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If we talk about “sandboxing”, happy memories of childhood games in the garden will come to mind.

But when talking about computers and applications, this term refers to a very powerful security feature that separates running programs. This is very important for service/application providers. Anyone that offers a web-based service is potentially under risk of being attacked by hackers or third parties interested in gaining the information that’s been transferred from the user to the server during uploading and vice versa during downloading.

When Swiss DNA Bank’s developing team was crating the application, the number one priority was always to give users the maximum level of security possible due to the company’s concern with the customers’ privacy issues.

The only way to provide 100% guarantees that the data would not be intercepted by malicious third parties was to rely on two separate servers: one on which the application is running and another one on which the data is stored. The two servers are completely independent and physically located in two different venues. The only connection occurs during data uploading and downloading, a phase in which everything is protected by the highest encryption standards.

In addition, the keys to decryption and the encrypted data are saved in physically separated machines, so that even if a system engineer gains access to one of the servers it is impossible for him to enter the Forever database.

Another plus of this security solution is that in case of an application crash occurs due to a very high number of access, there is no risk of data loss or damaging because everything is saved on the separate and highly secure Forever server.

The risk with the average available cloud computing (services which, like Swiss DNA Bank, provide a software that users access form a browser instead of downloading it on their computer), is that you do not know for sure wether the application and the data are on the same server and where the server is physically located. Since data can sometimes be backed-up on one’s computer but is usually hosted on the cloud, in case of a system crash there are no security guarantees concerning a safe back-up procedure.

Unlike most services, thanks to the multiple server solution and localized Forever data storage, Swiss DNA Bank is able to provide a 100% secure service for a risk-free storage.

Just when you taught things were getting a little shaky for world-renowned Swiss privacy, Bern’s government reminds everyone that it’s not that easy to lay hands on the country’s most valuable asset.

After recent settlements between the US, Switzerland and UBS to disclose Irs cheaters, Bern backfires on Google. Well, it’s not really backfire, it’s more about reminding who is in charge for Swiss privacy on Swiss soil, i.e. the Swiss government.

Switzerland has recently signed an agreement with the US government to disclose about 4.500 names of American citizens UBS account holders because of tax evasion charges.

It is important to understand that this is an agreement, meaning that when the most powerful and pushy government in the world attacked the Swiss banking system, Switzerland was nevertheless able to answer back to America.

So some names will be disclosed but strictly after Bern analyzes the paperwork that proves these US citizens with Swiss bank accounts guilty as charged.

But there was no settlement when Google’s Swiss mapping service failed to obscure faces and plates properly yesterday. After the Swiss Street View was released on-line, Hanspeter Thur, from the federal bureau of data protection, required the Mountain View-based giant to stop the service immediately as Swiss privacy laws have not been respected.

The reason was that Google failed to warn citizens about the Google Car transit dates and time and, worst of all, failed to obscure people’s faces and car’s plates.

This has nothing to do with the service’s ban, it is all about respecting local privacy laws and regulations.

One of the biggest scandals was that the face of a Swiss Government’s member was actually photographed while walking around town with his assistant.

Google acted surprised by Switzerland’s reaction, even though it had to admit that the obscuration software is still failing to do its job once in a wile.

While engineers work on getting that one fixed, Switzerland decided it is better to shield its citizens and visitors from Big brother’s indiscrete eye.