The Benefits of Self-Encrypting Drives in the Data Center

At least 39 U.S. states now have data privacy laws that state if one encrypts data at rest, one doesn't have to report breaches of that data. U.S. Congressional bills have similar provisions. The payment card industry data security standard, which requires rendering sensitive cardholder data unreadable anywhere it is stored, lists strong cryptography as an acceptable method of doing so. For these and other reasons, data center administrators have compelling motivations for encrypting data at rest. Nearly all drives eventually are decommissioned from use in a data center, whether because the drive failed, is obsolete, is to be repurposed, or is to be returned for service, warranty or because the lease expired. When the drives leave the data center, the majority is still operable and their data is still readable.