SOS backup vs other backups

[Cvdasf]

I have been doing a lot of research on online backup services and would like some advice. I have 10tb+ of data across my NAS and internall hard drives. I'd like to be able to select certain things to not sync (private folders) So backblaze is out of the question. I'm looking at SOS right now and to me it looks pretty solid. What are the downsides of SOS that other online backup companies might have?

 

[eatmypie]

What type of files are you planning on uploading? I would also try to avoid any online backup services that are based in the US.

 

[Cvdasf]

What type of files are you planning on uploading? I would also try to avoid any online backup services that are based in the US.

Just curious on why to avoid any that are in the US?

Mostly all my pictures/ hundreds of movies ive bought over the years, tv shows, games, documents, a lot of my beta games ive created ( some over 60gigs) Just lots and lots of assorted things.

 

[eatmypie]

The US based ones all have a lot of privacy concerns atm and I simply wouldn't trust them with anything personal. I used to use mozy about a year ago but I don't think they are in business anymore since their CERT hasn't been renewed the last few times that I went there. Like what I did was I setup a nas with 12TB's of storage 16TB total if you include the the extra backup drives and I shipped it off to my parents in the UK and told them just to plug it in somewhere and connect a Ethernet cord. But that would be really overkill for most. I can check around my bookmarks and see if I have anymore of them based outside of the US. You would get some reduced speed, but you do get a lot more privacy.

 

[Cvdasf]

The US based ones all have a lot of privacy concerns atm and I simply wouldn't trust them with anything personal. I used to use mozy about a year ago but I don't think they are in business anymore since their CERT hasn't been renewed the last few times that I went there. Like what I did was I setup a nas with 12TB's of storage 16TB total if you include the the extra backup drives and I shipped it off to my parents in the UK and told them just to plug it in somewhere and connect a Ethernet cord. But that would be really overkill for most. I can check around my bookmarks and see if I have anymore of them based outside of the US. You would get some reduced speed, but you do get a lot more privacy.

Ok man that would be great if you could do that for me

 

[eatmypie]

Also forgot to mention you could use the SOS one but I would recommend encrypting all of your folders etc yourself before you upload it, like use a 16 character password or longer for a password on the files. and then upload it. like you can just keep everything mounted unencrypted on your own system but just make sure everything that is uploaded is encrypted. Like I like to suggest a password like &`4MKzH"rC\/D9}y and then saving it in plain text somewhere like notepad then encrypting that .txt with something simple like your computers password. Like I normally tell people to use http://passwordsgenerator.net/ with the 16 character or longer preset.

Also if you have a safe or something you are able to lock up, you could write it down and store it there in case you are ever victim to something like some ransom malware

 

[Cvdasf]

Also forgot to mention you could use the SOS one but I would recommend encrypting all of your folders etc yourself before you upload it, like use a 16 character password or longer for a password on the files. and then upload it. like you can just keep everything mounted unencrypted on your own system but just make sure everything that is uploaded is encrypted. Like I like to suggest a password like &`4MKzH"rC\/D9}y and then saving it in plain text somewhere like notepad then encrypting that .txt with something simple like your computers password. Like I normally tell people to use http://passwordsgenerator.net/ with the 16 character or longer preset.

Also if you have a safe or something you are able to lock up, you could write it down and store it there in case you are ever victim to something like some ransom malware

So if i used there ultrasafe max thing they advertise. then just have a 16+ character like the thing you posted. You think itd be fine?

 

[eatmypie]

Yeah it's the leaking of data you would need to be concerned about, which a lot of these online backups are famous for. So by having the files encrypted already when you upload them, that site might have their own key to decrypt their encryption off your stuff, but they won't be able to see the contents because they would still need your password key to see the actual contents of the file.

 

[Cvdasf]

Yeah it's the leaking of data you would need to be concerned about, which a lot of these online backups are famous for. So by having the files encrypted already when you upload them, that site might have their own key to decrypt their encryption off your stuff, but they won't be able to see the contents because they would still need your password key to see the actual contents of the file.

Ok. So how do i encrypt them on my computer? or do you mean adding the max encryption they have?

 

[eatmypie]

Well first you would to encrypt them locally, I would maybe make a few BS folders or gibberish .txt files to test it with. I think encryption programs are really based on what your preference is. Like I don't use windows anymore so all the ones that I use aren't available on windows. So I would look at http://encryption-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ to see what looks best to you.

 

[Cvdasf]

Well first you would to encrypt them locally, I would maybe make a few BS folders or gibberish .txt files to test it with. I think encryption programs are really based on what your preference is. Like I don't use windows anymore so all the ones that I use aren't available on windows. So I would look at http://encryption-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ to see what looks best to you.

