Backup Data Encryption: Online Backup vs. Backup Tapes
Posted: February 22, 2011 Filed under: backup data encryption, online backup service Leave a comment »
When you make a backup of your data, you will be making a copy of your essential files and folders to another device. The media you backup to can vary from DVDs and USB drives to tapes and Modular Hard Drives. In all these cases you’re making a copy to a different device incase the original version is lost, corrupt or otherwise inaccessible.
In order to be prepared for a disaster like a flood or fire, most people will make sure they have at least one copy of this backup in an off-site location, such as taking a backup disk or tape home or using an online backup service like Mozy or Carbonite.
However, backing up data onto a tape or disk in preparation for a disaster also creates a potential security risk. While you’re backing up your most essential data, you’re most likely also creating a copy of this data which you could ill afford to have lost or stolen.
If a backup tape were lost or stolen and left unencrypted, a person with very little technical experience could easily gain access to your backup data.
The resulting effects could cause significant damage to yourself and your business depending upon the nature and sensitivity of the data. Because of this, encrypting the data is a vital step to ensuring that your backup plan doesn’t become a security loophole.
The method by which the data is encrypted depends on the backup medium you employ.
- Online backup services like Mozy, come with mandatory encryption requirements that are setup when first configuring your backup data
- For backup tapes ordisks, setting up security-keys to encrypt the tape or disk ensures that the data is unreadable without the security-key and pass-phrase that was used to configure it
For nearly every form of backups there is a solution that exists for ensuring it is properly encrypted. To learn more about backup data encryption for your business, please contact us today.