SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 9, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (Flash Memory Summit) -- Today Datalight announced its Reliance Nitro File System will be the first product to offer software support for file level secure delete, utilizing features defined by the e•MMC 4.40 and 4.41 specifications. The secure delete feature in Reliance Nitro purges all the file data, including any hidden copies created by the file system to safe-guard reliability, when a file is copied or altered by the file system to ensure a completely secure erase. Assuming the complimentary hardware support, users can be confident that every instance or fragment of a file will be permanently deleted and therefore unrecoverable.
A recent study1 by the University of California, San Diego Non-Volatile System Laboratory highlights the challenges of effective deletion of secure data. UCSD researchers found that measures employed in SSDs and other flash arrays "produce copies of the data that are invisible to the user but that a sophisticated attacker can recover." Their analysis concludes that "Sanitizing storage media to reliably destroy data is an essential aspect of overall data security."
"Over the years, many of our customers have asked for secure delete capability," said Roy Sherrill, Datalight CEO. "The UCSD study illustrates just how vulnerable users of flash memory are to data security breaches, and highlights the urgency for the implementation of secure delete in the industry. The secure operations features of e•MMC give us the hardware foundation we've been waiting for to deliver a robust solution."
The e•MMC 4.41 secure operations comprise two features: secure erase and secure trim. With the latest release of Reliance Nitro, users will be able to flag critical files as "secure". Internally, the Datalight file system will then utilize these secure operations to permanently erase fragments and backups of those files.
"Secure delete is the first of many features we plan to introduce in support of e•MMC between now and 2012," said Datalight VP of Engineering, Ken Whitaker. "e•MMC 4.41 and 4.5 specifications contain a slew of incredible performance and feature enhancements, and Datalight will be the first to offer software support for OEMs and their customers."
Support for secure delete is just one part of the company's initiative to provide software support for JESD84-B45, Embedded Multi-media Card (e•MMC), Electrical Standard (4.5 Device), recently published by JEDEC. The new JEDEC e•MMC (4.5) standard makes it easy to embed mass-storage flash memory on host systems. The standardized eMMC protocol is the choice for today's smart phones and tablets, and the interface offers designers high performance and keeps technology complexity invisible to the host.
The company plans to release the new e•MMC-optimized software products for Android, Linux and other embedded operating systems in 2011.
1"Reliably Erasing Data From Flash-Based Solid State Drives" http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/users/swanson/papers/Fast2011SecErase.pdf
About Datalight
Datalight, Inc. headquartered just north of Seattle, Wash., develops technologies to enable risk-free mobile data. Datalight file system and device driver software ensures reliability, performance and flexibility, and is used worldwide on many of today's most well-known devices. For more information, visit http://www.datalight.com/, call 800.221.6630 or visit blog at http://blog.datalight.com
Reliance Nitro file system and FlashFX Tera flash media manager comprise the Datalight flash file system solution. Reliance Nitro was designed from the ground up for high performance applications. Dynamic Transaction Point™ technology provides 100% immunity from file corruption, even after unexpected system interruption. Embedded applications can benefit from faster boot times that remain consistent for the life of the product, regardless of disk size. FlashFX™ Tera features pre-written support for over 300 flash parts, including MLC, works with virtually any NAND controller, and features wear leveling, bad block management, and background compaction for unrivaled performance. Datalight flash file system products are available on VxWorks, Windows Embedded CE, Linux and many other operating systems.
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