To encrypt its data, the pen uses an algorithm called Rijndael, which the National Institute for Standards and Technology is planning to use as the Advanced Encryption Standard, which will replace the existing Data Encryption Standard (DES), which is currently being phased out of use.

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Other features include full data path protection, embedded AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) engines for data security, and other resource optimization features.

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BlackBerry products and solutions are protected by best-in-class AES 256-bit encryption, a highly secure, internationally recognized data protection standard.

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What about requiring every third-party service provider to protect personal customer data through encryption, tokenization or another advanced security technology, through clauses written into and enforced as part of standard service level agreements?

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Hitachi's version "scrambles data using a password-generated key" as the data is written, and then descrambled with the key as it is retrieved using the highly-touted Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm.

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