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SSD Drives Vulnerable to Attacks That Corrupt User Data

Jasper_The_Rasper
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21st May 2017  By Catalin Cimpanu
 
                                                 


 
NAND flash memory chips, the building blocks of solid-state drives (SSDs), feature what could be called "programming vulnerabilities" that can be exploited to alter data stored on these devices.
 
During the past few years, SSDs have slowly replaced classic disk-based HDDs as the prime storage medium for the world's data, taking over not only in data centers, but our phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop PCs.
 
At their heart, SSDs are a collection of smaller components named NAND flash memory chips, all clustered together on rows, similar to classic RAM memory chips. Unlike classic RAM memory chips, NAND memory chips are non-volatile, meaning they don't lose their electrical charge (aka the user's data) after the computer is shut off.
 
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7 replies

RetiredTripleHelix
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Well I haven't seen any issues in the 6+ years of using SSD's. 😉 And I coundn't handle going back to HDD as the are so dam slow.....most unit's I clean that have HDD's if you look at Task Manager the usage of the HDD is at Max most times as HDD's can't handle today's CPU's and RAM out there and the HDD is always the Bottle Neck of getting the maximum performance out of one's PC and Mac's.
 
Daniel
Baldrick
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Suspect that this is just another 'hypothetical' from some researchers who have little or nothing else to do. :@
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B
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I totally agree Daniel and Baldrick. I've been using SSDs for over two years, now. Never had any issues. I love them and would never think of going back to HHDs. That'd be like going from a quad-core i7 PC back  to Pentium III PC. Ouch! :p
 
BD
Ssherjj
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@ wrote:
I totally agree Daniel and Baldrick. I've been using SSDs for over two years, now. Never had any issues. I love them and would never think of going back to HHDs. That'd be like going from a quad-core i7 PC back  to Pentium III PC. Ouch! :p
 
BD
I agree with all 3 of you! I have only had SSD's for the last year and now running two SSD's in Raid 0 and I love the speed. I will never go back to the Hard Drives!
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Baldrick
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I think that what is required (but I am not asking for it by any means given the potential ramifications) is a practical & lifelike example of the vulnerability...that would decide the point once and for all.
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B
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These two vulnerabilities are said to been found in only 'MLC' based SSD drives. These drives usually cost more than the more common 'TLC' drives. I have a Samsung 750 EVO that is TLC based, but all the others are Samsung 850 Pros or EVOs, which are the more-durable MLC variety. I was glad to read that the researchers have proposed mitigations in their researcher paper that could fix and counter the effects of both attacks. Hopefully Samsung and other SSD manufacturers will seek their advice. ;)
 
BD
Baldrick
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Indeed, BD. But rto be honest I am not worried as these are really only proof of concept vulnerabilities which hopefully have been shared with the manufactures well before the paper was published.
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