Fujitsu Announce World’s First Full AES-256 Encrypted Laptop/Notebook Hard Disk [Fujitsu MHZ2 CJ FDE HDD Series]

Following on from the increasing trend to offer hardware level
encryption with storage devices (we've been inundated with secure USB
flash drives of late) Fujitsu have today announced their new 2.5'
Fujitsu MHZ2 CJ HDD Series of HDDs billed as the world's first AES-256
FDE (full Disk Encryption) HDDs for laptops.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., a leading supplier of
innovative computer products including hard disk drives, peripherals and
biometric security solutions, today announced full disk encryption (FDE)
for its 2.5″ 7,200RPM SATA hard disk drive (HDD) line-up with up
to 320GB, offering the industry’s highest security standard for
data at rest. The Fujitsu MHZ2 CJ series is the first HDD in the world
to support the hardware-based AES-256 bit encryption standard, enabling
the HDD to provide the strongest data protection from unauthorized
access by setting a password. Fujitsu’s line of highly reliable
and efficient hard disk drives now includes an HDD that combines maximum
data security features with high performance, resulting in an ideal
computing environment.

“The cost and consequences associated with DataJacking are rising,
but the problem is preventable,” according to John Rydning,
IDC’s research director for HDDs. “Fujitsu’s new
hardware-based encrypted hard disk drive for notebook PCs exemplifies a
simple and easy to implement solution that will substantially reduce the
risk of DataJacking.”

Current software-based security solutions have a potential weakness,
because encryption keys exist in system memory whenever the system is
being used. Also, encryption is computationally intensive, which impacts
the system performance. In the Fujitsu MHZ2 CJ series, encryption and
decryption are performed by the hardware of the drive instead of by the
computer’s CPU and memory. The key used to encrypt and decrypt
data is cryptographically regenerated only when the correct password is
received at power-on, and is unattainable when the system is powered
off. The drive automatically encrypts and decrypts the data with no
impact on the system performance. Hardware- based HDD encryption is the
most effective security method available for mobile computing.

“With industry reports estimating 700,000 laptops stolen every
year and the associated costs reaching $5.4 billion, organizations are
facing a clear and pressing security threat,” said David James,
vice president, advanced product engineering, Fujitsu Computer Products
of America, Inc. “The Fujitsu MHZ2 CJ series creates a
simple-to-use and virtually impenetrable data lock down, with no
encryption keys remaining on the machine when it is powered off. The
data on the disk drive remains inaccessible without the password,
delivering advanced protection for the organization owning the machine,
and the critical data for which they are responsible.”

Along with the full disk encryption protection, the Fujitsu MHZ2 CJ
series also addresses organizations’ needs to securely and
instantly make data on the drive inaccessible when redeploying or
disposing of the drive. The advanced secure erase feature immediately
invalidates every piece of data just by changing the in-drive encryption
key, making the stored data completely indecipherable. With this
immediate and secure erasure, the drive significantly saves time and
costs for users and companies.

Fujitsu is also an active board member of the Trusted Computing Group
(TCG), which is a non-profit industry standards organization that
focuses on developing, defining, and promoting open specifications for
IT-benefiting trusted computing. Fujitsu will jointly work on the
initiatives to support and promote the standardization and development
of an ever better security solution.

Fujitsu