Quantum Steps Up Security

Quantum Corp. today unveiled its security plans for the coming year, touting new electronic keys, encryption, and physical locks in an effort to address users fears about data loss (See Quantum Unveils Strategy.)

First up is the new firmware-based key, which will be built into future versions of Quantum’s tape drives. The idea is that as the cartridge is read, the drive compares the key on the tape to the key supplied by the library. According to Quantum, IT managers can use a GUI to assign keys, and data will only be unlocked if the keys match.

An IT manager at a Midwestern manufacturer who asked not to be named, says that the keys could prove useful. “Our management is looking into how to address this type of thing,” he explains, adding that the keys will enable him to lock down the drives and better control who gets access to what. “We’re like everybody else -- we send our tapes off-site and we rely on our vendor to keep them secure,”

Mark O’Malley, Quantum’s manager of strategic marketing, told Byte and Switch that the key will be available as a firmware download for the recently launched DLT-V4 drive in the first quarter of next year. The vendor is also building the key into its new DLT-S4 drive, which is slated for a Q1 launch.

Controlling access to disk and tape media is big news at the moment, following a series of high-profile data losses. Earlier this year, for example, Time Warner made headlines when a truckload of backup tapes containing information on hundreds of thousands of employees went missing. (See A Tale of Lost Tapes, Tape Security Trips Up Users and A Tale of Lost Tapes.)Not surprisingly, Quantum is looking to improve its story around encryption, which has become compulsory for companies looking to avoid the consequences of lost data. Even if tapes or disks fall into the wrong hands, the encrypted data remains inaccessible.

Quantum is planning a partnership with encryption specialist Decru to combine its DataFort appliance and Quantum's tape libraries and disk arrays. O'Malley said more details will be available once the two vendors work them out early next year.

But Quantum is not relying solely on Decru to bolster its encryption strategy. The vendor is also planning to offer native encryption on its tape drives, libraries, and autoloaders in the second half of next year. Again, O’Malley was giving little away, saying only that Quantum is working with “several” potential partners. He did confirm, however, that this will involve AES 256-bit encryption.

Other vendors are also looking to bolster storage security via encryption. Sun Microsystems Inc., for example, is offering AES 256-bit encryption on its new T10000 tape drive. (See Sun Fills in Storage Crypto Details.) MaXXan Systems Inc. has also launched high-speed data-at-rest encryption for its MXV Series of Secure Storage Application Platforms, and backup specialist Asigra recently unveiled encryption on its Televaulting for Enterprises product. (See MaXXan Adds Encryption and Asigra Encrypts .)

The final piece in Quantum’s security jigsaw involves new physical locks on tape drives, libraries and disk-based backup arrays, which will become available in the first quarter of next year.As the October Byte and Switch Insider "Storage Security: Pay Attention or Pay the Price," points out, more than 50 million Americans have had personal information compromised since February. Some of the largest breaches involved lost tape, according to the non-profit consumer information and advocacy organization Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC).

Quantum execs say that the firmware key, which is called DLTSage Tape Security, will be available at no extra cost to users.

— James Rogers, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch

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