When Cryptography Meets Storage

Confidential data storage through encryption is becoming increasingly important. Designers and implementers of encryption methods of storage media must be aware that storage has different usage patterns and properties compared to securing other information media such as networks. In this paper, the authors empirically demonstrate two-time pad vulnerabilities in storage that are exposed via shifting file contents, in-place file updates, storage mechanisms hidden by layers of abstractions, inconsistencies between memory and disk content, and backups.