Keeping confidential data safe?

I will be away from home for a while. Just a few days ago there was a
break in in a house down the street from my place.

My hard disks at home contain confidential research work. It is
unlikely a thief would be able to make heads or tails of it but I
simply can not bear the thought of it ending up in a third party. I
also have quite a few CD/DVD backups -- about 1000+ discs, but I can't
be bothered to go through all of them to find the ones which contain
the most sensitive files, maybe 25 or so discs.

I was thinking about bringing my 6 (internal) hard disks with me on my
flight, but I am unsure whether X-rays or rough handling may corrupt
the data. Will it? Would wrapping the hard disks in towels be OK in
terms of shock protection?

As for the CD/DVDs, does anyone know whether it is likely an
opportunistic thief would steal a stack of them sitting in the corner?
When thieves break into a house of an absent owner, do they clear out
everything or just the expensive looking items?

Lastly, should I strip all key files from a WWW-connected server I use
for my numerical calculations? I am solely responsible for that
computer's security (even signed a form saying I was) and it uses SuSE
9.2. I keep a constant watch on it and being unable to do so for a few
weeks makes me jittery.

AN O'Nymous wrote:
I will be away from home for a while. Just a few days ago there was a
break in in a house down the street from my place.

My hard disks at home contain confidential research work. It is
unlikely a thief would be able to make heads or tails of it but I
simply can not bear the thought of it ending up in a third party. I
also have quite a few CD/DVD backups -- about 1000+ discs, but I can't
be bothered to go through all of them to find the ones which contain
the most sensitive files, maybe 25 or so discs.

I was thinking about bringing my 6 (internal) hard disks with me on my
flight, but I am unsure whether X-rays or rough handling may corrupt
the data. Will it? Would wrapping the hard disks in towels be OK in
terms of shock protection?

As for the CD/DVDs, does anyone know whether it is likely an
opportunistic thief would steal a stack of them sitting in the corner?
When thieves break into a house of an absent owner, do they clear out
everything or just the expensive looking items?


snip if you are really paranoid...
get a bank , safe-deposit box

"AN O'Nymous" wrote in message
oups.com...
I will be away from home for a while. Just a few days ago there was a
break in in a house down the street from my place.

My hard disks at home contain confidential research work. It is
unlikely a thief would be able to make heads or tails of it but I
simply can not bear the thought of it ending up in a third party. I
also have quite a few CD/DVD backups -- about 1000+ discs, but I can't
be bothered to go through all of them to find the ones which contain
the most sensitive files, maybe 25 or so discs.


Disk encryption s/w like PGP will lock it down tight...

"AN O'Nymous" wrote in
oups.com:

Safe-deposit box.

Regards,

It has less to do with paranoia, than me signing multiple documents
explicitly saying that I am liable if anything goes wrong.

A safe-deposit box was the first thing I thought of, but the ones I've
seen won't hold 6 HDDs and 1000+ discs (like I said, checking 1000+
discs for the files in question is too big a hassle).

Thanks, I think I'll go for this, and just take one hard disk with
backups with me in case a thief steals my PC during the festive season.


The 30 day trial looks good; by the time its over I will be back.

Patrick Cleburne wrote:

"AN O'Nymous" wrote in message
oups.com...
I will be away from home for a while. Just a few days ago there was a
break in in a house down the street from my place.

My hard disks at home contain confidential research work. It is
unlikely a thief would be able to make heads or tails of it but I
simply can not bear the thought of it ending up in a third party. I
also have quite a few CD/DVD backups -- about 1000+ discs, but I can't
be bothered to go through all of them to find the ones which contain
the most sensitive files, maybe 25 or so discs.


Disk encryption s/w like PGP will lock it down tight...

Anyone know if PGP will work with a RAID1 configuration?

Notan

"nemo_outis" wrote in message
...
"AN O'Nymous" wrote in
oups.com:

Safe-deposit box.

Regards,


The perfect, uncomplicated answer.

"AN O'Nymous" wrote in message
oups.com...
I will be away from home for a while. Just a few days ago there was a
break in in a house down the street from my place.
##################################
Who else did you tell besides the everyone who reads usenet?
donnie.

Donnie wrote:
"AN O'Nymous" wrote in message
oups.com...
I will be away from home for a while. Just a few days ago there was a
break in in a house down the street from my place.
##################################
Who else did you tell besides the everyone who reads usenet?
donnie.

I'd like to see how someone can track down my physical address via
Usenet.

Only my neighbours know.