Encrypting the Backup

Encryption may be a necessity for those wishing to keep their backup secure from unauthorised access.

Encryption is the process of encoding, or scrambling, data in such a way that it appears unintelligible to anyone who does not have the specific key needed to decode the message. For more information on encryption please refer to How-to Booklet chapter 4.How to protect the sensitive files on your computer

4.1 How to Encrypt Your Backup

The Strong encryption pane is used to specify the encryption method to be used.

Step 1: Click the Encryption type drop-down box to activate its list of different encryption methods as follows:

Figure 11: The Encryption type drop-down list

To keep things simple, we recommend that you choose from either the Blowfish or the Rijndael (128 bits) methods. These will provide excellent security for your archive, and let you access the encrypted data with a chosen password.

Step 2: Select the Encryption type you want to use.

Note: Rijndael and Blowfish both offer approximately the same level of security. DES is weaker but the encryption process is faster.

Step 3: Type and re-type the password into the two boxes provided as below.

Figure 12: The The Encryption type and Passphrase text fields

The strength of the password is indicated by the bar marked 'Passphrase quality'. The further the bar moves to the right, the stronger the passphrase. Refer to the How-to Booklet chapter 3.How to create and maintain secure passwords and the KeePass Hands-on guide for instructions on how to create and store secure passphrases/passwords.

Step 4: Click the OK button.

4.2 How to Decrypt Your Backup

Step 1. Select: Tools > Decryptor and Keys

Figure 13: The Tools menu with Decryptor and Keys selected

This will activate the Decryptor and Keys screen as follows:

Figure 14: The Decryptor and Keys screen in Cobian Backup 8

Step 2. Click the Source button to select the archive you want to decrypt.

Step 3. Click the Browse button to select the folder in which to store the decrypted archive.

Step 4. Select the encryption type you selected in section 4.0 How to Encrypt Your Archive, in the New Methods drop-down list.

Figure 15: The New Methods drop-down list

Step 4. Select the appropriate encryption method (the one you used to encrypt your backup file).

Step 5. Type your passphrase into the Passphrase text fields.

Step 6. Click the Decrypt button.

The file(s) will be decrypted to the location that you specified. If the files were also compressed, you will need to decompress them as outlined in section 3.2 How to Decompress Your Backup.