Our Position on the NSAs PRISM Operation
The Internet is abuzz, and we think it’s time we commented on the NSA’s PRISM operation.
If you haven’t yet heard of this project, it’s an unfortunately legal collaborative project between the NSA, FBI, and and several tech giants that you, even if you’re outside of the US, likely rely on daily.
Established during the Bush administration and continued under President Obama’s watch, PRISM allows the government access to an uncomfortably large amount of your previously-private personal information. Publicly, its purpose was to monitor foreign communications that might pass through US servers, ostensibly to give the government a heads up on possible terrorist activities.
Realistically, the scope of the project appears to be significantly grander than that. Companies like Verizon, Facebook, Microsoft, and even Google have been accused of involvement with the project, but vehemently deny it – allegedly as a result of a government gag order, since PRISM was previously considered a state secret. It’s a big deal.
This is where we feel like we need to say something. Remote Backup Systems is exclusively in the business of data security. It is our lifeblood. Each and every employee really, deeply cares about the integrity of end-user data stored by our Partners, which is why we spend so much time, money, and effort making sure we have the most reliable, secure option on the market. PRISM makes us uncomfortable, because it makes our Partners uncomfortable (and we use Facebook, too!).
RBackup offers multiple encryption levels to choose from during setup. The highest-security options included are 448-bit Blowfish, and 256-bit AES. There are no known cracks for either of these encryption algorithms, and a brute force attack would be considered impossible due to the time it would take to run the attack – for 256-bit AES, 3.31 x 1056 years, roughly.
Since only the end-user has the encryption key, for all intents and purposes, data stored on an RBackup server at one of the most secure encryption levels is literally uncrackable. Even if one of our Partners did receive an order from the NSA, the data handed over would be completely useless without the end-user’s cooperation. They wouldn’t even be able to see file names, much less actual content. RBackup is, without a doubt, the single most secure off-site storage solution available.
If you have specific questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to contact me directly by email, at the address linked below. Your opinions are very important to us, and hearing them is the only way we can continue to provide you with the best options on the market.
Kat Cosgrove, Director of Marketing: kat@remote-backup.com
