Samsung patents SSDs that unlock with fingerprints

1. A storage system comprising: a solid state drive including: a non-volatile memory device including a secure area and a non-secure area, and a memory controller configured to write data to the non-volatile memory device and read data from the non-volatile memory device in response to a command from a host; and the storage system further including a biometric module configured to receive a registration trigger signal from the memory controller included in the solid state drive and to transmit a biometric information registration message to the memory controller included in the solid state drive, the biometric module including at least one sensor, a controller, a storing unit, and a digital serial interface, and configured to perform biometric authentication, wherein the biometric module is configured to perform the biometric authentication by: obtaining biometric data of a user through the at least one sensor, converting the biometric data into first biometric information based on a predefined data format, storing the first biometric information in the storing unit during a first biometric information registration, comparing the first biometric information with second biometric information stored in the storing unit, generating a unique value based on the first biometric information in response to the first biometric information matching the second biometric information, and transmitting the unique value, index and a biometric authentication success message to the memory controller through the digital serial interface, wherein the index indicates an item of the second biometric information matches the first biometric information, and wherein the memory controller is configured to: receive the unique value transmitted from the biometric module and set the solid state drive to an unlocked state in response to the biometric authentication success message, store a plurality of encrypted secure keys, respectively generated based on unique values associated with a plurality of users, identify a first encrypted secure key of the plurality of encrypted secure keys, wherein the first encrypted secure key corresponds to the unique value received together with the index from the biometric module from the plurality of the encrypted secure keys, based on the index, and perform user authentication by decrypting the first encrypted secure key based on the unique value to generate a secure key usable to encrypt data to be stored in the secure area of the non-volatile memory device and to decrypt data read from the secure area of the non-volatile memory device.