JP3136838U - Portable data storage medium for protection of stored information and subsequent erasure - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a portable data storage medium comprising a housing, a digital memory for carrying data based on a semiconductor element, and means for protecting stored information and then erasing it.
An encryption program for encrypting information stored in a digital memory for carrying data, and an encrypted program for transmitting the encrypted data to a confidential server via a network connection. A wireless unit and a button or lever arranged on the outside of the housing. When operated, the encryption program is activated, and force is transmitted to the broken parts by mechanical cooperation inside the housing. The destruction component further comprises a button or lever that will cause destruction of the digital memory due to the increased pressure without removing the data storage medium from the housing.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable data storage medium comprising a housing, a digital memory for carrying data based on semiconductor elements, and means for protecting stored information and subsequently erasing it.

  It is well known that information stored on data storage media will increase without much knowledge for business and other reasons. Many data storage media also have very sensitive information that should never be obtained by unauthorized persons. Thus, various methods already exist for erasing data on a data storage medium, for example, using an erase command or by formatting or overwriting.

  When using the erase command, it should be noted that, in particular, in a DOS-based operating system, the information is not actually erased, only the link to the information in the “index” of the data storage medium is erased. There is. That file still exists. There are many programs that can restore again information that is believed to have been erased, for example, DOS has an undelete program.

  In order to erase the data in an unrecoverable manner, all writes to the data storage medium must be overwritten. For this purpose, a program such as PC Tools or Norton Utilities can be used.

  It can be formatted to return the data storage medium to the “initial state” again, and thus to erase the existing information. However, how reliably old data is erased depends greatly on the operating system on which it is based. In any case, it is certain to overwrite the old data.

  Physical erasure sufficient to the standard protection requirement can be realized by overwriting the entire data storage medium or at least the used area with a predetermined pattern. On the contrary, there are several commercial products that guarantee physical erasure of individual files.

  However, overwriting is a time consuming and time consuming technique. In order to achieve truly complete erasure, it is necessary to repeat overwriting at least twice, more preferably three times.

  Data storage media such as CD-ROMs and CD-Rs that are write-protected or cannot be written multiple times are of course not erasable and must be destroyed.

  Flexible magnetic data storage media (diskettes, tapes) can be erased using a demagnetizer. In that case, the data storage medium is exposed to an external stationary magnetic field or an alternating magnetic field (erase by magnetomotive force). A simple approach to destroying data storage media is to cut diskettes and magnetic tape and mechanically break the hard disk. However, since it is necessary to always take out the data storage medium from the housing, it is troublesome when the amount of the data storage medium to be destroyed is large, and it takes too much time.

U.S. Patent No. 6,057,077 presents an apparatus for destroying electronic data or similar data using a high voltage transformer or high voltage generator, a switch and an electromagnetic coil. Patent Document 2 describes a protection device for physically destroying a data storage medium against unauthorized access. Such a device and similar devices are said to be originally very important but destroyed data is erased in an unrecoverable manner and can no longer be restored by the owner of the data storage medium. Has drawbacks.
German Utility Model Publication No. 295157979 Specification International Patent Publication No. 02/095550

  From the above, the problem of the present invention is that it is not necessary to first remove the data storage medium from the housing, and the data storage medium itself does not have a means for restoring data, but it is still possible to safely store data in another location. The information stored in the data storage medium is completely erased in a short time in the form of means for reading again.

This object is based on the present invention in a portable data storage medium comprising a housing, a digital memory for carrying data based on semiconductor elements, and means for protecting the stored information and then erasing it. There,
An encryption program for encrypting information stored in a digital memory for carrying data; and
A wireless unit for transmitting encrypted data over a network connection to a confidential server;
A button or lever arranged on the outside of the housing. When operated, the encryption program is activated, and force is transmitted to the destructive component by the mechanical cooperation inside the case, and the destructive component A button or lever that would cause destruction of the digital memory due to increased pressure without removing the data storage medium from the housing;
Is solved by a data storage medium.

  In an advantageous refinement, the block part is located close to the destructive part in the housing, and the block part activates the destructive part only after the encrypted data has been transmitted via the wireless unit. Is.

  Within the meaning of the present invention, it is particularly advantageous that the destroying digital memory can be cracked, crushed, scratched or crushed, so that, for example, it can be broken up into small pieces, The information stored there can no longer be reconstructed.

  In an advantageous embodiment, the portable data storage medium is a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop personal computer, a node book personal computer, a smart phone, a USB stick or the like.

  In addition, it is advantageous to deploy a system that compresses data before and / or after encryption.

  Any algorithm or encryption protocol can be used for data encryption within the meaning of the present invention.

  In the present invention, the wireless unit has at least one transmitter and at least one antenna. Of course, this radio unit can also be a conventional radio part consisting of a transmitter, a receiver and an antenna. The transmission of the encrypted data to the server can be performed using, for example, wireless application protocol (WAP) technology or i-mode service.

  Furthermore, it is advantageous to be able to hold the broken part in the starting position and in the broken position after activation. Therefore, the destructive parts are arranged in a movable form, and are in the starting position in a normal use state. At this location of the destructive part, the memory can operate normally. In the breaking position, the breaking part contacts the memory directly or indirectly, which causes the memory to be mechanically and irreversibly broken.

