» Dakota Backup FAQs » Compression, Encryption and Security

• To what standard is data encrypted?
  Dakota Backup’s encryption is FIPS 140-2 certified. FIPS certification is given through the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) that was established by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) of the Government of Canada. Products validated as conforming to FIPS 140-2 are accepted by the Federal agencies of both countries (Canada and U.S) for the protection of sensitive information.
• Why is encryption done?
  Dakota Backup DS-CLIENT performs compression and encryption before sending data to Dakota Backup, LLC’s Data Center. This ensures security because:
  • Data can be restored only by the Dakota Backup DS-CLIENT that backed it up, or by another Dakota Backup DS-CLIENT that was installed using the same encryption types and keys as the Dakota Backup DS-CLIENT that backed up the data.
  • Someone monitoring data being transmitted between Dakota Backup DS-CLIENT and Dakota Backup, LLC’s Data Center would intercept only encrypted data blocks. This ensures that access to confidential file content is not possible.
  • Data stored is also encrypted in the Dakota Backup, LLC’s Data Center. Meaning that only the customer can have access to the backed up data once it has been recovered. The customer is the only person who knows his/her unique encryption keys.
• What do you mean by compression? What happens?
  Compression can be likened to letting the air out of a balloon. Although the air has gone, the structure still exists and it can be re-inflated easily. The advantage is that it takes less room. Files, especially databases, are often full of empty space, which can be removed to make the file smaller for transit, whilst making it very easy to recreate. A conservative compression to expect with Dakota Backup is 3:1 for the initial backup.
• Why is data compressed?
  Compression reduces the amount of data transmitted to the Dakota Backup, LLC’s Data Center, making backups faster, as well as reducing storage space. Compression is particularly useful for slow communication links and/or very large files.
• Is there added compression on already compressed files (e.g. zip files)?
  Zip files and other compressed files are already efficiently compressed. Dakota Backup cannot improve on the compression, but the file will only be transmitted once. If the file should change, then delta blocking will be used to ensure only the changed portions of the file are re-transmitted. By default Dakota Backup will not perform compression on files that are already compressed.