Patent ID: 7903816

Claim:
A storage system comprising: a first interface unit coupled to a computer and having a transfer controller and a second memory unit; a disk device; a second interface unit coupled to the disk device; a first memory unit having a cache memory for storing data to be read or written from or to the computer of the disk device and a control memory for storing control information; a first processor controlling data transmissions between the computer and the disk device; a connecting unit coupled to the first interface, the second interface unit, the first memory unit, and a first processor, wherein the connecting unit has an encryption and decryption unit for encrypting data to be transmitted to the computer and for decrypting data received from the computer, wherein, upon receipt of a read command, the encryption and decryption unit encrypts a data read from the first memory unit, wherein the transfer controller writes the encrypted data in the second memory unit, and reads the encrypted data from the second memory unit to transmit the encrypted data to the computer via the first connecting unit.