Are Time Machine backups secure?

Posted by Leandro Ardissone on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Leandro Ardissone
Published on 2009-10-23T15:14:24Z Indexed on 2010/04/03 23:43 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 369

Filed under:

mac

|

timemachine

|

time

|

machine

|

osx

I have my Time Machine backups on an external disk (WD My Passport with no hardware encryption) and I'm worried if the data stored on the disk is safe in case somebody steals it and connect it to any Mac/PC.

Does any Mac can browse the Time Machine backups? Or are they encrypted in any way?

If no, is there a way to improve security of the backups, should I buy a hardware encryption based HD?

Thanks.

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about mac

Need a non-Mac keyboard alternative for Mac users

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm a Macbook Pro user. I like Apple products in general, but I hate their keyboards. I work on my computer/laptop 10+ hours a day, so I would like to have a keyboard that is Mac-compatible and ergonomic. I found this one on Amazon. It is specifically made for Mac. However, I would like to get some… >>> More
Including an embedded framework using a cross-project-reference: Header no such file or directory

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm trying to create a Cocoa framework by using a cross-project reference in Xcode. I have 2 projects: one for the framework; one for the application that will use the framework. This framework is not intended to be stored within the system; it is an embedded framework that lives within the application… >>> More
C# development with Mono and MonoDevelop

as seen on Developer IT - Search for 'Developer IT'
In the past two years, I have been developing .NET from my MacBook by running Windows XP into VM Ware and more recently into Virtual Box from OS X. This way, I could install Visual Studio and be able to work seamlessly. But, this way of working has a major down side: it kills the battery of my laptop…… >>> More
12.04lts: no network internet

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Friends-- Cannot connect reliably to ethernet nor at all to Internet: Symptoms: About 2 weeks ago did an upgrade. Have not been able to connect to ethernet nor Internet. Today, for example, boot up this System76 laptop and there was no network connection. Did sudo mount -a and got some internal… >>> More
Why i disconnect every few seconds? using USB wireless adapter

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
i know it's for ubuntu questions..but mint and ubuntu are very similiar and i had the same problem with linux ubuntu too..so i think this is the right place for my question anyway i don't have experience with drivers and other things,after installing Linux on my machine( i did dist-upgrade btw) everything… >>> More

Related posts about timemachine

How to make TimeMachine back up contents of any path or mounted volume

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I keep different types of data in different encrypted sparsebundle images (say, one for each client) which automatically mount upon login but can't be opened by anybody other than myself. So, after login I have a number of virtual volumes in /Volumes/ which keeps my client data both secure and organized… >>> More
Is it possible to browse a timemachine sparsebundle file on a non OS-X system

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
(eg linux) - command line or tool is fine. The old timemachines for local disks are just folders with softlinks, so was easy to browse >>> More
Ubuntu with Netatalk and Samba TimeMachine can't connect

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I installed netatalk on my Ubuntu Server a few weeks ago and configured it so that I could use Timemachine from my mac to backup on a server instead of a external hard drive. It worked really good until yesterday when I installed Samba to be able to share certain folders on my server to my mac. Now… >>> More
VPN/AFP server for centralized TimeMachine backups

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am a sysadmin for a small group of about 7 people who prefer Apple machines for their work. These machines are currently either a) not backed up at all, or b) backed up using Retrospect(Which I'm not very fond of). I don't really have the budget for anything fancy, and I'd like to keep it as user… >>> More
Recovering OS X Mail Accounts Lost in Crash

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I had a hard crash on my Mac PowerBook and when I restarted, Mail came up with only my MobileMe account still available and I cannot figure out how to restore the other eight email accounts I have. The directories in ~/Library/Mail all seem to be there. I even did an rsync of the modified .plist… >>> More