Secude FinallySecure Enterprise 9.2 is both a hardware- and software-based solution for full disk encryption. The hardware component, which helps to secure physical disks, is integrated into the hard drive using a chipset. Currently only the Seagate Momentus FDE hard drive is supported for hardware-based encryption. Software-based full disk encryption is supported for various Windows hosts. Both approaches are managed centrally via a management console.
Installation of the product was simple enough, once we had read the documentation. There are many installation files, a bit confusing if you haven't done your homework. We installed the management console on our Windows 2003 server test machine, and client software was pushed out to Windows XP SP2 hosts. We also tested the Seagate Momentus hardware encryption using Dell laptops.
FinallySecure performed well during all our tests. We did experience a hiccup during our client setup and the initialisation of pre-boot authentication: we hit 'cancel' instead of 'ok' and our series of initialisation screens was voided. Once we were able to successfully install our client components, there were lots of features and options to deploy.
FinallySecure offers a wide choice of encryption options, including various flavours of DES, AES, Blowfish and others. Even though choices are extensive, an option explaining the performance or operational pros and cons of each would be helpful. Encrypting our client hard drives took while, one of the longest times we've seen. However, the hardware chipset of the Seagate Momentus drive brings impressive performance.
Plenty of PDF files were supplied. The manuals are verbose and contain a lot of information, necessary when familiarising yourself with the installation components.
The £78-per-seat price includes one year of phone and email support. After the first year, support contracts are available for 20 per cent of the purchase price. The Secude website is lacking however. The only support content was a few FAQs, some download links and an online support-request form. There was no support phone number.