Toshiba to launch self-erasing hard drives

[Borg 386]

I can already imagine the screaming & yelling when someone swaps out a drive & forgets about this little feature...good idea though.

Toshiba will soon debut a series of hard drives that can automatically erase or prevent access to their own data should the drives end up in the wrong hands.

The company's new self-encrypting drive family will include a new feature that detects if the drive is connected to an unknown and undefined computer or other system. If so, the drive can either securely wipe all of its data or just deny access to that data. Customers can apply the feature to specific data on the drive and choose how and when to render the data indecipherable, according to Toshiba.

The drives are designed to provide an extra layer of security, especially for corporations, government agencies, and other organizations that need to adhere to certain security and data privacy requirements. The security technology itself is built on the "Opal" specification from the Trusted Computing Group, which dictates certain requirements for data protection in enterprise environments.

Read more:

Toshiba to launch self-erasing hard drives | Security - CNET News

 

[RitualJman]

Well this would be a nice feature to bad I didn't have it when i had my HP laptop stolen right out of my old high school. It's nice to see that Toshiba is coming out with this for the reason of protecting your Data for the case if you have personal information on your computer such as your online banking information. Now that would be bad if it got into the hands of the wrong person, In that note its not the best idea to be saving that information on your computer because even if your computer has a password it can still be stole off your computer and you never know it. Here's a question that Toshiba will have to answer at a later date when they release more info on these drives and that is, I have a Toshiba Satellite L670 can i purchase one of these new hard drives from Toshiba and install it into my laptop or is for newer Toshiba laptops? That would be a worth while investment for me and my hard drive never leaves my computer anyways so it won't be plugged into any other computer. I have seen this technology before on a older drive when i was working on a friends computer i had to pull out the hard drive because he was also having me put the components into a better case with better air flow and the hard drive erased it's self.

Thanks
RitualJman

 

[jagooch]

So I can turn off the EMP shield in my computer room? They only go off if someone tries to remove a hard drive from there.

 

[Hopalong X]

.....or it decides to EMP itself. Ooops! :shock:

I can imagine.. "We are sorry about the incovenience of losing 10 years worth of data and all your back ups but that isn't covered by the warranty!!"

 

[DalekOverSeer]

all i have to say is all the headaches i'm going to get with peeps coming to me begging me to figure out how to get their data back for them are going to be HUGE.

 

[mr pc]

Seeing that drives ALREADY spontaneously combust with little reason for the most part - why design one that does it on purpose?

 

[seekermeister]

This is a good heads up, not to buy one of those drives. If I really wanted to destroy the data on a computer of mine, I would just just the software program called Dead Man's Switch.

 

[whs]

all i have to say is all the headaches i'm going to get with peeps coming to me begging me to figure out how to get their data back for them are going to be HUGE.

This is a new business opportunity.

PS: Please write in normal lettering.

 

[DalekOverSeer]

This is a new business opportunity.

yes i agree on the good opportunity to increase business

This is a good heads up, not to buy one of those drives. If I really wanted to destroy the data on a computer of mine, I would just just the software program called Dead Man's Switch.

i currently have a dead 500 gig drive. i have special plans for the platters

 

[whs]

Could you stop using those big letters in this terrible color. This is not appropriate on our forum. I consider your posts "pollution".

 

[wilywombat]

Maybe I'm cynical, but how can it be a business opportunity to attempt to recover data from an AES encrypted drive...I can see it now...." Yes Sir, lost your data...Please come back in 125 years when I have managed to maybe recover it for you"

 

[mr pc]

I would hand the drive back and say

"There ya go - I recovered your drive....from under my desk. Took me about a week to find it!."

 

[wilywombat]

Some mug will buy them.....some mug will lose the password...answer to the question.."close the door quietly on the way out" !!

 

[Layback Bear]

Used in the proper place I think it's a great idea.

Patients' Data on Stolen Laptop - washingtonpost.com

 

[DalekOverSeer]

once these are available i'm betting to get most companies to use these legislation will have to be passed forcing companies to use them to protect customers data.

 

[Bituser]

I can already imagine the screaming & yelling when someone swaps out a drive & forgets about this little feature...good idea though.

Toshiba will soon debut a series of hard drives that can automatically erase or prevent access to their own data should the drives end up in the wrong hands.

The company's new self-encrypting drive family will include a new feature that detects if the drive is connected to an unknown and undefined computer or other system. If so, the drive can either securely wipe all of its data or just deny access to that data. Customers can apply the feature to specific data on the drive and choose how and when to render the data indecipherable, according to Toshiba.

The drives are designed to provide an extra layer of security, especially for corporations, government agencies, and other organizations that need to adhere to certain security and data privacy requirements. The security technology itself is built on the "Opal" specification from the Trusted Computing Group, which dictates certain requirements for data protection in enterprise environments.

Read more:

Toshiba to launch self-erasing hard drives | Security - CNET News

Nice idea, but you definitely have a point there!

 

[Layback Bear]

You wouldn't need laws for government employees to use this protection with this nations classified or privet information.

 

[indianacarnie]

I must admit that I kind of like the idea.