Merge pull request #1012 from ThomasWaldmann/append-only-docs

FAQ: add entries about compromised machines and other troubles, fixes #1011

docs/faq.rst

@@ -133,6 +133,50 @@ into the repository.
 Yes, as an attacker with access to the remote server could delete (or
 otherwise make unavailable) all your backups.
 
+How can I protect against a hacked backup client?
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Assume you backup your backup client machine C to the backup server S and
+C gets hacked. In a simple push setup, the attacker could then use borg on
+C to delete all backups residing on S.
+
+These are your options to protect against that:
+
+- Do not allow to permanently delete data from the repo, see :ref:`append-only-mode`.
+- Use a pull-mode setup using ``ssh -R``, see :issue:`900`.
+- Mount C's filesystem on another machine and then create a backup of it.
+- Do not give C filesystem-level access to S.
+
+How can I protect against a hacked backup server?
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Just in case you got the impression that pull-mode backups are way more safe
+than push-mode, you also need to consider the case that your backup server S
+gets hacked. In case S has access to a lot of clients C, that might bring you
+into even bigger trouble than a hacked backup client in the previous FAQ entry.
+
+These are your options to protect against that:
+
+- Use the standard push-mode setup (see also previous FAQ entry).
+- Mount (the repo part of) S's filesystem on C.
+- Do not give S file-system level access to C.
+- Have your backup server at a well protected place (maybe not reachable from
+  the internet), configure it safely, apply security updates, monitor it, ...
+
+How can I protect against theft, sabotage, lightning, fire, ...?
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+In general: if your only backup medium is nearby the backupped machine and
+always connected, you can easily get into trouble: they likely share the same
+fate if something goes really wrong.
+
+Thus:
+
+- have multiple backup media
+- have media disconnected from network, power, computer
+- have media at another place
+- have a relatively recent backup on your media
+
 Why do I get "connection closed by remote" after a while?
 ---------------------------------------------------------
 

docs/usage.rst

@@ -821,13 +821,16 @@ Now, let's see how to restore some LVs from such a backup. ::
     $ borg extract --stdout /path/to/repo::arch dev/vg0/home-snapshot > /dev/vg0/home
 
 
+.. _append-only-mode:
+
 Append-only mode
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 A repository can be made "append-only", which means that Borg will never overwrite or
-delete committed data. This is useful for scenarios where multiple machines back up to
-a central backup server using ``borg serve``, since a hacked machine cannot delete
-backups permanently.
+delete committed data (append-only refers to the segment files, but borg will also
+reject to delete the repository completely). This is useful for scenarios where a
+backup client machine backups remotely to a backup server using ``borg serve``, since
+a hacked client machine cannot delete backups on the server permanently.
 
 To activate append-only mode, edit the repository ``config`` file and add a line
 ``append_only=1`` to the ``[repository]`` section (or edit the line if it exists).
@@ -888,6 +891,6 @@ repository. Make sure that backup client machines only get to access the reposit
 Ensure that no remote access is possible if the repository is temporarily set to normal mode
 for e.g. regular pruning.
 
-Further protections can be implemented, but are outside of Borgs scope. For example,
+Further protections can be implemented, but are outside of Borg's scope. For example,
 file system snapshots or wrapping ``borg serve`` to set special permissions or ACLs on
 new data files.