Safe, automatic, fail-safe eraser rendering. This technology improves data security. Provided by: LANL
LANL news release
New technology created by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory will improve data security in several areas, from treaty validation to health services. The project, called “Secure, Automatic, Failsafe Eraser (SAFE),” can erase a device's memory and prevent data leakage.
“Our goal is to modernize demolition verification equipment while improving information barriers,” said Bertrand Dusimet of the Institute's Space Electronics and Signal Processing Group and a collaborator on the SAFE project. . “This technology enables better analysis and facilitates more specific and sophisticated parameter validation, as well as higher quality treaty validation and monitoring.”
Because of the focus on preventing illicit information transfers, treaty verification equipment, especially demolition verification equipment, is bound to use older, simple electronic equipment with limited analytical and processing capabilities.
Because of these limitations, the Los Alamos team devised an improved approach. They have designed modern microcontroller or field programmable gate array (FPGA) based devices that have more processing power and data analysis capabilities and ensure zero data transfer or retention. This ensures that the memory is automatically wiped as soon as power is lost or the device is tampered with.
Because microcontrollers are field programmable, they can be configured to perform a variety of other tasks, meeting the requirements of almost any industry that handles sensitive information.
Industries that could benefit from SAFE include:
- Authorities with access to sensitive information: Automatic erasure of device memory when removed from secure area.
- Military: If captured by the enemy, the memory of the technology will be automatically erased.
- Healthcare or Financial Services: If a device containing sensitive information is removed from premises, the device's memory will be automatically wiped.
About the team:
The SAFE team includes Ernst Esch, SAFE principal investigator and researcher in the Institute's Space Science and Applications Group. his Bertrand Dushime of the Space Electronics and Signal Processing Group; and Luke Strebe of the Space Instrument Realization group.
This project was supported by the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development Office within the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.