A misplaced storage device could lead to the leaking of a few embarrassing photos for some, while for those dealing in confidential information there might be a whole lot more at stake. Enter these self-destructing hard drives from London-based data security specialists SecureDrives, which appear to be ordinary storage devices on the surface, but are capable of destroying onboard data when triggered by a simple SMS message.
The 2.5-inch drives pack a 128 GB SSD and connect to a computer externally via Micro USB or internally via SATAII. If you're using these gigabytes to store sensitive information and the device happens to fall into the wrong hands, then the in-built GSM module allows the data to be permanently erased in a number of ways.
A user-defined SMS "kill message" is sure to be the most satisfying, if you can fend off the bad guys and peel back your black leather spy gloves for long enough to type it out. Failing that, the drive can be programmed so that the process is initiated by low battery levels, excessive incorrect pin code entries, simply removing the drive from a PC or the loss of a GSM signal for a user-defined period of time.
The erasure goes beyond simply wiping the data, with the process physically breaking down the NAND Flash chip and security controller inside. The company says this design was inspired by the reverse engineering of data recovery techniques, claiming it is impossible to recoup any data with the NAND Flash separated from the PCB.
All of this Mission Impossible-esque data security doesn't come cheap. The Autothysis128t is priced at £1,027.00 (US$1,650). The Autothysis128s model, which is managed by a companion iOS or Android app, will cost you £967 (US$1,550). Both models come with a one-year GSM subscription that will cost £29 (US$47) per year thereafter.
Source: SecureDrives
