Seagate is adding a self-encrypting capability to its Cheetah 15K disk drive based on a specification of the Trusted Computing Group.
The TCG Storage Architecture Core Specification 1.0 defines a way that storage system drives will recognise encryption and decryption security commands and authorisation requests, says Gianna DaGiau, Seagate's senior product marketing manager.
The functionality will be added later this year.
"The drive will be encrypting data coming to it," DaGiau says. "The encryption key is inside the drive and never leaves it. It will require an authentication key for decryption."
The reason for the move is that "a storage system is likely to have dual sources, not just Seagate necessarily," she says.