Inferring read and write operations of solid-state drives based on energy consumption
JonPaul Canclini, James F. Mcmasters, James Shey, T. Owens Walker, Ryan N. Rakvic, Hau Ngo, Kevin D. Fairbanks · 2016
The demand for Solid-State drives (SSDs) has risen as their speed, size, and architecture have improved. SSDs introduce a security risk because they contain a separate processor to optimize the SSD's lifespan. The lack of transparency of the operations conducted by this onboard processor creates a challenge to users, particularly in digital forensics settings. This paper utilizes non-destructive voltage measurement techniques to monitor the occurrence of read and write operations on an SSD. An automated cross-drive, cross-operating system classifier is presented which is capable of correctly identifying both read and write operations with up to 100 percent accuracy across four different experimental configurations.