The topic of our Blog today is data security for files that are stored online with  a data backup service.

First, let us say that we can only talk about the security features Filetwin offers our clients. Hopefully, other backup services use similar security features because if they didn’t, you’d have to wonder about how serious they really are about safeguarding your digital assets.

When talking about security and files stored “in the cloud” (a snazzy way of saying the Internet), there are a few main considerations:

1. Encryption – We could ramble on about encryption but there’s so much published online that we think if you’re not familiar with data encryption, perhaps we should let the experts bring you up to speed. Keep in mind that you’ll be redirected to a Cryptography link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_encryption. The roots of “masking information” goes back thousands of years, but in today’s world encrypting data has become serious business – especially since so many financial transactions are done through the Internet. At Filetwin, we offer 256-bit AES encryption which is computationally infeasible to crack.

2. Transmission Safety - Considering that data must travel through the Internet before it gets to its final storage location - in this case, your data resides in our Filetwin managed data center - all communications between Filetwin and your server or PC are transported in a 256-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) channel. To learn more about SSL certificates, GoDaddy offers a decent overview here http://www.godaddy.com/ssl/ssl-certificates.aspx

Since we know all this technology stuff can be overwhelming or perhaps you don’t care to learn the “nitty-gritty” of the security aspects – no problem, we’ve develop an illustration to make is easy to understand.

Filetwin File Encryption Standards

 Hopefully, this image makes file security easier to understand and as we often say, with this many security features, your data is probably safer with us than it is on your own.

If you’d like to talk more about file security for files stored online, please give us a call at 1 877 310-2884 and we’d be happy to continue this conversation.

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

The focus of our Blog today is South Carolina. We’re going to examine the recordkeeping requirements for real estate brokers. To sum it up, brokers are required to retain files and transaction records for five (5) years in this state. If you visit the South Carolina Legislature and review the Real Estate Commission’s code of laws, you’ll find section 40-57-135 which addresses:

• Duties of broker-in-charge
• Duties of property manager-in-charge, and licensees
• Policies and recordkeeping
• Management of residential multiunit rental locations
• Issues surrounding unlicensed employees

One thing to note that we thought was quite interesting (and wasn’t mentioned in the other states’ legislation) was paragraph (7) which states that the broker must ensure that backup copies must be maintained on a data storage medium which is separate from the medium which contains the source documents. That means you need to store electronically generated documents on an external hard drive, flash drive or use an online backup provider. We’ve written articles explaining why people need to be cautious with external hard drives so we’ll just provide the link to a good article versus babbling on about the risk  http://www.filetwin.com/blog/?p=417.

Here’s why you should use an online backup service:

1. You convert what would have been a capital expense and turn it into an operating expense.

2. You install it and set it up…once. Then it runs automatically (our current customers rave on about this like it was all that mattered!).

3. You get email confirmation reports that the backup was successful.

4. The cost is less than an iPhone per month.

5. With one decision, you just avoided a boat-load of risk.

We’re proud to report that our Sales and Support Teams are all based in the U.S., so if you’d like to continue this conversation and learn more about these regulations, please feel free to call us directly at 1 877 310-2884. One of our Backup Specialists would be pleased to answer all of your questions about online backup.

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

This is sort of like the evolution of man chart we are all familiar with – but we thought we’d place our own spin on it.

Do you remember the 8-track cassette? There’s a good chance some people don’t and I probably just aged myself. It faded out of the limelight and cassette tapes were the new rage. But 8-tracks still existed for a while. Once the CD became the new rage, the cassette tape was on the hot seat. And so it goes for digital storage media.

We started with the 5.25 floppy drive and as the diagram shows, we’ve been making leaps and bounds in a very short period of time to mini-jump drives that have more storage than some people would use. But what’s next? We believe the next generation will be storage-as-a-service. Based on history, online backup will shortly become mainstream. Right now, businesses are the primary beneficiaries of such as service, however, it’s only a matter of time before the mini-jump drives are regulated to key-chain ornaments.

We’re very serious about the security of stored files and we’ve published numerous articles about the topic and will continue to do so because making sure your data is protected is our primary objective.

We’re offering a free month of unlimited storage so you can test drive our product and see how user-friendly it is…once you’ve installed it and configured the backup schedule you want..that’s it you’re done and your data is protected.