Category Archives: secure-but-endangered

Hardware-secured data storage

Wired reports that a graduate student at Dartmouth College wrote a data storage application utilizing the IBM 4758 tamper-proof cryptographic coprocessor (FIPS 140-1 level 4 !). Although this was originally intended to protect data from overzealous government agencies it could well be used for secure electronic patient records as the article says. Of course, the drawback is that the data is lost should the coprocessor destroy itself for whatever reason.