3 ms·

Surely you jest, you joker you. The number of problems with that idea far outweigh the benefits. Should I go into detail? Love your profile text, by the way.

Surely you jest, you joker you. The number of problems with that idea far outweigh the benefits. Should I go into detail? Love your profile text, by the way. EDIT: one quick example is that I’ve lost more data by forgetting passwords than I care to admit. They’ve all been from an age where I thought it was a good idea to encrypt my secret documents, lest prying eyes get to them. Turns out the secrets would’ve been interesting to me, but are no longer accessible. I suspect this isn’t uncommon.

philote 3y ago
Please go into detail, I'm curious how encrypting your backups has more problems than benefits.
giantg2 3y ago
That sounds like a password management problem and not a problem with encryption.
hedora 3y ago
Even if you don't care about all your data being published in the future, and even if you don't care about getting your data deleted (or door knocked in) because of a random content scanner false positive, you still need to encrypt them. Many cloud storage services try to understand and then "clean up" file types they understand. If you don't believe me, upload and then download a TB or so of images, documents, music, videos, etc. Then, compare the checksums of the original and restored copies. On top of that, there are services like Amazon Cloud Drive that have content-type restrictions. The only reasonable litmus test I've seen in this space is "there is a cryptographic proof that some middle manager didn't screw up my backup". Unfortunately, that means you need to manage the encryption keys somehow. Cloud storage kind of sucks.
Hizonner 3y ago
> I’ve lost more data by forgetting passwords than I care to admit This is a you problem. 100 percent PEBKAC. I've been encrypting every backup, local and cloud, and plenty of other things, for probably 30 years. I've done my share of restores, and have never lost the only key to anything I later wanted back. That's true even though I have forgotten a few passwords, because I had failsafes for that situation. This requires memorizing only three or four long passwords, which change very rarely, plus a little bit of discipline and occasionally some maintenance of your archives. On the other hand, putting something somewhere, like some cloud service, without seeing all the implications, is a mistake that's easy to make and hard to clean up. Storing stuff in the cloud in the clear en masse is an insane thing to make into a normal part of your routine.
- smarx007 3y ago
  Many cases where a recovery from backup is needed are due to PEBKAC.

philote 3y ago

Please go into detail, I'm curious how encrypting your backups has more problems than benefits.

giantg2 3y ago

That sounds like a password management problem and not a problem with encryption.

hedora 3y ago

Even if you don't care about all your data being published in the future, and even if you don't care about getting your data deleted (or door knocked in) because of a random content scanner false positive, you still need to encrypt them. Many cloud storage services try to understand and then "clean up" file types they understand. If you don't believe me, upload and then download a TB or so of images, documents, music, videos, etc. Then, compare the checksums of the original and restored copies. On top of that, there are services like Amazon Cloud Drive that have content-type restrictions. The only reasonable litmus test I've seen in this space is "there is a cryptographic proof that some middle manager didn't screw up my backup". Unfortunately, that means you need to manage the encryption keys somehow. Cloud storage kind of sucks.

Hizonner 3y ago

> I’ve lost more data by forgetting passwords than I care to admit This is a you problem. 100 percent PEBKAC. I've been encrypting every backup, local and cloud, and plenty of other things, for probably 30 years. I've done my share of restores, and have never lost the only key to anything I later wanted back. That's true even though I have forgotten a few passwords, because I had failsafes for that situation. This requires memorizing only three or four long passwords, which change very rarely, plus a little bit of discipline and occasionally some maintenance of your archives. On the other hand, putting something somewhere, like some cloud service, without seeing all the implications, is a mistake that's easy to make and hard to clean up. Storing stuff in the cloud in the clear en masse is an insane thing to make into a normal part of your routine.

smarx007 3y ago
Many cases where a recovery from backup is needed are due to PEBKAC.