No, the NSA Won’t Restore Your Crashed Hard Drive

So, yes, you still need to back up your data yourself.

  • Share
  • Read Later

Backblaze is an online backup company. In light of jokes making the rounds alluding to the idea that backup services are now unnecessary considering the National Security Agency already has a copy of everyone’s data, one of Backblaze’s employees decided to put that theory to the test.

According to CNET, Backblaze’s Yev Pusin sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the NSA in June asking “for a copy of all the agency’s data relating to himself.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the NSA denied Pusin’s request, citing matters of national security; the NSA wouldn’t even acknowledge “the existence or non-existence” of such data, according to its letter back to Pusin.

So, yes, you still need to back up your data yourself.

Guess what happened when Backblaze tried using the NSA for data backup [CNET]