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ADR 0013: Encrypted Company Data

Decision

BooksPlus will treat each company file or company database as sensitive business data and protect it at rest.

Company data and backups must be encrypted or otherwise protected so that casual copying of files from the desktop machine does not provide usable accounting data.

Rationale

BooksPlus will store accounting records, customer/vendor information, source document references, audit trails, and possibly sensitive business configuration. A desktop deployment increases the risk that a database file or backup file may be copied, misplaced, emailed, or exposed through ordinary workstation compromise.

Security architecture must therefore include data-at-rest protection from the beginning, even if the first implementation uses a minimal encryption mechanism.

Implications

BooksPlus must define:

  • where company data is stored;
  • whether the company database is encrypted;
  • how encryption keys are stored;
  • how backups are encrypted;
  • how recovery keys are handled;
  • who can export or restore company data.

Where possible, local encryption keys must be protected by the operating system credential store or platform-equivalent secure storage.

Guidance

For MVP:

  • avoid storing company data in casual plaintext files;
  • encrypt backups;
  • restrict backup export and restore actions;
  • audit backup export and restore;
  • document recovery expectations clearly.