Patent ID: 8887270

Claim:
A storage device, comprising: a smart-card portion comprising access control circuitry, comprising a first encryption engine; a controller separate from the smart-card portion in selective communication with the smart-card portion, the controller comprising a second encryption engine that is separate from the first encryption engine; and a memory device in communication with the controller, the memory device separate from the smart-card portion and storing one or more smart-card applications; wherein the access control circuitry of the smart-card portion is configured to authenticate a user to the controller in response to the smart-card portion determining that an identifier received at the smart-card portion from a host device is correct and to not authenticate the user to the controller in response to the smart-card portion determining that the identifier received at the smart-card portion from the host device is incorrect; wherein the identifier is received at the smart-card portion from the host without first passing through the controller; and wherein the controller is configured load the second encryption engine with one or more encryption keys received from the smart-card portion and/or one or more decryption keys received from the smart-card portion after the access control circuitry of the smart-card portion authenticates the user to the controller.