# Backup - Security Strategy



## VanDamme (Feb 13, 2010)

If someone stole all the computers in your house or office, would they also have access to all your bidness records, bank accounts, Quickbooks, etc?

Do you have all your important data backed up? if so, how and where?

Just curious. I'm considering encrypting all the drives on my computer so that if it does get stolen, they won't have access to any of the information. I'm researching it now.


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## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

no i don't, let us know what would be a good option


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## TJ Paint (Jun 18, 2009)

I guess I'm not too worried.

Thieves sophisticated enough to steal computer records are probably not going for a small company I would guess. They are going to go for bigger fish.

I'm more concerned with my tools that are pawnable.


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## NCPaint1 (Aug 6, 2009)

Thats great, but what If your house burns down, or gets demolished in a tornado? I have an external hard drive that everything gets backed up on, then thats put in a fire safe.


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## TJ Paint (Jun 18, 2009)

thanks for reminding me about the external hard drive. Last time I was in Best Buy and with my new xbox, I knew I forgot something.


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## NCPaint1 (Aug 6, 2009)

I guess depending how much space you need, a USB thumb drive would work too.


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## VanDamme (Feb 13, 2010)

*"Thieves sophisticated enough to steal computer records are probably not going for a small company I would guess. They are going to go for bigger fish."*

They go for numbers not size. You and I are prime targets. It's hard to purchase 5,000 CC numbers on the black market sites. A million is easy.

On the flip side, *most* of that type of theft is done through software.

The yahoo's that would steal our computers would probably pawn them for $50, but if they got curious and took a look, what could they get?


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## VanDamme (Feb 13, 2010)

ReNt A PaInTeR said:


> no i don't, let us know what would be a good option


A good first step is to password protect your important data. Make sure you set up a password for QuickBooks or other financial program that you use.

Another step to keep the rookies out is to have your operating system require a password to log on. They may steal your computer, see that a password is required and move on.

There's much more, but I'll keep it short.

For backups, the first thing I recommend is automation! Set things up once and you won't be required to even interact with them. It will all happen behind the scenes.

The second thing I recommend is at least two sources for your backup media, with one source being off-site. For example, backing up to a internal or external hard drive _*AND*_ backing up to a online service such as Mozy, Carbonite or another off-site source .


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## y.painting (Jul 19, 2009)

Back up important data (e.g. - Quickbooks database, ACT database, documents, contracts, etc) onto a thumbdrive or two. They come up to 32GB these days - more than enough space.


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## bikerboy (Sep 16, 2007)

With VanDamme on this. Back up off site. If computer gets lost, stolen or destroyed by nature, you still have access to the files.


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## vermontpainter (Dec 24, 2007)

Gps in all electronic equipment. Truck driver named mikey with forearms bigger than your thighs. $200 in sealed envelope in undisclosed location. That's my security plan.


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

Everything on the web.
Big Brother will do a decent job.
Quickbooks online should be next if it will work with T-sheets


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## DarrenSlaughter (Jul 16, 2010)

Two questions really. For backups, you can try Mozy or dropbox. Data encryption has always kept at least one person out...me!


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