The numbers are staggering. The losses are immense. If anyone had doubts that backup encryption is important, this is sound and resounding proof that it is. If your company is not encrypting it's backup data, now is the time to start.

The Open Security Foundation has voluntary monthly listings of data loss incidents. These incidents are classified by where and how the loss occured. Just on the 15th, the Louisianna Department of Revenue exposed 299 names, addresses and social security numbers. The amount of loss in just December 2008 is amazing. Remember that this is a voluntary database listing service, which means that the actual losses could be much higher than what is reported in this database.  Check out the Open Security Foundation at: http://datalossdb.org/search?year[]=2008&month[]=12

If your company collects any personal data from your employees, it is really important to encrypt your backup sets. This way, if your tapes or hard drives are stolen, the data will be protected from loss with a layer of encryption. If you have questions on how to make this happen, please stay tuned to this blog. Starting in January, I will be starting a new series in this blog called Data Backup Methodology. In this series, I will examine several different techniques of data backup. I will be looking at the strengths and weaknesses of backup techniques. I will also give tips and tricks to help bullet proof your backups no matter what method you use to backup your data.

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