Imation Corp., an Oakdale, Minnesota-based storage and data security company, today expanded its “Defender” line of secure USB hard drives, adding drives with capacities of up to 1 terabyte (TB), with an option for biometric fingerprint authentication, and new USB drive management tools.
“Many organizations have already taken steps to encrypt and protect data on disk drives used in notebook PCs, but now need to go one step further to encrypt and protect data on personal storage devices,” said John Rydning, IDC’s research vice president for hard disk drives. “Imation’s encrypted personal storage solutions address what is often a neglected area for data security in organizations.”
To that note, Imation’s offerings help organizations protect against data loss and help meet compliance requirements, while providing a convenient way access to their data and applications anywhere.
Imation’s secure hard drives incorporate features including:
• FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) 140-2, Level 3 validated security processor that meets demanding regulatory requirements.
• AES 256-bit hardware encryption, protecting data each time the USB hard drive is in use with the hardware-based AES 256-bit encryption implemented in Cipher Block Chain (CBC) mode.
• Single or dual-factor authentication, customers can choose models with password-only authentication, or password plus biometric fingerprint authentication through an ergonomic swipe sensor, to protect data at rest and ensure data access for authorized users.
• Tamper-evident aluminum enclosure helps users recognize attempts to physically compromise the drive.
Additionally, the company’s line of secure data solutions helps IT administrators provision employees with a wide array of manageable FIPS Level 3 validated secure USB devices. IT administrators are also armed with features including as remote kill, device recycling, and compliance reporting. Features and controls include:
• Up to 10 users per device with one-factor or two-factor authentication standard, with robust support for complex and custom password policies including length, special characters, and expiration, among other rules.
• Optional Imation ACCESS Enterprise device management, which streamlines provisioning, and offers customized security policies, deployment, and management of a few up to tens of thousands of secure portable devices across networks and security environments.
• Available administration with McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator software, enabling centralized enterprise device management, and an array of administrative capabilities, including US Government CAC/PIV card authentication and optional antivirus software that prevents malware from being transferred onto the device.
“Enterprise and government organizations increasingly need manageable USB devices in order to provide mobile workers with the tools necessary to work where and when they want, and access the data they need in the most secure way possible,” said Lawrence Reusing, Imation’s general manager for Mobile Security. “People are increasingly turning to USB hard drives to transport large data sets. Our expanding secure hard drive offerings are in response to our customers needing increased capacity without compromising control over the devices and data.”
Available immediately, Imation’s new 1TB HDD’s have a list price of US$499, or US$549 with fingerprint authentication.
Related Reading: USB “Ciphering Dongle” Offers Instant Full Disk Encryption for USB Drives
