Nov 14 2007
DataPlay, a leader in advanced optical storage solutions, announced today its leadership of the Optical Storage Subgroup (OSS) within Trusted Computing Group's Storage Work Group (SWG). In this role, DataPlay will help set the design for the world's first optical burner to support Trusted Computing Group's storage specification.
"We are pleased to contribute to the Trusted Computing Group and its Storage Work Group. There is a large market opportunity for a 'trusted optical drive,' which will serve as a remedy for data loss and identity theft. In a 2006 study conducted by Ponemon Institute LLC, 81% of companies it surveyed had lost one or more laptop computers containing sensitive information. A related study by the same group found 74% of organizations that experienced a data breach lost customers.
More than half faced potential litigation and one-third faced potential fines. Numerous markets will welcome this new technology, including Federal and local governmental agencies, health-care and financial service organizations, and consumers who want to protect sensitive digital information," said Bill Almon Jr., President and CEO of DPHI, Inc. / DataPlay.
The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) was formed in 2003 to respond to the concerns about the security of communications, transactions, storage, and wireless networks -- including problems such as data exposure, software attacks, identify theft, and physical theft. TCG is a not-for-profit corporation with international membership and broad industry participation. The purpose of the TCG is to develop, define, and promote open, vendor-neutral industry specifications for trusted computing and security technologies.
TCG has created work groups to define implementation architectures. The Storage Work Group is building on existing TCG technologies and creating open industry specifications for security services on storage systems, such as disk drives, removable media drives (e.g., optical), flash storage, and multiple storage device systems. These specifications are designed to enable more secure computing environments without comprising functional integrity with the primary goal of helping users to protect their information assets from compromise due to external software attack and physical theft.
"DataPlay's experience and expertise in optical storage and security systems is an important contribution to the adaptation of the TCG Storage Specification to optical devices. We are pleased to have DataPlay as the chair of the Optical Storage Subgroup and liaison to other optical storage standards," said Dr. Robert Thibadeau, Chief Technologist at Seagate and chair of the TCG Storage Work Group.
The Optical Storage Subgroup is chartered with applying the TCG Storage Specification to trusted CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray recording devices. Using approved encryption standards and methodologies, the new optical application will allow users to create, edit, and share optical discs and feel confident that their data will not be compromised if the disc is misplaced, lost, or stolen.
Within the application, there will be secure encryption that will be transparent to the user and always on. These new technologies will allow for new methods of trusted data distribution across organizations. An example would be for a corporate headquarters to mail a trusted DVD to all its regional offices while knowing the data cannot be accessed without proper authorization. The work group plans to enable authorization with multi-factor authentication including user passwords, host system access control, security tokens, and network key servers.
According to storage industry analyst Thomas Coughlin, president of Coughlin Associates, "Extending the benefits of encrypted data built into storage devices to optical disk drives is a next obvious evolution of the fundamental trust framework created by the Trusted Computing Group." He adds, "I would urge other optical disk drive manufacturers to look at incorporating internal encryption as a new means to differentiation of their products and provide additional features that will help them compete with alternative removable content distribution technologies."