Towards trustable storage using SSDs with proprietary FTL

  • Xiaotong Cui
  • , Minhui Zou
  • , Liang Shi
  • , Kaijie Wu*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

In recent years we have seen an increasing deployment of flash-based storage, such as SSD, in mission-critical applications due to its fast read/write speed, small form factor, strong shock resistance, and etc. SSDs use a middle layer called flash translation layer (FTL) to maintain the compatibility with the traditional magnetic-based HDDs. Unlike the traditional HDD where the host OS has the knowledge on where and how to access data, SSD uses FTL to translate and implement all operations. Even worse, FTL, which is considered as one of most important intellectual properties of flash-based storage, is often proprietary. This brings up a serious security concern on design trustiness: what if the manufacturer either accidentally or intentionally implements those operations incorrectly or maliciously? In this paper we analyze the possible threats that are brought up by the design trust issues, and propose a simple yet effective countermeasure.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2015 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2015
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages1213-1216
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9783981537048
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Apr 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event2015 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2015 - Grenoble, France
Duration: 9 Mar 201513 Mar 2015

Publication series

NameProceedings -Design, Automation and Test in Europe, DATE
Volume2015-April
ISSN (Print)1530-1591

Conference

Conference2015 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2015
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityGrenoble
Period9/03/1513/03/15

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