My understanding is that the data is not encrypted. The 'security' comes from the fact that the SD card has a built in processor that acts as interface between the host computer, and the data. So, in theory, it would be necessary to break into the chip itself to retrieve the data without the password. I think this is likely adequate to protect the data against anyone who doesn't have a lot of very expensive equipment available, and certainly good enough to prevent casual inspection of data files. But for items of national security, maybe not.
Filevault is probably the way to go then for data that will only be read by my Mac.
It was more out of curiosity that I asked about this. But, upon further consideration, it's not really practical, since there don't appear to be any cameras or audio players that can deal with the security either. So, there wouldn't be any way to move password protected data to or from these devices.
Last edited by Bob_00001; 01/19/13 09:29 PM.
