Samsung 470 Series SSD Awarded NIST Security Certification – Possibly A Consumer SSD First!

Samsung’s PM810 SSDs, better known to most people as the 470 series, have received a prominent security certification: The National Institute of Standards and Technologies’ FIPS 140-2. This certification is important for military, government and certain business applications that require heightened security.

One of the main features that the certification covers is the drives’ built in 256 bit AES encryption engine, which provides real-time, high performance protection of sensitive data.

Also mentioned are various routines implemented in the firmware which provide an additional layer of protection not found in most other drives. One such algorithm is Samsung’s “Crypto Erase” technology which, according to Samsung, is capable of erasing the entirety of the drive in seconds. This eliminates the potential threat of data being read from disassembled flash chips.

Fear not, all those embarrassing holiday photos and uber game saves will be completely safe from any would be malcontent.

This certainly isn’t the first SSD to be targeted at military applications, though it does seem to be one of the only consumer SSDs to be re-purposed as such. It will be interesting to see if these features make it into consumer drives, or if they’ll be restricted to specific orders. Adding these enhancements without any kind of price bump could definitely give Samsung a leg up on the competition when it comes to the target market. I’m sure many end users would find the additions to be quite useful as well, though I’m not sure I’d hold my breath when it comes to such features trickling down to consumer drives.

Regardless, Samsung’s attempt to cater to broader markets is very promising, and is an excellent reflection of the SSD industry in general, which seems to have no limits lately in its ability to expand.

Hopefully, the upcoming CES will serve to boost the momentum of this growth spurt, making this year one to remember in the SSD market.

If we’re lucky, growing pains will be kept to a minimum.

Feel free to check out our original review of the Samsung 470 Series SSD where we were the first to recognize the caliber of the 470 well after its public release, only to be followed by a subsequent article displaying our Christmas RAID 0 tests for the drive.