
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Hardware-FDE has two major components: the hardware encryptor and the data store. There are currently four varieties of hardware-FDE in common use:
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encrypted by the operating system, and it is sent in a scrambled form to the drive, then it would not matter if the firmware is malicious or not.
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The encryptor bridge and chipset (BC) is placed between the computer and the standard hard disk drive, encrypting every sector written to it.
482:(MBR) system whereby the MBR for the operating system and data files is all encrypted along with a special MBR which is required to boot the 319:
Tampering is not an issue for SEDs as they cannot be read without the decryption key, regardless of access to the internal electronics .
431:, and locked from reading and writing. The drive requires an authentication code which can be as strong as 32 bytes (2^256) to unlock. 614: 665: 812: 555:
solutions. however Enclosed hard disk drive FDE and Removable Hard Drive FDE are often installed on a single drive basis.
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for the encryption management system. This means no other boot methods will allow access to the drive.
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Typically FDE, once unlocked, will remain unlocked as long as power is provided. Researchers at
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old key, the old data becomes irretrievable and therefore an efficient means of providing
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store and a smaller form factor, commercially available, hard disk drive is enclosed.
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Hardware designed for a particular purpose can often achieve better performance than
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announced the release of the Danbury chipset but has since abandoned this approach.
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are self-generated randomly, generally there is no method to store a copy to allow
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Generally they are not securely locked so the drive's interface is open to attack.
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takes place within the hard disk controller and encryption keys are 128 or 256
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can be re-loaded into the Enclosed hard disk drive FDE, to retrieve this data.
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with their FlagStone, Eclypt and DARC-ssd drives or GuardDisk with an
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of the encrypted part of the drive. This works by having a separate
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being used without destroying the encrypted data. Later the same
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Security command standard shipped by all drive makers including
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on power up of the drive must still take place within the
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When a computer with a self-encrypting drive is put into
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from other devices and allowing access by using a dual
