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ABIT's Secure IDE Motherboard
Frank Caviggia writes "The Inquirer has a story about ABIT's spiffy new IC7-MAX3 motherboard. Apparently, this motherboard has a feature called 'Secure IDE,' which is marketing-speak for hardware-based encryption ... ABIT goes on to claim that 'Secure IDE' 'will keep government supercomputers busy for weeks and will keep the RIAA away from your Kazaa files.' Pretty bold claims for a motherboard maker ..."
Correct me if I am wrong, but applications can still access unencrypted data; doesn't that mean numerous hacks would still work? 4ndr3w Scientists have been proven wrong time and time again -- by other scientists
Secure IDE, says Abit, has a special decoder without a special key, and that means hard drives can "never be opened by anyone".
Then from the paragraph before: "... its Secure IDE technology will 'keep government supercomputers busy for weeks.'"
So it can never be opened by anyone except the government, which will require a few weeks to decrypt what's on the drive? Are they mixing a physical opening of the drive with reading the data on the drive itself?
Personal computers with built-in hardware encryption is going to make life hell for support technicians.
I mean, I like the idea. I just don't like the idea of having to deal with impenetrable security on top of everything else that I have to deal with when my little brother's friend fries his computer again and I have to slap a new HD or mobo etc in it.
There are some things about this that I like - the cooling systems look interesting, and as someone who's looking upgrade my old Win98 Game Box (that's about all Windows is used for with me these days), I can consider it.
But the encryption doesn't sell me, because it's really a limited use.
Assuming the machine is being used, and they is inside so you can access your data. You install an old version of Linux with an unpatched SSH client, and somebody root kits you. The encryption won't help you here - after all, the key is already used on the box so the motherboard can talk to the hard drive.
The only time encryption would be useful is when:
a) Somebody steals/appropriates the computer, and doesn't get the key. You destroy the key, and if this is a court case, you make sure there are no backups they can restore from.
b) that's about it.
I like the idea of encryption being on a laptop hard drive, and there's a USB key for it (I'm hoping the 10.3 version of OS X's user directory encryption is not just password/passphrase enabled, but lets you use a CD-Key, or something onto the Keychain file and you can be anal and put the Keychain file onto a USB key so it has to be inserted for the home directory to wirk). A laptop is more likely to be stolen and credit cards/passwords/sensitive company information (and if you're like me and work for a company who does Defense department contracts, that can be a big deal).
Otherwise, I'm not sure I fully see the "average" home use of this motherboard to protect from the RIAA finding out what files you have over the Internet, since the hard drive is already being decrypted to give that data over the network. Like I said earlier, it's only use is if the RIAA gets a court order, and you throw the key into the garbage diposal. (Which might get you held up in contempt of court or some such, and then you'll have to hope that Abit doesn't have a backup key of their own floating in their system somewhere.)
I could just be missing the point of the encryption other than a "gee whiz" feature - but that's just me.
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if you're using FDISK in DOS to setup the partitions, there's no reason you can't install Linux on top of the DOS partition. That's how they all are. Even on my Cobalt MIPS box, it's got a freaking DOS partition layout.
The real question is, if the Key is USB, does the OS need to mediate between the SecureIDE subsystem and the USB key, or does the BIOS do it below the OS?
There are a few problems with it though. The key is almost certainly copied off the USB key into local storage, rather than passing all data through the USB port for encryption (though with a dedicated USB2.0 port, that might be allright), and if you're getting sued and the court requires you to make the data accessible, saying you 'lost' the key is going to put you in jail.
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I see a lot of people saying that they steal the motherboard then they can crack it, which while possible isn't entirely true. If you would read the information about the board you'd see it's a hardware dongle that stores the key information. Thus, if you buy a new mobo with secureIDE and have the same dongle you'll be able to read the data. It's that simple.
So rather than destroying the motherboard, you just need to store the USB key somewhere other than where the computer is. Pretty straight forward. You can't take the hard drive to another secureIDE computer and have it work without the USB key.
My Slashdot account is old enough to drink...
Ge = Geheimnis, or Secret
Sta = Staat, or State
Po = Polizei, or Police
Translate from german to english, and mash it all together again, and viola, Secstapo
If it is able to encrypt a harddrive at the beginning (with FDISK) with ANY key you have on that keychain, then I'm sure it is only used for superfast hardware encryption and decryption on the fly.
It will store the key in it's own RAM (that way you don't have to have the keychain plugged in after initial bootup) and will disappear when powered down.
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
It encrypts your data on the fly. Take the key away, now noone can mount /dev/porn.
Anything that restricts access to any data is DRM. That's why the slashbot reaction to the term is so moronic. Slashdot has DRM in the form of usernames and passwords, so I cant post as Perens or Carmack, and to make sure only subscribers get to see articles when first posted. A zip file with a password is "drm".
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According to that diagram, the motherboard isn't involved at all, and the card attached to the harddrive and the external dongle does everything transparent to the motherboard.
Is ABIT just bundling a product with their motherboard here, and can it be bought elsewhere?
I'd like to see one of these with a key fob that has an auto-destruct button on it, like a tiny capsule of acid... Delivered with two dongles -- one you can put in a vault or destroy, depending on how you feel.
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--
Arthur Hagen