It seems like every article about encryption starts by rehashing high-profile screw-ups where a tape containing a million credit card numbers bounced off a delivery truck or disappeared off the loading dock. You know the stories by now and more than a few of you probably thought, "Jeez, that's how we handle tapes." If you think that kind of thing only happens to the "other guy," think again. Maybe you're the other guy.

The benefits are clear: Lose an encrypted tape, you lose nothing; lose a tape whose bits haven't been scrambled and the implications are endless.

So why aren't you encrypting your tapes? In Storage's Spring 2007 Purchasing Intentions survey, 55% of respondents said they hadn't deployed storage security. Those respondents who were encrypting fell into three camps--those using appliances, backup software and array-based security--with a smaller contingent using the relatively new tape drive encryption technology. That was last spring, you say, so it's almost ancient history, right? In our most recent Purchasing Intentions survey, the number of respondents not encrypting was worse.