I want to store some records on MobileMe and was wondering how secure it is.
Is it overkill to create an encrypted Dmg or is it just fine to store the items directly there? It is certainly more convenient to just store them directly on MobileMe.
Thanks Mark

MobileMe is userid and password protected, but that is not absolute security. As far as I know this has never happened to MobileMe but some highly reputable financial and government sites have been hacked and the userid/password lists compromised which makes the data on that site vulnerable until the compromise is detected and new passwords issued to all the users. Financial sites are targeted for obvious reasons but it is not obvious to me why MobileMe would be the target of such an attack. MobileMe is not that rich a target to mine.

It is more likely a breach of your specific account on MobileMe would occur if you...

• chose an unsecure password
• use the same password indiscriminately across multiple internet accounts
• write or record your password where others may stumble across it
• are known to store very sensitive/valuable information on your MobileMe account
• are the target of organizations with lots of resources and a reason to target your data (the IRS, CIA, FBI, etc. come to mind)
• are using a Windows PC

The data security question always ends up in finding the right balance between the value of your data, convenience, and your tolerance of risk. If you will feel more comfortable then by all means use some means of encrypting the data before placing it on MobileMe.

Thanks, I think I will be more comfortable with encrypting the data. I appreciate the response.

Encrypted disk image would be the best way to securely store things. As a comparison, I keep a 16gb flash drive with me at all times, and it has among other things, my password list. That information is in an encrypted dmg file, that I keep synced with a copy on my computer. On my computer, the password is in the keychain so it never bugs me when I want at my password list.

But with that flash drive in any other computer, I have to supply the password. That way I can have my cake and eat it too. (have my passwords on my flash drive with me, but not worry about if I lose it) And its minimally inconvenient. The only issue I deal with is updating a password on the flash drive to make sure it gets synced with my computer sometime shortly thereafter.

Thanks, I'll just keep encrypting the dmg and as you said with the password stored in Keychain, it makes it relatively easy to backup.