486:. In SEDs, all data requests are intercepted by their 282:, so when inspected the user can be assured that the 350:to be inserted into it. The concept can be seen on 713:"Hardware Disk Encryption for the Masses, Finally!" 506:, hidden from view, which contains the proprietary 214:component - hybrid full disk encryption) or with a 134:Hard disk drive (HDD) FDE (self-encrypting drive) 980: 123:is maintained independently from the computer's 551:solution for both hardware- and software-based 408:, since all the encryption is invisible to the 261: 893: 891: 889: 615:"Trusted Computing Group Data Protection page" 423:protection, and Cryptographic Disk Erasure. 369:This design can be used to encrypt multiple 176:). HDD FDE is made by HDD vendors using the 960:. Secude. February 21, 2008. Archived from 886: 869:"Eclypt Core Encrypted Internal Hard Drive" 617:. Trustedcomputinggroup.org. Archived from 334: 278:The enclosed hard disk drive's case can be 37:of the style of writing in this article is 813:"10 Reasons to Buy Self-Encrypting Drives" 325:Viasat UK (formerly Stonewood Electronics) 240:are the disk drive manufacturers offering 180:and Enterprise standards developed by the 687:"Data At Rest (DAR) encryption solutions" 638: 289:The encryptors electronics including the 159:Hardware-based full disk encryption types 64:Learn how and when to remove this message 658: 470:Protection from alternative boot methods 293:store and integral hard drive (if it is 44:Please do not remove this message until 981: 918: 163: 95:, Integral Memory, iStorage Limited, 937: 786: 434: 354:This is an improvement on removing 18: 666:"Softpedia on Eclypt Drive AES-256" 474:Recent hardware models circumvents 212:software-based full disk encryption 77:Hardware-based full disk encryption 13: 513: 398: 14: 1005: 308:, allowing a user to prevent his 668:. News.softpedia.com. 2008-04-30 23: 950: 931: 912: 861: 840: 829: 818:. Trusted Computing Group. 2010 805: 780: 755: 730: 705: 679: 639:Skamarock, Anne (2020-02-21). 632: 607: 384: 1: 600: 520:Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg 284:data has not been compromised 140:Removable hard disk drive FDE 938:Pauli, Darren (2015-02-17). 537: 297:) can be protected by other 262:Enclosed hard disk drive FDE 193:Advanced Encryption Standard 137:Enclosed hard disk drive FDE 7: 558: 419:The two main use cases are 46:conditions to do so are met 10: 1010: 919:Zetter, Kim (2015-02-22). 787:Smith, Tony (2007-09-21). 580:Opal Storage Specification 245:Opal Storage Specification 210:environment (i.e., with a 763:"Sapphire Cipher Snap-In" 310:authentication parameters 270:case the encryptor (BC), 83:) is available from many 958:"Closing the Legacy Gap" 641:"Is Storage a commodity" 570:Disk encryption software 565:Disk encryption hardware 406:disk encryption software 335:Removable hard drive FDE 153:disk encryption software 121:symmetric encryption key 242:Trusted Computing Group 208:pre-boot authentication 182:Trusted Computing Group 168:Usually referred to as 994:Cryptographic hardware 719:. Turbotas. 2003-05-30 362:and storing them in a 343:FDE allows a standard 268:hard drive form factor 91:) vendors, including: 16:Cryptographic hardware 498:which then loads the 494:from the special SED 449:Department of Defense 170:self-encrypting drive 964:on September 9, 2012 848:"Slow on the Uptake" 693:. Viasat, Inc. ©2023 590:Full disk encryption 553:full disk encryption 414:computer's processor 164:Hard disk drive FDE 738:"Removable Drives" 480:Master Boot Record 453:solid-state drives 266:Within a standard 101:Seagate Technology 445:disk sanitisation 435:Disk sanitisation 299:tamper respondent 74: 73: 66: 1001: 973: 972: 970: 969: 954: 948: 947: 935: 929: 928: 916: 910: 909: 907: 906: 895: 884: 883: 881: 880: 865: 859: 858: 856: 854: 844: 838: 833: 827: 826: 824: 823: 817: 809: 803: 802: 800: 799: 784: 778: 777: 775: 774: 759: 753: 752: 750: 749: 734: 728: 727: 725: 724: 709: 703: 702: 700: 698: 683: 677: 676: 674: 673: 662: 656: 655: 653: 652: 636: 630: 629: 627: 626: 611: 575:Crypto-shredding 508:operating system 496:operating system 484:operating system 440:Crypto-shredding 410:operating system 366:when not in use. 69: 62: 58: 55: 49: 27: 26: 19: 1009: 1008: 1004: 1003: 1002: 1000: 999: 998: 989:Disk encryption 979: 978: 977: 976: 967: 965: 956: 955: 951: 936: 932: 917: 913: 904: 