Article ID: 000036098 Content Type: Product Information & Documentation Last Reviewed: 11/07/2022

What Type of Encryption Do Intel® SSDs Use?

Environment

Applies to all Intel® SSDs with AES 256bit encryption technology.  

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Summary

Describes the encryption type used on Intel® SSDs.

Description

This drive advertises AES256 encryption. How is this enabled and managed?

Resolution

Intel® SSDs use AES-XTS-256 as encryption method.

If the Intel® SSD does not have a configured security interface (such as TCG Opal) the encryption function of the device does not provide confidentiality of user data. Under these conditions, the encryption engine in the device behaves more as a data scrambler. Without a configured security interface, data written to the device can be retrieved by anyone with access to the device. A security interface must be activated in order to provide data confidentiality on the SSD.

If you desire to set a drive password, please contact your computer manufacturer, as this may vary by vendor. In some cases, a password can be set in BIOS, and other cases in software. Note that the manufacturer instructions may require additional steps to configure the security interface properly. So be sure to follow all recommended steps.

Note
  • Intel® does not offer any tool to manage drive encryption features.
  • Please refer to this site from the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) for additional details on AES-XTS.
  • For TCG Opal 2.0 support, refer to this article: Intel® SSDs with TCG Opal 2.0* Support
  • Intel® SSDs are not TCG Enterprise compliant.