Taxacom: Data security with backups

[Richard Zander]

We all have biological data that the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, Iranians, hi-tech hackers, and bad children would like to destroy or kidnap for ransom.

If your institution has something like tempest-level security https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTempest_&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C994aafc62c844789005308d9f8b2f475%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637814269915113728%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=h%2Bhb27n5sKrsaZZyGA%2FsScqNUbJeWXZvwKn5Nhh7AZ8%3D&reserved=0(codename) then no problem when they back up your computer nightly. This might consist of three full backup drives, switched often, and with one always in a Faraday cage and unplugged.

If not, you might consider what I did. Two 2-terabyte hard drives can be had from Amazon for US$60.00 each. Backup every couple evenings to one of the drives, keep the other at home unplugged, and switch every month or so. If you don't have a backup program, a batch file will work fine. Mine is:

REM /F /M /D /R means backup any file with an earlier date
REM /Y means don't ask to okay overwriting
REM /S /Z means and all subdirectories (watch out you don't use for root)
xcopy c:\desktop\*.* e:\desktop2021\ /f  /d /r /s /z /y
xcopy G:\#vol29-HepAnth\*.tif e:\FNA\Vol29allillos\ /F /D /R  /Y /Z
xcopy G:\#vol29-HepAnth\*.tif h:\FNA\Vol29allillos\ /F /D /R  /Y /Z
xcopy G:\*.* e:\ /F /D /R  /Y /S /Z
xcopy c:\GP\*.* e:\GPbackup\ /F /D /R  /Y /S /Z
REM        "DONE!"