Data at a primary storage system is encrypted and remote copied to a secondary storage system. A Remote Copy Configuration Information (RCCI) is created that identifies the encryption mechanism, keys, data source volume, and target volume for the remote copy. The RCCI is backed up on a trusted computer system. In one embodiment, the secondary storage system is an off-site data storage system managed by a third party. Upon detection of a failure in the primary storage system, the encrypted data and RCCI are transferred to a tertiary server, which is optionally created upon detection of the failure, and operations of the failed primary server are resumed by the tertiary server. In one embodiment, the failure is detected by loss of a heart beat signal transmitted from the primary storage system to a management server that initiates the transfers to the tertiary server.