Seagate Self-Encrypting Laptop Hard Drive First To Win Key U.S. Government Certification

Seagate Self-Encrypting Laptop Hard Drive Seagate’s Momentus Laptop Hard Drive Earns FIPS 140-2 Certification, Clearing Way for Deployment of Drives by All U.S. Government Agencies and Regulated Industries such as Healthcare, Defense and Finance.

September 14, 2010, seagate announced that its groundbreaking Momentus ® Self-Encrypting Drive, the world’s first laptop hard drive with built-in encryption to protect against unauthorized access to information on lost or stolen mobile computers, has secured FIPS 140-2 certification from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The key government certification clears the way for deployments of Momentus Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs) by all U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, many state and local governments, and regulated industries such as healthcare, finance and defense required to use FIPS-certified gear to help protect sensitive data on PCs and computer networks. Many utility, education and transportation entities also have adopted the FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2 standard to lock down confidential information. Foreign governments in addition to Canada also recognize FIPS-validated products. The Momentus SED is the first hard drive with native encryption to earn the FIPS certification.

“The FIPS 140-2 certification exemplifies Seagate’s commitment to security standards that enable the widespread adoption of encrypting hard drives for laptops and other computers as the explosive growth of laptop PCs puts more sensitive personal and business information at risk, today’s NIST approval gives our system builder and end-user customers the peace of mind that Momentus ® Self-Encrypting Drives deliver the full power of government-grade security.” – said Dave Mosley, executive vice president of Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management at Seagate.

The FIPS 140-2 seal of approval comes three years after NIST, the federal agency focused on promoting product innovation by establishing technical standards for government and business, certified the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) chip built into the Momentus drive. Seagate has shipped more than a million of its self-encrypting laptop drives since their introduction in 2006.

See Seagate’s FIPS 140-2 certificate here: http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/documents/140-1/140crt/140crt1388.pdf .

More information on NIST and FIPS 140-2 is available on the NIST website:
http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/index.html

Seagate® Momentus® hard drives deliver high capacity and performance along with innovative technology, such as self-encryption and free-fall sensors. If you require feature-rich, reliable, robust and secure laptop storage, Momentus drives are for you.

More details: Seagate’s self-encryption Momentus Laptop hard drive