ASI Ships the World’s First Laptop PC Featuring a Hard Drive with Built-in Encryption

The ASI EL80/C8015 notebook integrated with the Seagate Momentus FDE2 drive is a new security platform that delivers a simple, cost-effective way to deploy the highest levels of security for mobile computers by protecting data where it lives – on the hard disc drive

• Introduction

• Data @ Risk

• Advantages of Hardware Encryption

• ASI Security Platform

• Government Legislation
• Impact of Data Loss
• Backup Solutions
• EL80 CBB Specifications

As the popularity of laptop computers continues to explode, so does the need for securing the financial data, customer information, intellectual property, and personal history stored on these systems. With over 35% of all data breaches resulting from a lost or stolen notebook, businesses such as medical, legal, or financial, as well as institutions including educational or governmental along with individual consumers face the increasing challenge of protecting their vital information from theft.

ASI EL80/C8015 Security Platform

• Full Disk Encryption of all data and passwords

• Complete hardware encryption allowing the drive to run at full interface speed to maintain normal drive performance levels

• Encryption is always on and seamless to the user

• Pre-boot password protection prevents unauthorized access to the drive even if removed from the notebook

• Lower cost of ownership and easy to manage

• Seagate Momentus FDE2 HD is National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) AES Encryption Certified

• Testing Certified on FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard 197)

Data @ Risk

With the increasing sales of notebooks, more and more critical data is going mobile. As a result, companies are at risk to have that vital information compromised as it can no longer be contained with in the walls of the organization. In fact, according to recent studies by the Ponemon Institute, over 35% of data loss occurred due to a lost or stolen laptop which represented a loss of $182 per record with a total cost ranging from approximately $1 million to $22 million

• In August 2006, 49% of all reported data breaches were the result of a lost or stolen laptop (Privacyrights.org)

• December 2005, 1 millionth record breached

• Sept 2006 – Rueters – “1,100 Laptops Missing from US Commerce Department”

• August 2006 Veterans Administration Hospital lost over 18,000 medical records of veterans as a result of a stolen laptop. The lost data again included name, address, birth date and SSN

• June 2006 –eWeek – “Ameriprise Laptop Theft puts Client Database at Risk”

• June 2006 the US Government Veterans Affairs lost over 1.1 million names of active duty military, reserves, and National Guard members as a result of a stolen laptop. The information that was lost contained name, address, birth date and SSN.

• March 2006 – eWeek – Stolen Fidelity Laptop puts HP Workers at Risk”

• May 2005 – The California Aggie – Laptop Containing 98,000 names Stolen from Berkeley Campus”

• March 2004 – Information Week – Laptop Theft puts GMAC Customers at Risk”

Advantages of HW Encryption

As with any software application the encryption process requires a heavy amount of processor overhead which means it must utilize the systems main processor to code or decode the data which causes the computer to perform below expectations as well as make employees less productive and more frustrated with their PC.  In order to address the performance issue many software programs only encrypt logical sectors of the drive which means some data is still vulnerable even without a password. 

This performance degradation also leads to another problem associated with software encryption and that is that they can easily be turned off by the user which means that even though a security solution is in place, it is not functioning because the user deactivated the program due to performance issues.

Another challenge related to software encryption programs occurs when an update or patch needs to be loaded on the drive which requires encryption to be turned off and for the drive to be decoded which can be a very time consuming process.  Of course, once the patch has been added, the drive needs to be encrypted which again causes delays for usability of the system. 

ASI Security Platform

The solution to the problem of data protection on a laptop is the ASI C8015/EL80 NB which incorporates technology from Wave Systems and Seagate Technologies to offer a notebook that protects the information stored on the drive by using a hardware solution that completely encrypts the data and locks the drive through pre-boot password authentication to prevent unauthorized access. Even if the drive is removed from a stolen notebook or sent to a data recovery lab the information can not be viewed nor can the password be hacked making it completely secure.

Second, Seagate has added an additional hidden partition used to store the password as well as other vital information. This encrypted partition is not part of the overall storage capacity of the drive so it is completely inaccessible and secure. It also means that since the password is stored on this secret partition on the drive and not in BIOS as with software or other hardware solutions it travels with drive so if the drive is removed from the notebook, the password would still be required in order to access the drive.

Government Legislation

Data theft is one of the fastest growing high tech crimes in the US and this has not gone unnoticed by many state governments which have enacted laws that specifically require some form of data encryption. In fact, 29 states have laws such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), or California SB1386 that require encryption compliance and full client disclosure in the event of any type of data loss.

Impact of Data Loss

Back Up Solutions