Digital Signatures

When it comes to security on the Internet, multiple layers of security are required. One way to ensure secure communication is through the use of digital signatures. The problem is that a digital signature can be forged if a hacker were to break into a web server and find the private key used to create it.

A Windows-based backup client, such as SecureBackup™, is much more secure than a browser-based solution primarily because it can embed public verification keys right into the backup client software. If the web service sends a server certificate to the backup client along with a digital signature of that certificate, the backup client can verify the certificate with an embedded public key. Since the certificate is signed using a private key that does not reside on the web server or anywhere else, a hacker can not obtain the private key and forge a fake signature of the server certificate.

As a matter of fact, a private key can be used to sign the certificate once and then be discarded permanently. Only the embedded public key stored inside of the backup client is required to verify the signature. So even if systems were compromised, there is no private key to be found and nothing can ever be forged.

This means the server certificate provided by the web service is guaranteed to be valid and can be used to secure all round-trip communication between the backup client and the web service. SecureBackup™ implements this method of digital signature verification to protect sensitive user information.

Pre-Encrypted Data

In a browser-based backup solution, sensitive data including a password and credit card number has to be entered into a web page by the user, especially during the sign-up process. Though the connection to the server can be secured via SSL to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks and eavesdropping, it does not secure your data if the web server itself were compromised.

The data you enter on a web page is eventually handled in plaintext on the server, even if only for a moment. This poses a security risk because a good hacker could install server-side code to eavesdrop or capture data entered into the web page.

SecureBackup™, on the other hand, is client-based and all data is encrypted before it is ever sent out across the Internet. When your data reaches the server, your sensitive data remains encrypted and is never handled in plaintext on the server. This is what makes a backup client solution much more secure than a browser-based backup solution.

With the backup solution provided by SecureBackup™, passwords, key generation, and data encryption are all handled client-side, not server-side. This makes SecureBackup™ more secure than online banking because the data is pre-encrypted, no password is ever transmitted, and no keys exist online to decrypt it. The data can only be decrypted client-side with a password entered into the SecureBackup™ software.