Stonewood unveils government-accredited SSDs

Stonewood's Eclypt drives offer CAPS accreditation for military and government use

Encryption specialist Stonewood has released a family of secure, Flash-based storage devices that it claims are certified for use by governments.

The units are pitched at mobile and office-based users, and include an external Eclypt Freedom drive and an internal Eclypt option.

"With 29 million people affected by data loss in 2009, and this figure set to increase this year, encrypting data has never been more important," said Chris McIntosh, chief executive at Stonewood.

"Solid state drive [SSD] technology offers customers increased ruggedness, as with no moving parts it is inherently able to withstand more extreme conditions than rotating drives.

He added that both Eclypt internal and external drives offer CAPS accreditation for military and government use.

Stonewood is keen to play up the toughness of its drives, and believes that they will be of particular interest to the military, but the need to secure data is becoming increasingly important for organisations of all kinds.

A recent survey by encryption firm PGP found that the average cost of a data breach has risen seven per cent over the past year to £64 per lost record. The actual cost to the company involved could run as high as £3.9m.

The external Stonewood Eclypt drive is available in 160GB and 256GB versions, while the internal drive comes in 128GB and 256GB sizes. Prices start at £600.