Black Hat Fireside Chat: Flexxon introduces hardened SSD drives as a last line defense - Source: securityboulevard.com

By Byron V. Acohido

Creating ever smarter security software to defend embattled company networks pretty much sums up the cybersecurity industry.

Cutting against the grain, Flexxon, a Singapore-based supplier of NAND memory drives and storage devices, arrived at Black Hat USA 2023 calling for a distinctive hardware approach to repelling cyber attacks.

Flexxon recently introduced its X-PHY SSD drive which now comes embedded in certain laptop models from Lenovo, ASUS and HP. This innovation derives from security-hardened AI-powered memory and storage drives Flexxon supplies that go into medical equipment and industrial machinery.

I had the chance to get briefed about all of this by Flexxon’s founder and CEO Camellia Chan. For a full drill down give the accompanying podcast a listen.

Guest expert: Camelia Chan, Co-founder & CEO, Flexxon

Instead of struggling to account for innumerable attack paths, X-PHY guards just one path; it keeps an eagle eye on the read-write activities at the memory storage level, Chan told me.

It instantly recognizes — and blocks — any rogue read-write commands, such as those favored by ransomware purveyors and other malicious actors. The system operates in the background without the need for constant updates. It alerts users to anomalous activities and can shut down storage devices to safeguard data instantly, she says.

“Cyber security is actually missing intelligent, dynamic detection sitting at the physical layer,” Chan says. “X-PHY will act as a last line of defense against potential risk and help companies better safeguard their data.”

The transformation progresses. I’ll keep watch and keep reporting.

Acohido

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.)