WORM Flash Card by SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation introduced the SanDisk SD WORM card, a Write Once Read Many (WORM) digital memory card intended for professional uses such as police investigations, court testimony, electronic voting and other applications where data files must be protected from alteration or deletion.

Analog recording media such as film and audio tape are rapidly becoming obsolete, driving demand for a solution suitable for today’s digital devices. But conventional rewritable memory cards do not meet legal requirements to prevent data tampering.

Digital data written to SanDisk SD WORM cards is effectively locked as soon as it is recorded; there is no physical way to alter or delete individual recorded files. Yet viewing the data is simple, because the cards are readable in any standard SD slot attached to a computer or other SD-compatible device.

SanDisk SD WORM cards also offer 100-year archive life, when kept under appropriate storage conditions. 100-year data life is based on reliability data from internal accelerated
lifespan testing for cards stored at normal room temperature, with
humidity and static protection

Applications for the SanDisk SD WORM card include:

• Police photography and witness/suspect interviews, where courts require proof that photos and audio recordings are genuine.
• Court proceedings, such as trials and depositions.
• Electronic voting, where recorded votes must be tamper-proof.
• Cash registers which record transactions for tax collection purposes.
• Event recorders, such as security cameras and ‘black box’ flight-data recorders.
• Medical devices which retain individual patient treatment data.
• Personal digital assistants (PDAs) and similar devices used by physicians and other health-care professionals to track patient interactions.

“As digital media volume has grown and surpassed traditional analog media such as film and audio cassettes in the consumer market, law enforcement agencies and other professionals are facing rising costs and lack of supply,” said Christopher Moore, director of product marketing for OEM memory cards at SanDisk. “SanDisk’s new SD WORM cards offer professionals a one-stop solution for capturing and archiving critical data, along with many other benefits of moving from analog to digital.”

For example, the benefits for photography in these applications include eliminating the expense and delay of film processing, as well as subsequent scanning of negatives into digital files. With voice, in-field recorders become more reliable because they no longer have moving parts, and there are no more tapes that can tangle or break. SanDisk SD WORM cards also open up the possibility of unified storage, with all case data – text, photos, voice recording, etc. – stored on a single durable card that can be easily shared.

SanDisk is now partnering with manufacturers of cameras, digital voice recorders, medical equipment, electronic cash registers and other digital devices to add the firmware required for recording to SanDisk SD WORM cards. SanDisk is also working with the SD Card Association for approval of this new specification as an industry standard.

In addition, third-party resellers of SanDisk SD WORM cards can develop security enhancements for the cards, such as password protection and encryption. One enhancement now under development for the cards is the addition of TrustedFlash security technology developed by SanDisk that securely stores sensitive digital data and applications on digital media.

SanDisk SD WORM cards are available now worldwide in 128-megabyte capacity and are expected to be available in higher capacities later in the year.