Taxacom: Data security with backups

Sat Feb 26 10:37:05 CST 2022

Yes, Tony, exactly. There are warnings fling about that nefarious nations (bad guys) might slag our (good guys) computer systems, including EMP. An unplugged hard disk inside a grounded Faraday cage can survive an EMP.  Keeping a "grandfathered" copy on an inexpensive unplugged hard disk at home may not survive atomic EMPs but would help if hacking damaged your institution's system.

I think the West has been in an eWar for some years now.

Richard
________________________________
From: Tony Rees <tonyrees49 at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2022 5:11 PM
To: Richard Zander <Richard.Zander at mobot.org>
Cc: Taxacom (taxacom at lists.ku.edu) <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: Data security with backups

Hi Richard,

An off site copy is always a good idea: "the flood/fire/burglary destroyed my computer. That's alright -  I have a backup copy ... under the computer??"

One approach is called 3-2-1, see here: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBackup%233-2-1_rule&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C7093528a1baf44df517108d9f9463b69%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637814902894238265%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=p4fYsLz8fWMLsg7AqpkV9gfUmPAQuN0%2B6vhCBCvd4Iw%3D&reserved=0

I recently did this (uploaded a backup copy of my files to the cloud - iDrive in this instance). I have tested by downloading some of the files (or giving URLS to others to download) and those that I tried seem OK - have not exercised it for a full backup, though...)

PS my "main" files are with an overseas agency (VLIZ in Belgium) so I rely on their IT section to do relevant backups and plan for disaster recovery if ever needed. I interact with those files remotely :)

I guess it is important to distinguish between different needs e.g. local backup in case a file or medium gets corrupted, or a file is trashed in error, and disaster recovery which is a bigger thing altogether. You also seem to be hinting at keeping files secure from unauthorised access or malicious destruction, which is again a slightly different scenario...

Regards - Tony

Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fabout.me%2FTonyRees&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C7093528a1baf44df517108d9f9463b69%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637814902894238265%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=i2IxBs92wSNcJe%2FpY2cfUQTbcpH7B%2Fy3e30mfqGL95w%3D&reserved=0

On Sat, 26 Feb 2022 at 10:03, Richard Zander via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at lists.ku.edu>> wrote:
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%7C7093528a1baf44df517108d9f9463b69%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637814902894238265%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=Jt04gJ89HgcmJ87qFe8G4%2BfGLjKBUQz7VXWjXSOI6Zk%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!"
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