Rocstor's Ultra Secure SmartCard-Based Portable Hard Drive

In situations that demand portable hard drives, but that are highly sensitive to the chance of drive misplacement or loss, Rocstor's Amphibious is a solution that might mitigate the risk.

Rocstor is at CES 2012 showing a prototype of the Amphibious. The drive's security features are its most important differentiators. Though a sledge hammer might crack it open (we didn't try), there are no visible screws or entry points for gaining easy access to the actual disk drive. But the Rocsafe's most notable features are the numeric keypad on its glassy surface and a smartcard slot. Without an authorized smartcard and self-selected PIN code, the drive cannot be mounted by a PC or Mac.

According to Rocstor director of sales Anthony Rink, the Amphibious is compliant with the AES 256 CBC specification and is FIPS 140-2 Level 2 certified. The drive is manufactured in Los Angeles so that it satisfies the Trade Agreement Act provisos that make it possible to sell the drive to the US Government. Rink claims the drive is also HIPAA compliant as well. The drive can also be configured as a boot drive for either Mac OS X or Windows.

In the embedded video below, Rink discusses how the Amphibious is manufacturer independent. In other words, other smart cards like a smart government issued ID (for example, one that opens doors in government installations for example). It's available in a variety of capacities ranging from 320 G-bytes to 1 terabyte.

Rocstor's expecatations are that the drive is going to be available by the end of Q1 2012. More information is available from Rocstor.com.