Lock Up Stored Data

Businesses are dealing with a variety of new regulations requiring them to ensure that certain kinds of data are kept confidential. Encrypting files may be the answer for some.

To comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Kevin Granhold, manager of network services at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, is trying to "encrypt everything and store it all in one place." The center in June installed two CryptoStor appliances from NeoScale Systems Inc. to encrypt every file on its storage area network. A single CryptoStor appliance, the size of a pizza box and priced at around $35,000, connects to a SAN, provides high-speed encryption, manages itself based on programmed policies, and controls storage firewall access.

Improving the security of stored data, says Jamie Gruener, an analyst at the Yankee Group, "is becoming a mounting concern for customers trying to achieve [regulatory] compliance."