Storage Network Security - More Than Preventing Lost Tapes

Data storage is at the top of the headlines for dramatic security breaches, most often due to the loss of backup tapes. The screaming headlines can be misleading, however. The truth of the matter is no customer's identity has been provably stolen because of a lost tape, but because many current regulations require brand-and reputation-damaging disclosure of breaches, the perception is far worse than the reality.

Companies have been losing tapes for over 20 years, and the largest problem with lost tapes is that the data on them is gone. Companies back up their systems to support business continuity requirements, and once they lose tapes, have a bigger problem. They need to be able to support time-to-recovery compliance requirements, and therefore are moving to other solutions such as secure storage area networks over IP (SANs). With more than 25% of replication and backup occurring over the storage network already, solutions that use existing network connectivity for backup to offsite locations are growing at a breakneck pace.

CipherOptics provides the leading solution for protecting data in motion for replication, disk to disk to tape, and backup to tape off-site. By encrypting data while in flight, and then using the network for guaranteed delivery, you get:

improved time to recovery
cost savings (electronic vaulting has shown up to 200% ROI)
protection for data when it is most vulnerable - when it is in transit from the main data center to a remote storage location.

Secure Data Replication

Today, 25 percent of data replication is done over IP connections, with that number steadily growing. Data in motion is now exposed by the use of unsecured networks.

Solution: Install CipherOptics Security Gateways at both ends of the connection to secure the data replication channel by encrypting the data while in motion. This solution allows for hot site failover while defending against a hack attempt by protecting the data at the network layer.

Deploy Secure Backup

Electronic archival to a remote tape storage site offers advantages over physically moving data. These advantages include the guarantee of data delivery, faster data recovery and the ability to completely eliminate tape loss. However, it also exposes the data as it travels over the network.

Solution: CipherOptics Security Gateways are high-speed encryption appliances that can protect the backup data as it travels between storage sites. A protected continuous backup scheme offers cost savings over secure nightly tape backups and guarantees data is there when you need it.

Protect Storage Management Ports

If the storage management port is hacked or breached, the hacker gains full control over the storage system and can move data off disk at will.

Solution: CipherOptics Security Gateways can secure the management system by isolating the storage management network and creating a protected virtual network over the corporate network (a secure management zone).

The CipherOptics Network-wide Encryption Solutions easily integrate into your network. For more information or to speak directly with a CipherOptics representative about your security concerns, call us at 1-877-878-6655 or feel free to ask us a question.