Fujitsu Intros Laptop Encryption

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- 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, offering the industrys highest security standard for data at rest. The Fujitsu MHZ2 CJ series uses the AES-256 encryption standard which is currently the strongest available on the market for FDE drives, enabling the HDD to provide the strongest data protection from unauthorized access by setting a 256-bit password.

Current software-based security solutions have a potential security weakness, because encryption keys exist in system memory whenever the system is being used. Also, encryption is computationally intensive, which impacts the performance of software-based encryption. 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 at power-on, and is not known even to the HDD 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. “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.”

Fujitsu Ltd.