Smoke-belching flash drive self-destructs on command Chinese flash biz Runcore has built a self-destructing solid-state drive. The ironically named InVincible SATA SSD is aimed at military applications and customised SSD markets where a very high degree of data protection is required. It comes in 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch rugged form factors with SATA, PATA and CF Card interfaces, …
What a fantastic video!
The lass presenting looks like she has been dubbed, but in a 1970's kung-fu movie kinda way! lol!
Can see this been useful in china, africa and parts of the middle east. I canny see EU or US military peeps taking a boatload of these! Not in the current climate of cyber-suspicion...
I have the feeling they didn't do too many takes - it gets costly with a physically destructing drive (although I personally would not be above "accidentally" screwing up so I could so it again :).
You can see that in how she keeps away from the drive - she had no idea what it was going to do..
Unless pressing the red button does the same as the green, then blows to chips, there's no way this will enter any military systems. just going down the physical destruction of the chips won't suffice - I have recovered data from damaged flash chips in the past. Not easy, but well within the budget for a government body.
From the video, it looks to me like the button directs current, probably from the +12V line, directly into the flash cells thus releasing their magic blue smoke. I'm no double-E, but I'm pretty sure that'll wipe all the cells pretty thoroughly.
But honestly, if you're paranoid/concerned enough to have a self-destructing disk you would surely encrypt it as well, the idea being to make it as difficult as possible to recover anything.
Can anyone spot a problem with this scenario...
TSA: Excuse me sir, please come with us, and we'll take your computer
You: Before you take it, can I just power it up and press the shiny red button?
TSA: That sounds very reasonable, please continue
A destructive mechanism is surely more useful if the owner needs to DE-activate it every time it's switched on. How often are you likely to be just about to fall into enemy hands and yet also have enough time to power up the system and press the red button? I would have thought that a more common scenario is this: the equipment is taken (surprise attack / theft / seizure) before you can destroy the data - you may in fact not even realise it's gone. In which case you need to be sure that if the correct password isn't entered at boot-up the thing will self-destruct.
I'm given to understand that law enforcement usually remove the drive and make a copy before doing anything. Therefore what is required is an internal capacitor wired into the standard power supply so as to blow the drive as soon as power is supplied. On your PC you have this circuit earthed so that it never charges up. Ergo it's is safe for the crim to use but as soon as plod raid you, they remove the drive, power it up to make a copy and kaboom. I think I'll patent it,
All you need is a fairly cryptic voice activation control.. something you wouldn't say by accident, like:
"I call upon the power of the dark side! Sidious, give me power! Vader, give me control! Death star, vapourize the rebel planet.. er.. flash drive"
..or in a more Harry Potter sort of world:
"Flash discus incinero"
It would be almost worth it to see the cop's reaction
US Mil did for a while have a spec that demanded the physical destruction of flash media. I have been told that they have since relaxed that to where some kind of errasure is sufficent. Silicon Systems was one company I know that made them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Systems_Inc
*Bang Bang Crash* "FBI! Hands in the air!"
"Crap, the feds. Quick, hit the red button!"
Replace FBI with law enforcement body of choice. I could see this being very popular amoung paranoid criminals even without a remote. Ditto for spies, though I'd imagine they'd have a bit less time to get to the button.
There have been spinny disks with this tech in for a while. They contain a small vial of acid that eats the surface coating of the disk, rendering the data gone forever (supposed to be more secure than the "secure erase" app that wrote over the data with random blocks 10 times - and would've taken about a week for w hole disk).
There are a couple of options; there is a mechanical option (lever ISTR) or an electrical input.
switched the "red button" with Jim's 'e' key. Let's watch as the hillarity ensues.
I wouldn't be so presumptious to speak for most 'institutionalized' IT professionals, but I know I for one would abuse the piss out of the red button, just out of principle. Another evening of unpaid overtime? zap. Being asked by boss "how to open excel spreadsheet"? zap. Crude, elaborate practical joke perpatrated on unsuspecting coworkers who built home made taser and wired it to my mouse "for their amusement"? zap.
Think of all the possibilities of remote detonation: User: "I can't get to the internet and I can't understand why you guys are just sitting around looking at your screens?" Zap (note to self: for extra negative reenforcement, get said coworkers taser mouse deployed to the masses, immediately!)
Receive lol cats email from relatives or friends? zap. Receive FB friend request from, well, anybody? ZAP ZAP ZAP ZAP zap zap ZAP!!!
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