Full disk encryption technology for laptops

Fujitsu 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.

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.

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.