A system and method for protecting sensitive information, for example, a
user's personal information, stored on a database where the information
is accessible via a communications network such as the Internet. An
exemplary embodiment stores the sensitive information on an off-line
server. The off-line server is connected to an on-line server. The
on-line server is connected to the user via the Internet. The user
interfaces with the on-line server, and at a scheduled time window, the
sensitive information is made available to the on-line server by the
off-line server. Outside of the time window, none of the sensitive
information is kept on the on-line server. Thus by placing the sensitive
information on-line for only limited periods of time the risk of
compromise to the sensitive information is greatly reduced.