Now I know snooping by authorities has a lot of people up in arms, and with good reason, it is certainly nearing saturation point BUT does this new SSD maybe take the concept of security a little too far?
The Autothysis128t is a self-encrypting secure SSD with the built-in ability to self destruct data… including from a remote location:
Physical data destruction – on demand. The data destruction process can be triggered by any of the following:
- Via SMS ‘kill message’ (user defined)
- Starvation of the GSM signal
- Anti-tamper Case
- Tap-to-destroy function in the Token
- Low battery level
- Removing the Drive from a PC
- PIN code retries being exceeded
*Read a full description including all security features here: http://securedrives.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=55
Okay, so that sounds like the type of drive almost guaranteed to protect your data and keep the snoopers at bay but at what cost? Would you believe £1,027.00 which equates to approximately $1650.00us. So. my question is this – who could possibly justify that level of security for that sort of cost? My guess would be only those who have something extremely critical to protect, including spies and criminals, and maybe the odd politician. 🙂
My second question is this – is the advent of this type of self destructing drive maybe only serving to further empower the criminal element? Considering the levels of security involved and the pricing structure, it would certainly appear to be targeting the criminal element as one of its main consumer sources, whether inadvertently or not.
A step too far maybe. What do you think?
Think you’re right Jim, only the Nasties (on both sides) will have the bank roll to fund these. Any organisation which believes it needs this won’t be satisfied with one. My worry is that the “Good” Nasties won’t have the common sense to use them. In the UK, there have been many reports of data sticks, discs and even complete laptops being left in public places and on public transport by our Civil Servants. BTW, most, if not all politicians are “ODD”!
To your second and more important question, I agree that, whatever the may claim, the marketers of these devices know where their market will be.
What can be done? If potential customers had to be vetted, then this would be the start of the slippery slope to more invasive state control. Maybe the design has a “back door” to allow state “goodies” access, but that would defeat the whole purpose of the device.
Thanks for an interesting topic Jim, makes a change from me moaning about MS and Win 8 / 8.1 / 9 / 10
What would also concern me is what if your drive is hacked with the intention of just baking the drive and the contents? I can see hackers doing this to just destroy data, to be mean and mischievous. I would imagine that any data stored on this kind of drive would be critical too. There is no legitimate reason to manufacture this hardware – or buy it…unless you are a criminal, child pornographer (a much worse criminal) or a terrorist.
Good points Bradford, I 100% agree!
Maybe it is the sort of thing for those “Mission Impossible” TV remakes – “Jim (Phelps), this 35 gigabyte HD wide-screen video of your mission objective will self-destruct in 4…3…2…”, LOL.
The comments here sound like they’re all from law enforcement. The onus should be on the people wanting to surveil us, not on us to explain what we may have to hide. Whether or not we are hiding something is our business and until it becomes an actual threat-not a possible threat, based on the arbitrary judgment of some spook bureaucrat-why should others be allowed to trample what little freedoms we have left and snoop? I think this technology is awesome, and anyone who can afford to use it should do so. i most certainly will not feel any less ‘safe’ if there happen to be a few hard drives the nsa, interpol and all the rest can’t waste our tax dollars breaking into.
Hi harrold – So you’ve ordered your new Autothysis128t at $1600 then? 🙂
Appreciate your sentiment but I think you may be missing the point. It’s all about need versus cost. We all aspire to optimum privacy but seriously, how many average home users, who basically have nothing to hide, are going to fork out $1600 for a drive of this kind?
On the other hand, the criminal element, who have a LOT to hide and very deep pockets, are going to see this as an extremely worthwhile investment.
Cheers… Jim
Hey Jim,
I see your point, but i’m not sure ‘the powers that be’ would allow such an impregnable drive to be offered for, say, $100. I’d be first in line for one (perhaps you too?) and they’d have no one to snoop on-at least not via our HDs. If i’m right, it begs the question why are ‘they’ allowing this HD to be available. I think it’s because the criminals and the ‘powers that be’ are one and the same. Politicians and other rich folk often have a lot to hide and very deep pockets also. It’s a waste of money for them though, as the banking fiasco attests, the rich needn’t hide anything to get away with everything. anyway, keep up good work J!
-h
Now that, I definitely agree with!! Excellent point H.