Imation launches broad line of secure removable storage devices

Computerworld - Removable-storage vendor Imation Corp. today announced a new line of products ranging from hard drives and flash drives to Blu-ray discs and removable tape cartridges, all with a range of encryption and security management tools.

Imation's new Defender Collection consists of seven products, including four flash drives, two hard drives and an optical line of disc drives.

All have varying levels of Federal Information Processing Standardization 140 (FIPS) certification, according to, according to Jason Elles, Imation's global brand manager.

More secure products are expected later this year or next, including secure solid-state drives and Imation's current line of RDX-series removable hard disk drives that will have new security and management features, Elles said.

Keith Schwartz, a director at Imation, said the company has never released such a breadth of products, or products with such high-level encryption and remote management features.

"Obviously we've always had optical and flash products and hard disk drives, but we've never had products that have had the authentication levels we're talking about, never had products that had antivirus, never had products with central management and never had products that were validated at a FIPS level," he said.

The Defender products, all based on existing Imation hardware, include new security and management features that came as a result of recent partnerships between Imation and MXI Security, a managed portable security vender, and Encryptx Corp., a data security and policy control and management vendor.

All of the Defender series products have varying levels of security, based on MXI Security's firmware for user authentication, digital rights management and data encryption, including MXI's Bluefly Processor. Imation is using Encryptx's EncryptDisc AES 256-bit encryption and burning technology for its line of secure, printable optical media, including CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

The company said the new products are aimed at enterprises in the financial services industry, the government and the military, as well as some small-business sectors and professional consumers. They are also being targeted at more than 100 countries around the world where Imation has its sales offices.

"The need for data security continues to increase among corporations and consumers," Liz Conner, an analyst at IDC, said in a statement.

Imation's new products also include Imation's DataGuard rf Tape Tracking System, DataGuard Transportation and Storage Cases, SecureScan for LTO tape cartridges and DataGuard GPS (currently only available in Europe.)

The DataGuard tracking system products deploy an RFID chip that not only allows tape cartridges and their packaging cases to be read scanned into local databases, but also tracked by GPS in order to pinpoint their location during off-site transit.

Imation's products include the Defender Software Suite, which allows storage administrators to protect the hardware using Malware AntiVirus Scanning along with central device management. The suite includes Access Standard, Access Enterprise and Access Identity.

The new Defender Optical product is a self-encrypting, self-burning line of CD-R, DVD-r, DVD+R and Blu-ray disk drives that offer password authentication and an integrated password-recovery option and are FIPS 140-2 Level 1 validated. The discs have a suggested retail price of $2.10 for CD, $2.50 for DVD and $7.50 for Blu-ray.

The Defender F100 flash drive.

The Defender F100 and F150 flash drives have hardware-based encryption and are FIPS Level 3 certified. The drives come in waterproof and dustproof enclosures. The F100 has a plastic casing, and the F150 has a metal enclosure. Both drives offer optional antivirus and central management software and have capacities ranging from 1GB to 32GB. The suggested retail prices for the F100 and F150 range from $54 to $299 based on capacity.

The Defender F200 biometric flash drive.

The Defender F200 is a biometric flash drive with hardware-based encryption that is awaiting FIPS Level 3 validation. It is aimed at preventing PC-based attacks with its two-factor authentication -- password and biometric authentication capabilities. It features an ergonomic biometric swipe sensor with hardware-based matching, along with a tamper-resistant metal enclosure. Antivirus and central management software are optional. The drive comes in capacities ranging from 1GB to 32GB and has a suggested retail price of $99 to $349, depending on its capacity.

The Defender H200 external hard drive.

The Defender H100 and H200 are external hard drives. The H100 offers password authentication. The H200 features password authentication and a biometric fingerprint swipe pad. The drives both have hardware-based encryption and come in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB capacities. Both have optional antivirus software, central management software and are pending FIPS Level 3 validation. The suggested retail price is still to be determined.

All of the products are expected to be generally available this month or next.

In the future, Imation will release the Defender F175 Pivot, a flash drive in a metal casing, with FIPS Level 3 validation, as well as a secure bootable flash drive with Windows or Schwartz also alluded to future products having enhanced features, including RSA soft tokens, digital certificates and integrated smart-card technology.