secure

Data is precious and has been compared to the crown jewels of an organization — it is certainly something you can’t afford to lose. With huge amounts of data being generated every day, organizations are increasingly facing challenges relating to safe and secure offsite backup. You most certainly would be careful about how you stored priceless gems so why not apply the same principles to your data storage.

It is so easy to think that your business does not need secure online backup – that is until you experience a computer crash and that black screen tells you all is not well. For an SME with a server and more than one laptop computer in use the problems are compounded and finding your business without adequate backup in the aftermath of a natural disaster of human mistake can be very costly.

Backing up your data offsite is in fact not expensive or difficult and it is the natural way to insure your very precious data against loss. With the holiday period approaching and offices closing down for up to two weeks there can be no better time to contact BackupVault – leading providers of safe and secure offsite backup to SME’s - and get your data safely secured for Christmas. Call us on 020 3102 0040 or go to www.backupvault.co.uk for more information. We look forward to securing the crown jewels of your organisation!

We have recently had quite a few enquiries asking whether our online backup service is encrypted. This is generally considered to be a good sign as it shows that users and companies are becoming more and more aware of the importance of security.

Our online backup service uses a combination of SSL and AES encryption. When backups are created they are encrypted on the users server/PC using the key the user created. This encrypted data is then sent over the Internet using SSL encryption where it arrives at our storage servers.

A little tip: Ask your current online backup company what would happen to your data if you forgot your encryption key/password? If they say they can reset it for you then it is likely they are not using any kind of encryption at all – or they store your encryption key on their systems. BackupVault uses an encryption key known only by you. We do not store this encryption key anywhere on our systems. You can be rest assured that your data remains on our storage systems in an encrypted state at all times.

It seems like every week there is another article exposing a company or government department that has lost data. Each time this happens the importance of moving data offsite and encryption is highlighted.

It has just been announced that back in May, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council lost a memory stick containing details of 18,000 residents. Worst still was that fact that this information was unencrypted.

The council was found to be in breach of The Data Protection Act. A report found that steps were not taken to ensure that staff were trained in basic encryption methods.

Many small businesses use memory sticks as a form of backup for their company. Whilst they are quick and convenient, they suffer from the following drawbacks:

• Not automatic and labour intensive
• Only keeps one copy of a file. What happens if you need to restore a file from 10 days ago?
• Not encrypted – unless you use third party software
• Limited storage space
• Can be easily lost

BackupVault Online Backup addresses all of these shortcomings  and more. Sign up for a free online backup trial today to see the difference it can make for your business.