Hitachi,Pioneer, SANYO and Sharp have developed SAFIA content protection
technologies for use with digital recording media utilized by a wide range
of devices, from consumer electronics to personal computers.
These four companies also form the group to develop, promote and license SAFIA (Security Architecture For Intelligent Attachment device) . SAFIA was originally developed to target the iVDR(*1) removable HDD (Hard Disk Drive) Standard, and is expected to widely contribute to developing removable HDD appliances to dramatically enhance the digital entertainment
experience.
Background
As digital broadcasting and broadband are becoming popular, the use of HDDs
capable of recording and playing huge amounts of content with high speed is
increasing in many AV applications. Furthermore, consumers are requesting
for the ability to carry their media with them anytime, anywhere, which will
naturally cause demand for removable HDDs. Thus, the iVDR Consortium
established in March 2002 continues-to develop and promote the iVDR
removable HDD standard.
The four companies have developed SAFIA content protection technologies for
personal computer and consumer electronic devices using iVDR, and form the
group to license SAFIA to contribute business opportunities for removable
HDDs.
Features of SAFIA
SAFIA targeted for protecting content on intelligent media of iVDR has the
following features:
-AES-128(*2) for encryption of content, PKI(*3) based bi-directional
authentication, and secure transfer protocol for strong security
-Integration of content encryption key and usage rules for secure content
access
-Secure content "move and delete" function using high speed HDD
-Application specifiable content usage rules
-High affinity to e-distribution such as super-distribution, which can
deliver content and key through different channels and timing
Schedule
SAFIA license group plans to finalize the license program in detail,
including applicable devices and fees, by July 2005. This program will
contribute business opportunities to develop related devices such as iVDR.
*1 iVDR: information Versatile Disk for Removable usage.
iVDR is a small, light removable HDD that can be carried around. iVDR
Consortium promotes and develops the iVDR standard. iVDR provides huge
capacity and high speed random access capability utilizing HDD features. The
interface is based on serial ATA and supports data transfer rates up to
1.5Gbps.
*2 AES: Advanced Encryption Standard.
AES is a block cipher adopted as an encryption standard by the US
government, and is expected to be used worldwide and analyzed extensively,
as was the case with its predecessor, the Data Encryption Standard (DES).
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) adopted it as US FIPS
PUB 197 in February 2001. AES-128 uses 128 bits for block sizes and 128 bits
for key sizes.
*3 PKI : Public Key Infrastructure.
PKI is a method for authenticating a message sender or encrypting a message
by use of public key algorithm. It enables users of an insecure public
network, such as the Internet, to securely and privately exchange data
through the use of a public and a private cryptographic key pair that is
obtained and shared through a trusted authority. It provides for a digital
certificate that can identify an individual or an organization and directory
services that can store and, when necessary, revoke the certificates.