A Move to Secure Data by Scattering the Pieces

uler writes "The NY Times has an article about an interesting new open source storage project. Unlike data storage mechanisms today that work 'by making multiple copies of data,' the Cleversafe software takes an 'approach based on dispersing data in encrypted slices.' It's an elegant solution and one that's been a long time coming: the software uses algorithmic techniques known by mathematicians since the 70's. Adi Shamir (of RSA) first wrote of information dispersal is his 1979 paper 'How to Share a Secret (pdf).'"

Comments

I had a similar idea in the mid 90s

[GMontag]

When I was mobilized by the Army to develop a database for Personnel/HR use in the mid 90s, I thought of something similar for data backup. Was not really thinking of it as a security system, more like an 'insurance' system.

Problem was, I did not know enough about developing systems like that, nor did I know enough about getting the idea in front of the people who could make it happen.

The basics were when users in the field made queries the returned data would be stored for some period of time and a separate server would record who had what and be able to retrieve the data in case the backups were destroyed or inaccessible.

The main thing was that if it were recently downloaded data then it was more relevant than older data, which could wait to be reconstructed but newly queried records were more important to current operations.

Also, since the data was scattered about, it would be of less interest to a party wanting to grab info about soldiers.

Obviously the idea needed more thought by more brains than mine.