Security and storage have traditionally been strange bedfellows, seemingly at odds despite so many efforts to sound the alarm concerning the risks inherent to networked storage environments. While awareness of the risks is on the rise, steps to address storage security holes have been slow to evolve. Still, the fear of being exposed on the pages of The New York Times and having to provide free Equifax credit checks to millions of consumers is incentive enough for most organizations to consider tape encryption.

Despite steadily growing interest, the number of companies that encrypt their tapes remains relatively small. When SAN-based encryption appliances were introduced a few years ago, there was a significant uptick in encryption interest. With the emergence of new generations of tape drives featuring onboard hardware encryption, companies are revisiting their tape security practices in the hope that this new technology will solve their current tape security concerns at an affordable price.