Fujitsu Offers FDE Laptop Drives

Fujitsu's new MHZ2 CJ series of 2.5-inch notebook hard drives offer full disk encryption (FDE) using hardware-based AES-256 technology.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America has announces ots MHZ2 CJ series of 2.5-inch hard disk drives for notebook computers, offering full disk encryption technology (FDE) to protect private and confidential data in the event the notebooks are lost or stolen. The drives support the AES-256 encruption standard in hardware, ensuring encryption key’s never exist in a computer main memory—and, hence, can’t be discovered by would-be data thieves. Users enter a password when the drive is powered on, at which point the drive cryptographically regenerates the encryption key and uses it to read and write data on the drive with no impact on performance.

“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 Fujitsu VP of advanced product engineering David James, in a statement. “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.”

The drives also feature a secure erase feature that instantly makes data on the drive inaccessible when it comes time to dispose of the drive or redeploy it to another machine or system. The feature changes the in-drive encryption key, making the data on the drive completely incomprehensible (unless you happen to have a way to crack AES-256.)

The MHZ2 CJ series is available in capacities from 80 to 320 GB, run at 7,200 rpm, use an SATA interface, and have an average latency of 4.17 milliseconds. Fujitsu hasn’t released pricing information, but its mobile drives are typically available through OEMs and leading retailers.