WD Passport Elite encryption key questions

[Femman]

Hello all.

This is regarding the WD Passport Elite, and possibly other Passport models with encryption capabilities.

• Is it possible to extract, erase and restore the 256 bit master key used?
• Has anyone been able to confirm it is actually AES-256 being used on these drives? WDC themselves do not specifically say "AES-256", only 256-bit hardware encryption
• Doing a (secure?) erase of the drive, it seems that the master key is re-generated. How? Is the computer feeding the HDD with some input regarding this or is the drive doing this all on its own? What is the random source in that case?

Thanks in advance!

[Femman]

Can an admin please change the thread topic to "WD Passport Ultra encryption key questions" ?

[Femman]

It seems WDC support claims it is AES 256, but also that no official documents stating this is available. This is weird behavior for a company selling secure drives.

For their "WD Re"-drives, they clearly state they are using AES 256

SATA Drive: Optional secure model for encrypting drives – Utilizing an AES 256 bit encryption engine for Crypto erase capability,

[HaQue]

Well wording is important.
If you set the crypto on that same drive to 8 bit, the statement "Utilizing an AES 256 bit encryption engine for Crypto erase capability" can still be true.. you are still utilizing the engine.

Same as Obama stating that "no, we do not listen in on American phone calls"

The did however record them, transcribe them, then READ them... not technically LISTENING in.

There is too much fluff, smoke and mirrors around, and it is why people need to RE things.

I have even seen some encryption where the actual encryption is some flawed algo, and just the key to that crappy encryption is AES256.. and the company states the encryption is AES256. so you feel secure but in fact are possibly not.