The world's largest disk drive makers have pledged to support three new Trusted Computing Group (TCG) encryption standards for hard disk drives, solid-state drives and encryption-key management applications. The standards group last week released the final specifications for encrypting data stored in laptop and desktop PCs and in enterprise-class drives used in servers and disk storage arrays. "This represents inter- operability commitments from every disk drive maker on the planet," said Robert Thibadeau, chief technologist at Seagate Technology LLC and chairman of the TCG. Noting that the standard requires a "cryptographical-ly strong password," he said any storage device that was lost or stolen would become "a brick. You [couldn't] even sell it on eBay." Any disk that uses the specification will be locked and unusable without a password.
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