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Storage

Secure Archiving

Data archives are a prime target for both covert and malevolent attempts at unauthorised data access. Securing the data archive is not only common sense, but it also contributes towards meeting compliance requirements.

Securing data archives can take two approaches:

• The first of these is to encrypt the data – thereby making it useless even if it is subject to unauthorised access.
• The second approach is not to allow unauthorised access in the first place. This implies layers of access controls which cannot be altered by just one person and where all access to the secured data and all changes are journalled.

There are a number of products which can be deployed but, as with all these technologies, they are powerful tools which can be deployed as part of a solution but only the organisation which owns the data can determine what has value and what must be protected.

In Summary

The issue of archiving is a wide subject which requires a matching of business process and technology.

The business process and priorities must be established before deciding on which architectures & technologies are required and only then should the product decision be taken.

Shoehorning a product in, where it does not meet the long term business requirement may be the easy answer in the short term, but will almost certainly produce longer term problems for the organisation as a whole.