Information Security for the Digital Photographer

When you come across the term "information security," what springs to mind? If you're like most people, probably images of industrial espionage, Matrix-style hackers breaking into high-security systems, and government snooping. In other words, stuff that doesn't apply to you. In actual fact, it's a lot simpler than that -- and information security applies to everyone with information they care about enough to want to protect it against loss or falling into the wrong hands. If you care about your digital photos, you need to think about information security.

Information leaks get all the press. Whether it's Paris Hilton's home video or the Abu Ghraib pictures, the digital media's potential to spread hot information quickly is spectacular. However, in actual fact, this type of information security breach is far rarer, and the consequences almost always far less severe, than the other type -- plain ol' data loss. Most of us don't have Abu Ghraib or Paris Hilton-grade stuff on our computers anyway, and the damage caused by it leaking would be commensurately less; amounting to embarrassment or at most fairly minor economic consequences (such as having to re-buy software licenses if the vendor revoked yours because it had leaked to use in piracy). Therefore, your main information security concern is almost certainly to secure your information against loss, with the other kind of information security coming in second. In practice, this means a solid backup regimen -- and this is what this article will mostly discuss.