Trusted Computing Group Storage Device Specification Announced
The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) today released final versions of three storage specifications that will enable stronger data protection, help organizations comply with increasingly tough regulations, and help protect important information from loss and theft. Reportedly, TCG’s approach to Trusted Storage gives vendors and users a transparent way to fully encrypt data in hardware without affecting performance so that data is safe no matter what happens to the drive.
The Opal specification outlines minimum requirements for storage devices used in the PC client and enterprise markets. It outlines for vendors required and optional TCG capabilities, and it specifies how to activate and customize the trusted storage device. Some vendors are starting to ship products based on the OPAL specification and have demonstrated how these are interoperable with those from other vendors.
The Enterprise Security Subsystem Class Specification extends the concepts of trusted storage devices to those used in data centers and high-volume applications, where typically there is a minimum security configuration at installation, a requirement to bring devices on-line quickly and the need for high performance with low overhead. The specification defines encryption of data on media and enables support for strong access control to support organizational security.
Finally, the Storage Interface Interactions Specification specifies how the TCG’s existing Storage Core Specification and the other specifications interact with other specifications and standards for storage interfaces and transports. For example, the specification supports a number of transports, including ATA parallel and serial, SCSI SAS, Fibre Channel and ATAPI. It was developed with input from representatives of those organizations. Importantly, it enables interoperability of trusted drives in legacy environments.
The Storage Work Group also has addressed trusted optical storage with a specification that was released in late 2008. This specification, which will enable trusted storage in standard recordable optical discs, is targeted for applications in governmental agencies, financial services, healthcare, insurance and military. Eventually, the functionality will be available for all optical consumer applications, giving all users a secure way of protecting their data on removable optical discs.
