Seagate, Secude Offer Encrypted Laptop

Seagate Technology and Secude IT Security are displaying a fortified laptop at CeBIT that features both full encryption of the hard drive and software for easier password management and deployment of machines, the companies said.

The laptop has Seagate’s Momentus 5400 FDE (full-disk encryption) hard drive that encrypts data with minimal effect on performance, Seagate said. The drive automatically encrypts all of the data on the disk within the drive, adding an additional security layer, the company said.

The drive can also be instantly erased, and the disk initialization process has been streamlined, Seagate said.

In addition to Seagate’s hard drive, the laptop has access management software named TiDoCoMi from Secude. With the software, system administrators can manage other add-on security features such as smart cards and biometric ID systems. TiDoCoMi also stores passwords and certificates, Seagate said.

Secude has introduced other software at CeBIT, the IT trade show in Hanover, Germany. The company has released Secude Secure Notebook 7.1.1, a product that also encrypts the entire hard drive. The software also can encrypt data on external mass storage devices, Secude said.

The software can be configured to allow access only with a smart card. The product can accommodate certificate-based, single sign-on for Microsoft operating systems, the company said.

Secude Secure Mail version 4.0 also is now available, Secude announced at the show. Different encryption protocols such as S/MIME, PGP Desktop and GnuPG can be used for e-mail, Secude said. Administrators can set rules for who can read the encrypted mail, and users can contact the help desk directly through the mail application.

Secude, based in Zurich, was formed 10 years ago as a partnership between SAP AG and the Fraunhofer Institute in Darmstadt, Germany.

-Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service

For more CeBIT-related news coverage, read CeBIT Lures IT Buyers, CeBIT: Lamborghini, Intel Set to Race Ferrari, AMD, Lucent: AT&T Deal Won’t Cut Spending, CeBIT: Samsung Touts 1st Origami Device and Security in the Spotlight at CeBIT.

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