Security and Storage Mediums

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Revision as of 01:31, 2 December 2007

Storage mediums today, whether they be in the form of CDs, DVDs, USB Keys, or another form, are one of the primary methods of transferring information on a small scale. Since the introduction of floppy disks in 1971, storage mediums have been accepted by society as an integral part of the technological age and in turn, advances are made frequently in order to furthur fulfill the end-users needs.

Benefits of Storage Devices

• Data Protection
• Ease of Use
• Easy to Transport Information
• Relatively Cheap and Efficient

Example Storage Devices

Floppy Disks

Size Comparison between 3.5" Floppy (Left) and 8" Floppy (Right)

The introduction of Floppy Disks was one of the first widely accepted form of use of an external device to act as a storage medium. Althought "Floppy" Disks are fairly rigid in composure, the name actually comes from the very first released disk, 8-inch - IBM 23FD[[1]], in 1971. This disk had a capacity of approximately 79.7 KB, and was, as the name implies, soft and floppy in nature. With evolution of technology, and the drive to advance, in 1987 the most widely used form of Floppy Disc (the 3.5" High Density Disk) hit the market as the fast, easy, affordable way to transfer small amounts of data.

As for the security used to protect Floppy Disks, the only real measure was a toggle switch, used to set the disk from full access, to read only. This only really accomplishs protection against unintentional modifications to data on a disk, and did not take any malicious intent, or other kinds of integrity, confidentiality, or availability violations into account.

Compact Discs

With the introduction of Compact Discs (more commonly known as CDs) the first real, mainstream alternative to Floppy disks made its appearance. The very first Compact Disc that was created for commercial use was produced at a Philips factory in Langenhagen, Germany on August 17, 1982. [[2]] A standard CD today can hold between 74-80 minutes of audio, or 650-700 MB of data.[[3]] By using "burning" technology, where data would be essentially carved into the data tracks, allowed for a fairly secure storage of data by making it read only. However later on after the release of CD-Rs (Recordable CDs) brought CD-RWs into the mix (ReWritable CDs) which allowed users to reburn data onto the medium, making it easier to update/modify/erase data at will. While this did help the medium in terms of cases where repeated transportation of data is needed, it overall makes the data on discs less secure, since it could be modified or important information could be lost if a disc was lost in transit to a person with malicious intent. Another adopted way of protection the data on a disc is to use copy protection techniques in order to hinder and prevent people from making 1:1 copies of a CD. Some of these techniques include:

• Dummy Files (Illegal file headers)
• Illegal Sectors (Error Detection Code, using checksums)
• Illegal Sub-Channels (Left over data filled)

Digital Video Discs

In 1993 the storage format war was back in full force. Two mediums in question, the MultiMedia Compact Disc and the Super Density Disc, each backed by a large group of big names. The war waged on until eventually the parties behind the MultiMedia Compact Disc succumbed and made a deal with the companies backing the Super Density Disc. When all was said and done the Digital Video Disc (DVD) was born.

USB Keys

Security Measures

References

Security Risks Associated With Portable Storage Devices
Demand for Personal Storage Devices to Grow

See Also

External Links

CD-Lock
CD and DVD Copy Protection
Floppy Disks
SecuROM
SafeDisc

--Cavaliaj 17:20, 1 December 2007 (EST)