FARNBOROUGH, United Kingdom, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Viasat UK Ltd., a subsidiary of global communications company, Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), today announced a next-generation encryption storage solution, the data-at-rest cryptography solid state drive (DARC-SSD), as the latest addition to Viasat's hardware encryption family, providing secure data protection for government and defence agencies around the world. Data-at-rest technology safeguards against when a device is stolen, lost or attacked, enabling the data to be entirely protected and secure, even without the device on hand. With threats increasing from adversaries, new encryption technology is critical to maintaining secure control over Intellectual Property (IP), personal and financial data, as well as protecting sensitive mission information that could put military operations at risk.
DARC-SSD expands on Viasat's successful line of Eclypt encryption solutions and is the first encryption storage device in Viasat's new family of data-at-rest solutions. Unlike previous Viasat encryption solutions, the DARC-SSD uses a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) interface, which offers increased compatibility and integration with the latest commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices. Its small hardware footprint (M.2 2280) is designed to offer defence customers advanced data-at-rest encryption capabilities for protecting sensitive information on smaller, more compact laptops, tablets and small form factor (SFF) machines at Top Secret level and below.
"As the volume of mobile devices used by government and militaries grows, there are increasing concerns about the security of devices if they fall into the wrong hands," said Andrew Dobson, chief technology officer, Viasat UK. "However, with our DARC-SSD technology and its tamper evident design, we are confident that if a device is lost or stolen on the battlefield, the data will remain protected and secure at the highest levels of data security. Our continued investment and innovation in encryption and data-at-rest cryptography aims to help customers stay ahead of modern adversaries and have solutions that meet evolving device and operating system security needs."
DARC-SSD was built with direct input from the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to meet the requirements for securing highly sensitive defence and national security information. The military level 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware offers full drive hardware encryption for all data and the operating system. The DARC-SSD works by decrypting data upon bootup of the device with the proper mandatory two-factor authentication and then encrypting data immediately when the device is powered off. Unlike software encryption done by the operating system, hardware encryption has no impact on overall device performance. Additional benefits of DARC-SSD include quicker loading times and lower power consumption, and it will be available to defence customers in 256GB, 512GB and 1 terabyte (TB) storage options.
Learn more about Viasat's industry leading portfolio of data-at-rest encryption solutions here.
About Viasat
Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people's lives anywhere they are-on the ground, in the air or at sea. To learn more about Viasat, visit: www.viasat.com, go to Viasat's Corporate Blog, or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include statements about Viasat's data-at-rest encryption solutions and the DARC-SSD solution's benefits, features and capabilities including secure data protection, compatibility and integration. Readers are cautioned that actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include: risks associated with satellite failures, including the effect of any anomaly, operational failure or degradation in performance; contractual problems, product defects, manufacturing issues or delays, regulatory issues, technologies not being developed according to anticipated schedules, or that do not perform according to expectations; and increased competition and other factors affecting the government and defense sectors generally. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in Viasat's SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including Viasat's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Viasat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.
Copyright © 2021 Viasat, Inc. All rights reserved. Viasat, the Viasat logo and the Viasat signal are registered trademarks of Viasat, Inc. Eclypt is a registered trademark of Viasat UK Limited. All other product or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
