FORTASA BLOG

Oftentimes there is a need to keep secure data away from public eyes. Traditionally the most common way to protect critical information on hard disk drives (HDDs) has been to encrypt it with a strong key. While the data is protected from the unauthorized access and duplication, it is still fully visible to anyone checking the drive contents. Unlike HDDs, in Flash cards and SSDs the data access can be restricted by the unique Flash Controller firmware functionality to not only encrypt, but also hide the data from the visible partition.

This capability to achieve securely hidden information is enabled in Fortasa Memory Systems Solid State Storage products. Select Fortasa devices offer user established protection zones. These zones are initially defined at the manufacturing facility by a device utility and can be set to any starting and ending LBA location. Once the zone is set it can be configured to one of the three definitions:

1) Unprotected - Fully Visible and Accessible by Read and Write Command

2) Restricted     - Hidden - Can't Be Accessible by either Read or Write Command

3) Read-Only     - Can Only Be Accessed by Read Command, No Write or Erase Enable

The restricted access to the Restricted and Read-Only zones is setup through a specific password protection. Any proprietary information can be safely stored in the selected zone as long as it fits within the dedicated LBA space. The hidden/protected data can be subsequently accessed by a specific, proprietary access commands.

Please contact Fortasa for information about Security Features of our Industrial Storage Products.