Ok thank you very much

 

[Cvdasf]

Well first you would to encrypt them locally, I would maybe make a few BS folders or gibberish .txt files to test it with. I think encryption programs are really based on what your preference is. Like I don't use windows anymore so all the ones that I use aren't available on windows. So I would look at http://encryption-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ to see what looks best to you.

Out of curiosity what OS do you use? As i have a mac and windows so unless you use linux i could use what your using

 

[eatmypie]

I use Kali and OSX and I use AEScrpyt which I guess now is also available to windows. https://www.aescrypt.com/ pretty secure

 

[Cvdasf]

I use Kali and OSX and I use AEScrpyt which I guess now is also available to windows. https://www.aescrypt.com/ pretty secure

Ok thank you last question, what is the difference between AEScrypt and something like folder lock? or other options out there.

 

[eatmypie]

I haven't used to many of the windows ones so I couldn't give you an honest answer. I believe things like folder lock encrypt the file and then it hides it inside a mounting system that isn't visible until you provide the master key. Where as AEScrpyt you do encrypting on each individual file. I use it through terminal. But I really wouldn't recommend it for the standard user because of having to encrypt each file instead of each folder. Like I usually have some program or script I'm working on and I'll use AES because it is very strong but very irritating if you have a lot of files, I also use it in conjunction with full disk encryption.

 

[eatmypie]

Saw your other post so I thought I would clarify it more here for suggestions

veracrypt if you use windows https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/ source code: https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/SourceControl/latest
It pretty much works as an up to date version of truecrypt and it is 100% free. It also supports AES as well as allowing you to generate a sha-512 hash, why sha-512 is better than MD5 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2117732/reasons-why-sha512-is-superior-to-md5 might be hard for the average person to comprehend. Bust trust me vera is probably the best for windows.

 

[Cvdasf]

Saw your other post so I thought I would clarify it more here for suggestions

veracrypt if you use windows https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/ source code: https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/SourceControl/latest
It pretty much works as an up to date version of truecrypt and it is 100% free. It also supports AES as well as allowing you to generate a sha-512 hash, why sha-512 is better than MD5 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2117732/reasons-why-sha512-is-superior-to-md5 might be hard for the normal person to comprehend. Bust trust me vera is probably the best for windows.

Ok this this veracrpt can for example encrypt my entire SSD? So that whatvever i download/send would be encrypted?

 

[eatmypie]

Yes and no full disk encryption think about it just preventing something like your friend co-worker attacker, from not being able to access your files say if you take the drive and plug it into another computer, they couldn't read the contents of the files. But pretty much as soon as you boot your computer type in the password the contents are no longer secure. Like linux lets you encrypt the contents of your home folder, but for windows or even mac OSX I really don't think having every file encrypted is a good idea. Like you could leave the OS files and anything else that isn't private alone, and then make sort of a few folders with your personal stuff fully encrypted. So you could have something like 3 layers of protection like a BIOS password, then you could encrypt you hard drive so no one can access the contents without knowing the password, then you could encrypt your personal files. Then do something like I mentioned before and use something like a txt file and store your passwords in a txt file then encrypt that with a decent password that you already know with AES.

But yes vera will encrypt your entire disk if you want.

 

[Cvdasf]

Yes and no full disk encryption think about it just preventing something like your friend co-worker attacker, from not being able to access your files say if you take the drive and plug it into another computer, they couldn't read the contents of the files. But pretty much as soon as you boot your computer type in the password the contents are no longer secure. Like linux lets you encrypt the contents of your home folder, but for windows or even mac OSX I really don't think having every file encrypted is a good idea. Like you could leave the OS files and anything else that isn't private alone, and then make sort of a few folders with your personal stuff fully encrypted. So you could have something like 3 layers of protection like a BIOS password, then you could encrypt you hard drive so no one can access the contents without knowing the password, then you could encrypt your personal files. Then do something like I mentioned before and use something like a txt file and store your passwords in a txt file then encrypt that with a decent password that you already know with AES.

But yes vera will encrypt your entire disk if you want.

Im sorry for being an idiot (atleast i feel that way) But if my entire disk was encrypted if i backed up to SOS or i sent a email attatchment would my file be encrypted? Or would i have to encrypt it with something else sense i already turned on my computer.

 

[eatmypie]

As soon as you decrypt the disk on boot it is no longer encrypted so you would need to encrypt the files/folders that you want to be private individually.