  The digital memory to be erased is advantageously a diskette, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, hard disk or chip. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the chip is a flash memory or a memory module. In that case, the flash memory is particularly suitable for use in a portable data storage medium.

  Furthermore, it is advantageous to provide on the housing display means for informing the end of data encryption, the end of data transmission to a secure server and / or the operation of a destructive part by a block part. Then, a button or lever disposed on the outside of the housing is newly operated, and by doing so, the force can be transmitted to the destruction component by the mechanical cooperation inside the housing, and the memory can be destroyed. It becomes possible.

  Alternatively, the memory can be automatically destroyed without further operation of the button by actuating the destruction component with the block component immediately after the end of data encryption and data transmission to the secure server. For this purpose, the destructive part can also be moved in advance, for example by means of a small servo motor or torsion bar, or by means already mechanically biased by the first operation. By doing so, there is a special advantage that the process from the protection of data to the destruction of the memory is automatically advanced with a single press of the button by the user in an emergency.

  The above-described mechanism for erasing the data storage medium can be particularly incorporated in a small and easy-to-carry case that is always accompanied by the user. If the user of such a device falls into a situation where there is a risk of losing the device along with the data storage media contained in the device, the user shall, in the final stage, retrieve all the information contained therein. It is possible to destroy irreversibly in a short time.

  This device has the advantage that when an event requiring data destruction occurs, the user operates a button or lever on the housing in a short time, thereby activating data encryption. After sending these data by the wireless unit to the secure server via the wireless network, the user knows the end of the process by the display means, and the destruction means activated by the block parts by further operation of the button or lever Can be used to irreversibly destroy the memory. Here, the decisive advantage of this device comes from the fact that the encrypted data stored on the server can be read again later.

  In the following, details and advantages of the device according to the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 illustrates data transmission from the mobile phone 1 to the secure server 3 and data transmission to the personal computer 4 from the mobile phone 1 via the Internet 2. Data transmission takes place in encrypted form as symbolically indicated by a secure lock. In that case, both the cellular phone 1 and another personal computer 4 have data encryption software.

  FIG. 2 shows a housing 5, a digital memory 6 for carrying data based on semiconductor elements, and a wireless unit for transmitting encrypted data to a confidential server 3 via a network connection. 7 shows a mobile phone 1 as a mobile data storage medium, which includes 7 and a button 8 arranged outside the housing 5. By operating the button 8 arranged on the outside of the housing 5, the encryption program is activated and, as shown in FIG. 3, the force is transmitted to the destruction component 9 by the mechanical cooperation inside the housing 5. Thus, the force causes the digital memory 6 to be destroyed by the increased pressure without removing the data storage medium from the housing 5. Furthermore, there is a block part 10 arranged in the housing 5, and the block part activates the destructive part only after transmission of the encrypted data by the wireless unit 7.

  When an event requiring the destruction of data occurs, the user can operate the button 8 on the housing 5 in a short time and thereby activate data encryption. After the data is transmitted by the wireless unit 7 to the secure server 3 via the wireless network, the user knows the end of the process by means of the display means, and the destruction activated by the block part 10 by further operation of the button 8 Using means 9, it is possible to irreversibly destroy the memory 6. Here, the decisive advantage of this device comes from the fact that the encrypted data stored in the server 3 can be read again later. For that purpose, it is necessary to execute only the network connection with the server 3 of the personal computer 4 in which the encryption software is installed.

Schematic diagram of data encryption and transmission based on the present invention Schematic diagram of a portable data storage medium with a destructive part at the start position in the housing Schematic diagram of a portable data storage medium where the destructive part is in the destructive position after activation in the housing

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile phone 2 Internet 3 Server 4 Personal computer 5 Case 6 Memory 7 Wireless unit 8 Button 9 Destructive part 10 Block part

Claims (9)

In a portable data storage medium comprising a housing, a digital memory for carrying data based on a semiconductor element, and means for protecting stored information and then erasing the data storage medium,
An encryption program for encrypting information stored in a digital memory for carrying data; and
A wireless unit for transmitting encrypted data over a network connection to a confidential server;
A button or lever arranged on the outside of the housing. When operated, the encryption program is activated, and the force is transmitted to the destructive component by the mechanical cooperation inside the case, and the destructive component A button or lever that will cause destruction of the digital memory due to increased pressure without removing the data storage medium from the housing;
A data storage medium further comprising:   2. The block part that will actuate the destroyed part only after the encrypted data is transmitted via the wireless unit is arranged in the vicinity of the destroyed part in the housing. The data storage medium described in 1.   The portable data storage medium is a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a laptop personal computer, a node book personal computer, a smartphone, a USB stick, or an equivalent thereof. Data storage medium.   4. A data storage medium according to claim 1, wherein a system for compressing data is provided before and / or after encryption.   5. The data storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the wireless unit has at least one transmitter and at least one antenna.   6. The data storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the destruction component can be held at a start position and a destruction position after operation.   7. The data storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the digital memory to be erased is a diskette, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a hard disk, or a chip.   The data storage medium according to claim 7, wherein the chip is a flash memory or a memory module.   9. The display unit according to claim 1, further comprising a display means for notifying the end of data encryption, the end of data transmission to a secure server, and the operation of a destructive part by a block part. A data storage medium according to any one of the above.

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