Rail Road Data: Lost In Transit

If you’re a VAR in the data protection business, it’s time to convince your customers to encrypt their backup data.

A case in point: The Long Island Rail Road-one of the nation’s largest commuter systems-has lost personal information (names, addresses, Social Security numbers and salary figures) of virtually everyone who has ever worked for the agency, according to Newsday, Long Island’s daily newspaper. Iron Mountain Inc., a Boston-based firm that specializes in data protection, lost one of the LIRR’s backup tapes earlier this month, the newspaper says. The tape contained information on roughly 17,000 current and former LIRR employees.

The LIRR isn’t alone. Dozens of companies have suffered similar data setbacks in recent months. Not by coincidence, vendors and VARs are striving to help businesses safeguard backup data-no matter where it resides. Oracle, for one, this week unveiled Oracle Secure Backup, which encrypts data to tape to help protect sensitive information in case the backup tapes are lost or stolen.