Hard Drive Encryption Specification
There’s a new hard drive encryption standard, which will make it easier for manufacturers to build encryption into drives.
Honestly, I don’t think this is really needed. I use PGP Disk, and I haven’t noticed any slowdown due to having encryption done in software. And I worry about yet another standard with its inevitable flaws and security vulnerabilities.
EDITED TO ADD (2/13): Perceptive comment about how the real benefit is regulatory compliance.
John Ripley • February 5, 2009 7:46 AM
I think that sadly this has more to do with DRM than user protection.
It doesn’t add any value to the user, and if anything takes value away (as Bruce touches on). You can already cheaply, easily, and without any performance degradation perform whole-disk encryption.
If it doesn’t add value to the user, and involves encryption in the wrong place, then it’s a good bet it’s main market is for DRM. Actually, that pretty much defines DRM.