== How does CatalogIt ensure that my data is secure? ==
It is our top priority to make the CatalogIt system secure and trusted. Our infrastructure runs in a VPN (virtual private network) behind a firewall fronted by load balancers that restrict traffic to a single port only. CatalogIt infrastructure runs on AWS (Amazon Web Services) and takes advantage of their monitoring tools (CloudWatch) to notify us of issues and keep tabs of memory, load, disc usage, etc. Traffic to our database servers, search engine, and worker processes can only originate from within the VPN (i.e. our database servers cannot be accessed outside the VPN -- e.g. from the public internet). All communication between client and server happens over secure HTTPS/TLS connections. We do not use cookies or store any personally identifiable information on your computer or mobile device. Authentication utilizes the oAuth2 protocol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OAuth) which is used by Apple, Google, and other top-tier technology-dependent businesses to secure their data and transactions. CatalogIt stores the oAuth2 refresh and access tokens on the client’s devices; the client token expires every few minutes; the refresh-token can be revoked at any time. For added security, CatalogIt supports multi-factor authentication which adds an additional layer of security to your account by requiring an additional code to log in that is either sent to your mobile device via text message or generated by a third-party authenticator app such as Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator, etc.
== How does CatalogIt protect data from disasters? ==
CatalogIt’s infrastructure is run on Amazon Web Services, in a virtual private cloud. CatalogIt stores all data in two, geographically separated data centers. The primary center is in Eastern Oregon and the secondary center is in Virginia
Storing data in two separate locations protects the stored data from natural disasters and technological failures. If anything happens that affects one facility, the other is there as a backup. This includes the possibility of bit-rot or digital decay. If it were to occur in one location, the probability of it happening in the other is statistically near zero.
=== How Durable is Amazon S3? ===
Amazon S3 provides the most durable storage in the cloud. Based on its unique architecture, S3 is designed to provide 99.999999999% (11 nines) data durability. Additionally, S3 stores data redundantly across a minimum of 3 Availability Zones (AZ) by default, providing built-in resilience against widespread disaster. Customers can store data in a single AZ to minimize storage cost or latency, in multiple AZs for resilience against the permanent loss of an entire data center, or in multiple AWS Regions to meet geographic resilience requirements.
=== How is Amazon S3 designed for 99.999999999% durability? ===
Amazon S3’s design for durability is a function of storage device failure rates and the rate at which S3 can detect failure, and then re-replicate data on those devices. S3 has end-to-end integrity checking on every object upload and verifies that all data is correctly and redundantly stored across multiple storage devices before it considers your upload to be successful. Once your data is stored in S3, S3 continuously monitors data durability over time with periodic integrity checks of all data at rest. S3 also actively monitors the redundancy of your data to help verify that your objects are able to tolerate the concurrent failure of multiple storage devices.
== What browsers does CatalogIt support? ==