Encrypted portable hard drives may not be as secure as you think
by from Techreport on (#R677)
A group of security researchers figured it'd be fun to see how well self-encrypting external hard drives protect data, and their findings may surprise owners of these devices. Gunnar Alendal, Christian Kison and "modg" took a few stabs at breaking into portable drives from Western Digital's My Passport and My Book series. Shockingly, the researchers were able to gain full access to user data in many ways. The team tested models manufactured as recently as 2013, and they say the drives tested remain unpatched.
Most of the tested drives use a USB-to-SATA bridge chip from a third-party manufacturer (JMicron, Initio, and Symwave, to name three) that can also handle ...