Press Release (U.S.)

Asigra Stops Backup Software Hackers Cold with 256-bit Encryption and Multiple Layers of Protection
Agentless backup and recovery software delivers highest levels of protection to outperform agent-based approaches in securing corporate data

TORONTO – October 31, 2005 – To address the growing threat of backup hacking that plagues agent-based backup software approaches, Asigra™, the technology leader in agentless distributed backup and recovery software for network computing, stated that the company’s Televaulting™ for Enterprises solution delivers a way to provide multiple layers of protection with strong encryption, up to AES 256-bit encryption and prevents unauthorized access to corporate data.

Reports estimate that nearly one-third of all agent-based backup software has security holes that leave data vulnerable to attack at the agent and management console level. Asigra’s agentless enterprise-class backup and recovery solution features 256-bit protection, as well as advanced authentication, notification and other security elements designed to stop hackers in their tracks and ensures that sensitive data is not a target for malicious attacks.

“With a third of companies having security problems in their backup software – and even more that fail to properly encrypt and protect their data – confidential information is at risk, and steps need to be taken to minimize exposure to break-in,” said Eran Farajun, executive vice president of Asigra. “Asigra’s Televaulting is designed to stop backup hackers cold, with strong 256-bit encryption and enterprise-class functionality that allows the secure movement of data from multiple remote sites to a centralized off-site location.”

“Organizational data has become a juicy and primary target for theft. Thieves have figured out that backups are a less protected, more vulnerable repository of that data. With organizations being held accountable for protecting their data, it is imperative that their backup solutions provide multiple levels of protection,” said Marc Staimer, President and CDS of Dragonslayer Consulting. “Asigra's Televaulting distributed backup provides that security by encrypting backup data both ‘in-flight’ and ‘at-rest’ in an efficient and cost-effective manner.”

Available for use from a backup service provider or for in-house deployment, Asigra Televaulting is a WAN platform solution that delivers backup/restore as a utility. Using Asigra, agentless client software is installed on only one node at each remote site, regardless of whether there are one or hundreds of servers, desktops and/or laptops within a heterogeneous LAN environment. With Televaulting, business-critical corporate data is protected with an automated backup to a secure off-site data vault where it is available for restoration 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the event of an emergency or major disaster.

As Asigra backs up a heterogeneous LAN environment, data is processed, compressed and encrypted before it is transferred to the off-site storage location. Asigra’s authentication processes, which include both login and auditing capabilities, are designed to ensure that no individual can impersonate an account through client-side attack. Asigra’s software requires unique identifiers for login to the account, use of the proper encryption keys with one-way hashes used for verification, and the need for login requests to originate from valid hardware using a specific IP address. These multiple authentication mechanisms substantially reduce exposure to backup software hackers and provide a solid and substantial first layer of protection.

Asigra then implements AES 256-bit encryption of all file data transmitted between client and off-site backup locations to deliver the second layer of protection. Since monitoring or interception of the data being transmitted would only result in highly compressed and encrypted blocks, access to confidential data captured in transit is not possible. With Asigra, even hacking for full access to the off-site data repository would result in zero ability to read the contents of the files. Asigra protected data is always stored encrypted without key information, whether by a service provider or at a corporate site. Data is protected with encryption while ‘in-flight’ and ‘at-rest.’

About Asigra
Founded in 1986, Asigra is the award-winning specialist in agentless distributed data backup and recovery solutions for network computing. With Asigra's Televaulting software, enterprises and service providers can reliably protect mission-critical information across all their geographically dispersed "data islands," whether those islands reside on servers, desktops or laptops. Leading all other distributed backup and restore disk-to-disk software vendors, more than 3 petabytes of data is protected with Asigra Televaulting. The privately held company is based in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit the company's website at www.asigra.com.