SecureDrive today announced two SSDs optimized for secure storage of data. The flash-chips can be remotely damaged by sending a text message to the mobile number of the drives. The SecureDrives encrypt data using 256 AES encryption and require two factor authentication to gain access to information stored on the disk.
Authentication is performed with a token that comes with the drive which makes security of the SSDs independent of potentially insecure operating systems. The drives can be unlocked with a self set pincode of up to 22 characters. When the pin code is inserted wrong several times the drive is automatically rendered useless.
In case the drive or computer containing the drive is stolen or left behind it's possible to physically destroy the SSD remotely. The SSDs connect to a GSM network and contain a mechanism that is able to physically damage the NAND flash memory chips, resulting in an unusable drive. The destruction mechanism is activated by sending a text message with a specific code to the drive. It's also possible to let the drive destroy its contents when it's disconnected from the GSM network for a set time.
The drives also destruct themselves when the SATA connection is unauthorized disconnected or when the case of the SSD is opened. The British SecureDrive has not published any performance specifications and it's also unknown on what brand SSDs the SecureDrives are based. We do know the SecureDrives won't be the fastest available because they still use a SATA-300 interface.
The drives should become available soon, a 64 GB Secure Drive SSD will set you back 935 EURO / $1180, while a 128GB drive costs 1063 EURO $1300.
In 2012 the company RunCore also sold SSDs with a self destruction mechanism, but to destroy the data one had to physically press a button. The RunCore drives destroyed themselves by increasing the current to damage the chips.