902: 897: 896: 887: 878: 876: 867: 866: 862: 852: 850: 846: 845: 841: 834: 830: 821: 819: 815: 811: 810: 806: 797: 795: 785: 781: 772: 770: 761: 760: 756: 747: 745: 742:www.Cru-inc.com 736: 735: 731: 722: 720: 711: 710: 706: 696: 694: 685: 684: 680: 671: 669: 664: 663: 659: 650: 648: 647:. Network World 637: 633: 624: 622: 613: 612: 608: 603: 595:IBM Secure Blue 561: 540: 516: 514:Vulnerabilities 472: 437: 401: 399:Characteristics 387: 373:using the same 348:hard disk drive 337: 304:The key can be 264: 256:Western Digital 166: 161: 117:Western Digital 85:hard disk drive 70: 59: 53: 50: 43: 28: 24: 17: 12: 11: 5: 1007: 997: 996: 991: 975: 974: 949: 930: 911: 885: 875:. Viasat. 2020 860: 839: 836:www-03.ibm.com 828: 804: 779: 754: 729: 717:turbotas.co.uk 704: 691:www.Viasat.com 678: 657: 631: 605: 604: 602: 599: 598: 597: 592: 587: 582: 577: 572: 567: 560: 557: 545:vendor lock-in 539: 536: 515: 512: 471: 468: 436: 433: 400: 397: 386: 383: 382: 381: 378: 367: 336: 333: 321: 320: 317: 302: 287: 280:tamper-evident 263: 260: 197:Authentication 186:Key management 165: 162: 160: 157: 149: 148: 141: 138: 135: 72: 71: 31: 29: 22: 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 1006: 995: 992: 990: 987: 986: 984: 963: 959: 953: 945: 941: 934: 926: 922: 915: 900: 894: 892: 890: 874: 870: 864: 849: 843: 837: 832: 814: 808: 794: 790: 783: 768: 764: 758: 743: 739: 733: 718: 714: 708: 692: 688: 682: 667: 661: 646: 642: 635: 621:on 2012-09-15 620: 616: 610: 606: 596: 593: 591: 588: 586: 583: 581: 578: 576: 573: 571: 568: 566: 563: 562: 556: 554: 548: 546: 535: 531: 529: 524: 521: 511: 509: 505: 501: 497: 493: 489: 485: 481: 477: 467: 465: 464:data recovery 461: 456: 454: 450: 446: 441: 432: 430: 424: 422: 417: 415: 412:and the host 411: 407: 396: 394: 390: 379: 376: 372: 368: 365: 361: 357: 353: 352: 351: 349: 346: 342: 339:The inserted 332: 330: 326: 323:For example: 318: 315: 311: 307: 303: 300: 296: 292: 288: 285: 281: 277: 276: 275: 273: 269: 259: 257: 253: 249: 246: 243: 239: 235: 231: 227: 223: 219: 217: 213: 209: 206: 203:via either a 202: 198: 194: 191: 187: 183: 179: 175: 171: 156: 154: 146: 142: 139: 136: 133: 132: 131: 128: 126: 122: 118: 114: 110: 106: 102: 98: 94: 90: 86: 82: 78: 68: 65: 57: 47: 41: 40: 36: 30: 21: 20: 966:. 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Addonics 748:2020-05-15 723:2020-05-22 697:2 February 672:2013-08-06 651:2020-05-22 625:2013-08-06 601:References 528:sleep mode 341:hard drive 248:Serial ATA 218:password. 54:April 2013 35:neutrality 538:Criticism 504:partition 301:measures. 113:Viasat UK 559:See also 488:firmware 360:computer 205:software 147:(BC) FDE 39:disputed 585:Yubikey 476:booting 358:from a 331:token. 238:Toshiba 234:Samsung 230:Seagate 222:Hitachi 145:Chipset 109:Toshiba 105:Samsung 93:Hitachi 492:booted 371:drives 306:purged 236:, and 226:Micron 119:. The 97:Micron 925:Wired 816:(PDF) 744:. CRU 458:When 393:Intel 87:(HDD/ 855:2021 699:2023 460:keys 364:safe 329:RFID 252:PATA 216:BIOS 178:OPAL 103:, 32:The 500:MBR 429:AES 375:key 314:key 291:key 272:key 201:CPU 190:bit 174:SED 125:CPU 89:SSD 81:FDE 985:: 942:. 923:. 888:^ 871:. 791:. 765:. 740:. 715:. 689:. 643:. 547:. 416:. 232:, 228:, 224:, 184:. 115:, 111:, 107:, 99:, 971:. 946:. 927:. 908:. 882:. 857:. 825:. 801:. 776:. 751:. 726:. 701:. 675:. 654:. 628:. 377:. 286:. 172:( 79:( 67:) 61:( 56:) 52:( 48:. 42:.

Index

neutrality
disputed
conditions to do so are met
Learn how and when to remove this message
hard disk drive
SSD
Hitachi
Micron
Seagate Technology
Samsung
Toshiba
Viasat UK
Western Digital
symmetric encryption key
CPU
Chipset
disk encryption software
OPAL
Trusted Computing Group
Key management
bit
Advanced Encryption Standard
Authentication
CPU
software
pre-boot authentication
software-based full disk encryption
BIOS
Hitachi
Micron

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