Carbonite Security Issues: Who Has Access To My Carbonite Backup?
If you are one of those having Carbonite security issues, don’t worry you’re not alone. But first, what exactly do we mean by this? When I say security issues, it simply means that you may be having doubts as to the safety of your files stored at the company’s servers and this doesn’t exactly translate to a problem with Carbonite per se.
As mentioned, not too few Carbonite users or would-be users are concerned about how exactly the backup data is stored without compromising security. The most important questions they are asking are, “How secure are my files with Carbonite?”, and perhaps more specifically, “Who has access to my Carbonite files?” This post will try to give straight answers to these questions.
This may have been mentioned in previous posts but let’s just briefly rehash Carbonite’s security layers. Upon backup, the data goes through a 448-bit Blowfish encryption. Now the encryption process itself may be beyond what non-geeks can grasp but any programming guru can tell you that this is a very secure method, used even in financial systems. Then, upon data transfer to Carbonite’s servers, another extremely reliable and protected method is used – the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption.
These processes alone should tell you that Carbonite Backup takes painstaking measures to keep your files protected from interference or hacking during backup and transfer. So if you are certain about the safety of the methods used, this now begs the question:
When tackling Carbonite security issues, perhaps the most pressing concern would be knowing if other people can gain access to the files. The simple answer is that, unless you share your login information with other people, then no one else would have the means to open your Carbonite account and get to your files.
If you are 101% sure that no one would be given the chance to access your backup account from your end, the last thing you would want to know is if someone from Carbonite can. Here is where you need to understand how the company secures your files by encryption. In simpler terms, encrypted data is scrambled so that no can hack it as it leaves your computer. To “unscramble” the files when you retrieve them, you need to have the encryption keys.
Carbonite can store your encryption keys for you and while this is most advisable, it does put access to backed up files at the hands of someone else other than yourself. But then again, of the billions of data stored within the company’s servers, the chances of an employee actually choosing your files to hack and take advantage of are practically non-existent. Further, given the reputation that Carbonite has, for sure they also have guidelines and precautionary measures in place that would prevent the unauthorized access to client files.
Of course, you also have the option of managing your own encryption keys. But Carbonite puts in plain terms the consequences would be if you were to lose them:
Note: If you lose the encryption key, you will be unable to access your backed up data. If you elect to manage your encryption key, you cannot access your files through Remote File Access.
If you ask me, I’d put these Carbonite security issues to rest and just trust them. They are not the leading online backup service provider for nothing, after all.
