Myujth

Due to the recent security findings in that probably most SSDs implement encryption in a completely naive and broken way, I want to check which of my BitLocker machines are using hardware encryption and which ones are using software.

I found a way to disable the use of hardware encryption, but I can't figure out how to check if I'm using hardware encryption (in which case, I'll have to re-encrypt the drive). How do I do ti?

I'm aware of manage-bde.exe -status which gives me an output such as:

Disk volumes that can be protected with
BitLocker Drive Encryption:
Volume C: [Windows]
[OS Volume]

 Size: 952.62 GB
 BitLocker Version: 2.0
 Conversion Status: Used Space Only Encrypted
 Percentage Encrypted: 100.0%
 Encryption Method: XTS-AES 128
 Protection Status: Protection On
 Lock Status: Unlocked
 Identification Field: Unknown
 Key Protectors:
 TPM
 Numerical Password

but I don't know if the information I want is in this screen.

There exists a pretty new article on MSRC, partially explaining the issue and how to solve it. Thanks @Kevin

Microsoft is aware of reports of vulnerabilities in the hardware
encryption of certain self-encrypting drives (SEDs). Customers
concerned about this issue should consider using the software only
encryption provided by BitLocker Drive Encryption™. On Windows
computers with self-encrypting drives, BitLocker Drive Encryption™
manages encryption and will use hardware encryption by default.
Administrators who want to force software encryption on computers with
self-encrypting drives can accomplish this by deploying a Group Policy
to override the default behavior. Windows will consult Group Policy to
enforce software encryption only at the time of enabling BitLocker.

To check the type of drive encryption being used (hardware or
software):

1. 
   

   Run manage-bde.exe -status from elevated command prompt.

   
   




2. 
   

   If none of
   the drives listed report "Hardware Encryption" for the Encryption
   Method field, then this device is using software encryption and is not
   affected by vulnerabilities associated with self-encrypting drive
   encryption.

   
   

manage-bde.exe -status should show you if hardware-encryption is used.

I don't have a HW encrypted drive ATM, so here is a reference link and the image it contains:

The BitLocker UI in Control Panel does not tell you whether hardware
encryption is used, but the command line tool manage-bde.exe does when
invoked with the parameter status. You can see that hardware
encryption is enabled for D: (Samsung SSD 850 Pro) but not for C:
(Samsung SSD 840 Pro without support for hardware encryption):