Data security is a major concern to RBS and our clients. Remote Backup Systems has addressed the issue of protecting data by using a very sophisticated compression and encryption system. Using two three layers of protection, with state-of-the-art encryption technology, RBS's archives are virtually impenetrable.
RBS compresses and encrypts data before it is transmitted by modem from the client's office. Only the client knows the encryption "key". The key can be any word or phrase, from five to 40 characters long. The key is not transmitted with the archive. RBS archives cannot be viewed, decrypted or used in any way without the key.
RBS's encryption is either Blowfish or DES (Federal Data Encryption Standard). DES is one of the most secure technologies for commercial applications. It was introduced for military use in the mid 1980's then migrated to civilian platforms.
Several versions of the DES encryption algorithm exist. These versions have different "key lengths", or formats, varying from 40 to 80 bits. RBS uses an 80 bit key.
Theoretically, it is possible to crack any encryption scheme, but the expense in time and computing power may be prohibitive. Recently, a small Netscape message encrypted with a similar technology was decoded using two banks of 120 extremely high speed 32-bit Sparc workstations connected to two supercomputers running 24 hours a day for eight days.
This small message was encrypted with a 40-bit key - half the size of RBS's. In a statistically best-case scenario, the same computer system could theoretically crack the RBS archive in 64 days.
So, it is possible that someone with $25 million worth of computer equipment, a staff of expert hackers, and 64 days to waste could crack the RBS archive. However, from a practical standpoint, it's just not going to happen.
No one will dedicate these kinds of resources to develop a "cracking tool" just so they can read your proprietary data. Ony major universities and extremely large corporations have this kind of hardware and expertise, and they aren't likely to approve of dedicating two supercomputers, 120 workstations and six employees for 128 days to steal your data.
Even though the chances are microscopically slim that someone could crack the RBS's archives, we have contingency plans in place to deal with the risk. If someone does manage to crack the RBS encryption scheme, we will immediately plug in one of six others that we have ready to go. We can have a completely different technology in the network within hours.
On a final note, our proprietary compression and encryption system has NEVER been broken.
In 1998, we issued the world a challenge. We invited all computer hackers and programming experts to see if they could break our encryption system. We offered a monetary reward for anyone that could break a simple message that was encrypted with the RBS software.
This prize has never been claimed! The challenge is still open...!