Backblaze Did NOT Provide Any Data to NSA PRISM

Similar to the statements by Google, Facebook, Apple, and others, I will say that prior to Thursday’s news articles, none of us at Backblaze had heard of the NSA’s PRISM.

Backblaze is not even included on the list of “current providers” in the leaked slide presentation.

However, since some of our customers have written in expressing concern based on the media, let me state:

    1. 1. Backblaze has not participated in PRISM.
    1. 2. Backblaze has not been asked by the NSA (or any other government agency) to provide any information on any of our customers.

Moreover, as opposed to the data that you may have with Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and some of the “current providers,” customer data that is backed up by Backblaze is encrypted on the customer’s computer before being backed up.

About Gleb Budman

Gleb Budman is a co-founder and has served as our chief executive officer since 2007, guiding the business from its inception in a Palo Alto apartment to a company serving customers in more than 175 countries with over an exabyte of data under management. Gleb has served as a member of our board of directors since 2009 and as chairperson since January 2021. Prior to Backblaze, Gleb was the senior director of product management at SonicWall and the vice president of products at MailFrontier, which was acquired by SonicWall. Before that, he served in a senior position at Kendara, which was acquired by Excite@Home, and previously founded and successfully exited two other startup companies.