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Our View: Encryption is too hard

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About 50% of the storage managers Storage editors have spoken with or surveyed are encrypting tapes. Our research suggests the rest aren't ready to jump on the encryption bandwagon any time soon.

According to a Symantec study, 63% of IT pros say a "data leak" would wreak havoc. And 59% of those pros are girding themselves for a "major loss-of-information event at least once every five years." Scary news, but not scary enough to get non-encryptors to scramble those tape-borne bytes.

Storage managers will take the hit for lost tape data, but there's plenty of blame to go around, starting with storage vendors. With pro-prietary encryption key management schemes, it's no wonder storage teams are loathe to take the plunge, as getting locked into one encryption vendor means forever. Vendors can offer all kinds of encryption options, but until they support a unified, or at least federated, key management system, encryption will remain a hard sell.

--Rich Castagna

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This was first published in April 2008

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