Patent ID: 8386797

Claim:
A system comprising: a hardware encryption/decryption engine utilizing counter mode (CTR) of advanced encryption standard (AES) based on a block number and a byte-aligned block address of data in a data storage medium passed through a transform function; and a memory controller, coupled to said encryption/decryption engine, for accessing said data storage medium, said memory controller including one or more registers storing one or more keys generated from random numbers in said memory controller so that said one or more keys cannot be accessed unlocked from outside said memory controller and said hardware encryption/decryption engine, wherein said memory controller receives a password and a request to store said data on said data storage medium, verifies said password and forwards a particular one of said one or more keys stored in said one or more registers to said hardware encryption/decryption engine if said password is verified, causes said data in said main memory to be encrypted by said hardware encryption/decryption engine using said particular key, and transfers said encrypted data to said data storage medium.