
Cyber threat actors are everywhere, from private groups holding data hostage for money, to sovereign nation-states compromising and spying on government and critical infrastructure. It’s now more critical than ever that computing infrastructure of all kinds, from software to networking, CPUs to SSDs, implements features to defend against such threats.
FIPS stands for the Federal Information Processing Standards, which are published by the U.S. Government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). FIPS are standards for federal computer systems and are developed when there are no acceptable industry standards or solutions for a particular government requirement. FIPS validation is required in many government-computing applications, and while not required in the private sector, many voluntarily adopt these standards1. FIPS 140-3 specifically relates to security requirements for cryptography modules, which can be found within certain KIOXIA SSDs.
Across the KIOXIA portfolio of data center and enterprise NVMe™ SSDs, self-encrypting drives, otherwise known as SEDs, are offered specifically for those customers who require the highest level of security. KIOXIA SED SSDs adhere to the Trusted Computing Group’s Opal Security Subsystem Class specification or Enterprise Security Subsystem Class specification, depending if the SSD is an NVMe or SAS device. These are the de facto industry standard specifications for SSDs and HDDs alike, and form the backbone of any SED device.
We are excited to have issued a press release that the cryptographic storage module used in the CM7 Series NVMe SSD has been validated to meet the FIPS 140-3 Level 2 standard. Like the cryptographic storage module used in KIOXIA CM6 Series NVMe SSDs and its 140-2 Level 2 compliance, KIOXIA continues to be on the forefront of securing customers’ data on our SSDs. Check out our microsite to learn more about SSD security for all of our drives.
With this certification, KIOXIA CM7 Series FIPS 140-3 drives are now available for ordering in both 2.5” and E3.S form factors and across all capacities. Oh, and by the way, the KIOXIA CM7 Series NVMe SSD is one of the first PCIe® 5.0 compliant enterprise SSDs available in the market today with a cryptographic storage module that is FIPS 140-3 Level 2 validated2! Reach out to your KIOXIA sales representative to start securing your data today.
NOTES:
1July 3, 2024, Compliance FAQs: Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), Compliance FAQs: Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) | NIST
2Based on validated SSD cryptographic modules on the NIST website: https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/validated-modules/search, as of October 7, 2024
NVMe is a registered or unregistered trademark of NVM Express, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.
SED optional model supports TCG Opal SSC except for some features.
SED optional model is not available in all countries due to the local regulations.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of KIOXIA America, Inc.