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MAKING STORAGE SAFE AND SOUND
Founded in 2000, Enova® Technology specializes in developing, manufacturing and marketing real-time crypto-system gateway application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for various data storage applications. It has developed and manufactured the X-Wall DX-64 and X-Wall SE-64, integrated drive electronics (IDE) encryption/decryption gateway ASICs, to encrypt/decrypt entire disk contents in real-time, including boot sector and operating system.
| APD. |
What security risks are Asian businesses currently facing with regard to data storage protection? What help can Enova® provide to alleviate these risks? |
| RW. |
Securing data in motion (transit) has been a primary focus for the past 20 years. Technologies such as secure socket layer
(SSL) (transport layer), which protects browser-to-browser communications, virtual private network (VPN) (network layer), which protects Internet protocol (IP) transfer, and public key infrastructure (PKI) (application layer), which protects private communications through the Net, are aimed primarily at protecting data in transit. These solutions are generally slow in speed but expensive. Compatibility other than cost is a primary concern for all implementations.
Until now, there hasn't been an effective solution to resolve security issues relating to data at rest (DAR), or storage. A good example is the mobile hard drive: it is easily stolen and occasionally lost; it is often used by employees in possession of key strategic data; and it can contain a wealth of company secrets, including corporate strategic planning, engineering projects, customer databases and network access information. In addition, a corporate server can be compromised when a failed hard drive is sent out for third-party repair. If the hard drive has failed and the data cannot be erased, the third-party recovery operation could well find itself in possession of confidential and sensitive information. File-level encryption is a possibility, but drive-level security eliminates all possibilities of data extraction.
DAR encryption requires a bandwidth of 1 Gbps (or higher), therefore the operation of encryption/decryption will not become a bottleneck. Enova®'s X-Wall SE family ASIC, which offers more than 1.1Gbps of real-time performance to disk storage, can be applied to a variety of storage olutions whereby data is backed up on hard disks either remotely or locally. Solutions can be on banks of disks, disk arrays, individual hard disks on servers, or individual machines. Enova® is delivering integrated solutions for strong encryption strengths that provide IT executives protection for both user applications and data. |
| APD. |
What can encryption technologies, if properly applied, provide to a company's security system? |
| RW. |
Typically, encryption has been applied to credit cards and personal information only when transactions take place. The trend
today is to encrypt data everywhere: while it traverses the Internet and intranet, and while it is stored. Previously data would be stored in 'clear text' allowing hackers easy access to all data. For the first time, Enova® is offering real-time, high performance and transparent encryption on all data on the hard drive. |
| APD. |
Some 59 percent of companies encrypting information are doing so out of fear of possible hacker attacks. Reports show,
however, that many are not utilizing encryption to its full potential. Do you agree, and if so, how can firms take full advantage?
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| RW. |
Yes, we agree. Companies need to protect against information attacks, intellectual property stealing, and serious attacks by
hackers attempting to break the business or cause havoc in the workplace. Increasing the volume of encrypted data is one
key element in the overall solution. New policies are being developed today to more efficiently manage secure data.
To encrypt all data, a study of traffic patterns and bandwidth requirements for data under adverse conditions needs to be
completed. The appropriate solution must be selected for network-based encryption for moving all data and databases stored
on hard drives. The enterprise should trial the integrated solution, and after learning the optimized solution, provision it across
the entire enterprise. This will begin to protect user privacy, user data and intellectual capital.
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| APD. |
How does the ever increasing use of the Internet, and the advancement towards systems integration, affect the security of
network data and storage?
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| RW. |
Previously, network integrators and security integrators were separate entities. After many years plan can then be mapped
into the corporate strategic plan, which will now include security.
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| APD. |
The attacks of 11 September have raised awareness as to the threat of terrorism. What has been the impact on the storage
protection sector of these events?
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| RW. |
Profound. Never before have IT executives concerned themselves with storage-based security. Now there is an awareness that
all systems must be backed up and supported with a disaster recovery plan, of being separate solutions, they are beginning to
emerge as an integrated solution. The ability of systems integrators to specialize in both networking and storage will benefit
from the new 'sweet spot' of the enterprise - now building storage-based solutions. This brings in an entire new revenue
stream for integrators specializing in both networks and storage.
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| Enova® is contributing by taking hard disk encryption to a new level. Previous solutions were software or reduced capacity hard drives. Enova® removes these obstacles and makes the solution easy, cost effective and extremely high performance.
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| APD. |
Many IT managers are finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of being squeezed between three uncompromising
forces: lower budget, demands from upper management to defend departmental ROI, and rising security risks. What advice
would you give a company looking to select an IT security solution?
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| RW. |
This is an issue of prioritization: having a detailed RFP for competitive bids from both vendors and integrators; having each
supplier provide recommended solutions; refining the RFP; then selecting the best priced and featured solution under highly
competitive conditions. This will reduce costs, reduce TCO, increase ROI and provide a strong secure enterprise. A budget,
timeline and project as resilience needs to be built into the security architecture. Today security is number one or two on all
lists of IT priorities. A variety of attacks, both internal and external, need to be prepared for and awareness must be the normal
operating procedure for all enterprises.
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| APD. |
Given the rising level of risk in today's business environment, how quickly do you expect security requirements to expand in
the future? What solutions does Enova® provide to meet these needs?
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| RW. |
These requirements are expanding today. From services such as 'vulnerability assessments' to real-time hard disk
encryption, new solutions are being adopted and scaled across the user base. Overall solutions require seamless integration,
ease of use, low costs and manageability. Each of these solutions requires enhancements and technology advances to
achieve these goals.
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Enova® is contributing by taking hard disk encryption to a new level. Previous solutions were software or reduced capacity hard
drives. Enova® removes these obstacles and makes the solution easy, cost effective and extremely high performance.
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