DataSafe-Online is comprised of several functional components that
protect and manage data, email, system
configuration, asset information, and system
integrity for enterprise/small-business servers,
desktops and laptops, regardless of where they are
located.
DataSafe-Online provides:
- Backup and Recovery—Fast,
easy, and secure data protection and accessibility,
24/7/365
-
Advanced Email Handling—Ultra-efficient
capture and storage of user’s email archives
- Web
Restore—Anytime/anywhere
access to data via web browser.
- PC
Data Migration—Data
transfer from system being replaced (or lost) to a
new PC
How the Solution Reduces Data
The
foundation of the solution is its patented data
reduction technologies that minimize the amount of
data captured during any backup session, while at
the same time ensuring that all the important data
and system state are captured and protected in the
data center. This is accomplished through:
- Redundant File Elimination – Technology that allows common files to be stored
in one user’s archive set, and then prevents extra
copies of common files from being stored in multiple
user archives.
-
FastBIT
– Technology that allows only the changed sets, at a
bit level, to be sent, instead of whole files.
FastBIT binary incremental backups reduce backup
times and bandwidth requirements up to 99%. Data
can be backed up over a broadband or a dialup
connection.
-
Compression
– Data is compressed before it’s sent to
DataSafe-Online Server.
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 in almost any
marketplace. As smaller companies begin to realize
the benefits of computers for bookkeeping, customer
databases, word processing, e-mail, point of sales,
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 within 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 a new issue, but it
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 secure
offsite storage capabilities offered by NesTECH a
small business can automatically protect their data
on a daily basis to ensure continuity.
ENCRYPTION
When proposing the benefits of off-site storage
using the Internet as the communications medium,
users may raise a 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 or key. There are hundreds of
encryption algorithms available today, but a few
stand out as industry leaders. The DES
algorithm is a popular algorithm of the past that
has been used by the U.S. Government as the standard
encryption algorithm. Another popular algorithm is
the Blowfish algorithm which allows a more
powerful encryption and faster performance than DES.
These encryption algorithms are currently available
in DataSafe-Online.
-
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
has been well received in the marketplace because it
is faster and more secure than DES.
DataSafe-Online ENCRYPTION & AUTHENTICATION PROCESS
With DataSafe-Online there are several places that
encryption is used to ensure that the user’s data is
secure.
-
Communications
- Since the information is transmitted across the
Internet, the communications between the user and
the server should be encrypted to prevent a
malicious person from intercepting data as it is
transmitted over the Internet. As part of the
initial connection procedure, the DataSafe-Online
client software negotiates a compatible set of
encryption methods before sending any user
information or data to the server. This ensures that
all user communications during the entire backup and
restore process are completely encrypted
-
Storage on Server - When the encrypted backup data has been successful
received by the server, it is immediately stored on
the disk in the encrypted format and the filenames
are further encrypted to make it more difficult for
someone to identify the user data on the server.
Data must be encrypted while stored on the
DataSafe-Online Server to prevent an unauthorized
user from accessing the data files also to protect
the data in the event that physical storage devices
are obtained by an unauthorized third party.
- Storage on Client -
Important information such as the user’s password
must be stored on the client computer in order to
facilitate the logon process to the DataSafe-Online
server. This password and other important
information are stored on the customer’s system in
an encrypted format that can only be read by the
DataSafe-Online client application.
-
Authentication -
User authentication is performed immediately after
the encrypted connection between the client and
server has been made. The client software sends the
username and password to the server to be validated
against the Windows 200x (NT) user database. This
method of user authentication provides a robust and
secure method for managing users. Using the Windows
200x (NT) user database provide a standard secure
database of users with the ability to quickly
validate users against this database.
-
Data Transfer
- DataSafe-Online backup client opens a
dynamic port to the internet so there is not
incoming open port to customer’s network.