StoreMyPC Encryption Information
Benefits of Secure Off-Site Online Backup
In today’s computing environment, businesses are relying on computers to
perform daily business activities as well as mission critical functions.
The use of computers in business is essential to maintain a competitive
edge is almost any marketplace. As smaller companies begin to realize the
benefits of computers for bookkeeping, customer databases, word processing,
email, scheduling, research and web sites, the need to have a backup copy
of this data becomes more important. Research has shown that more than 80%
of the businesses suffering from catastrophic data loss have gone out of
business with 12 months. This is not hard to believe considering the
extent computers are relied upon in businesses of all sizes.
The issue of data protection is not new, but has been more of a
large corporate concern because many smaller businesses did not have the
computing systems that were in use by larger corporations. Today, with the
low cost of computers and the easy access to the Internet, businesses of all
sizes have the ability to utilize computers for many important job
functions. Small businesses rely on computers to automate and simplify
tasks in order to reduce the costs of running a business. This makes any
loss of data a significant business risk. With the secure off-site storage
capabilities offered by StoreMyPC, small businesses can automatically
protect their data on a daily basis to ensure continuity.
StoreMyPC Encryption
When proposing the benefits of off-site storage using the Internet as the
communications medium, users may raise the concern about the security of
their data. Whenever data privacy is an issue, some type of encryption
needs to be employed to insure that the data can only be accessed by users
with the correct access codes. Encryption allows a user to specify an
access code or password which is used to make computer data unreadable to
anyone without the correct password. There are hundreds of encryption
algorithms available today, but few stand out as industry leaders. The
DES algorithm is a popular algorithm that has been used by the U.S. Government
as the standard encryption algorithm. Another algorithm gaining popularity
is the Blowfish algorithm which allows a more powerful encryption and
faster performance than DES. These encryption algorithms are available with
StoreMyPC.
DES
Adopted in 1977, DES is based on a conventional or secret key system in
which the sender and the receiver use a single key to encrypt and decrypt
data. The sender uses the key to convert the data to scrambled format
according to a complex mathematical algorithm, and only users with the
correct key can successfully decrypt the data.
Having a key length of 64 bits, 56 are used as a key, while the remaining
eight are used to check for errors. The DES algorithm will encrypt data in
the same amount of space used by the original data. The user selects which
one of more than 72 quadrillion transformation functions are to be used by
selecting a 56-bit key. The theory behind the security of DES has been
that, short of trying all 72 quadrillion combinations, there is no way to
"break" the algorithm.
Triple DES
To increase the security of DES, some organizations use "triple DES" - or
three operations of DES with two keys - to protect data. This method,
however, requires more processing power which may affect performance.
Blowfish
Blowfish was designed in 1993 as a fast, free alternative to DES. Unlike
DES, however, the Blowfish algorithm has a variable key length, which can
be extended from 32 bits to 448 bits. Blowfish continues to gain acceptance
in the marketplace because is faster and more secure than DES.
- Features List
- Encryption Information
- Security Process
- FastBIT Patching
- Data Centers
- Frequently Asked Questions