Secure Online Backup

As promised in my “What Makes an Online Backup Solution, Secure?” post, I’m going to answer some questions and concerns regarding SSL/TLS backup server connections.

There isn’t a whole lot of difference between SSL and TLS. They both provide a mechanism to secure the communication channel. In terms of transmitting data over the Internet, SSL/TLS connections protect your data from being viewed or modified during transit. This is accomplished through data encryption and digital signatures. Digital signatures ensure that the data has not been altered and prevent “man-in-the-middle” attacks.

In the world of online backup, this ensures that your backup files arrive at your backup server without being intercepted and possibly modified along the way.

SecureBackup pre-encrypts your files using 256-bit AES encryption before they are ever even sent across the Internet. This allows them to be stored securely on the server. However, SSL/TLS adds another level of protection over pre-encryption alone. Not only does it prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, but unlike an FTP backup solution, it also protects usernames and passwords from being intercepted by a malicious party. For example, FTP sends passwords across the Internet in plain text!

Choosing an online backup solution that provides TLS/SSL backup server connections allows for an added level of protection for your data.