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13/10/2010
Avoiding Disaster – Keeping Your Data And System Configurations Safe
No-one expects the worst and no-one can foresee every eventuality but, in business, you cannot afford to think, “It’ll never happen to me.” In this article, we explore some of the pitfalls of failing to put in place robust policies and procedures for ensuring the integrity and safety of your data and system configurations.
A serious incident capable of preventing your business from continuing its normal operations could happen at any time, day or night, weekday or weekend. Whether it be a flood, break-in or serious Information Security incident it is likely to cause disruption and have financial implications. In the worst case, it could actually destroy your business if you have not put plans in place that will enable you to cope with the disaster.
One of the most important things to consider is the protection of your data. And by that we don’t simply mean ensuring it is safe from potential misuse or theft. Whilst that is obviously a high priority, your business is more likely to lose data as a result of hardware failure or equipment theft. And If you lose your hardware, you’ll lose all the configurations for specific users or processes; configurations that took time and money to set up.
We’re talking backups.
Surely every business runs backups!
Sadly, that is not the case. And even when there are processes in place, businesses do not always regularly check to ensure backups have run successfully. There is a lot of misplaced faith that the process simply happens, and if a data loss occurs it’s just a case of restoring from the last backup.
On 3rd January 2008, a salutary lesson was learnt by Telia Sonera, a major telecoms and internet service provider in Sweden. When an email server crashed it discovered that it’s last serviceable backup was from 15th December 2007. The data loss affected the email accounts of 300,000 customers and ultimately cost the company US$9.4 million.
But, as we mentioned earlier, we’re not just talking data; we’re concerned with backing up the configuration of all, or key elements of, your IT infrastructure. If you lost equipment as a result of a fire, how quickly could you return to normal operations if your IT department had to configure every new piece of equipment from scratch?
I backup data and configurations and check the backups regularly. I should be OK. Right?
Not necessarily. The fact that you are disciplined enough run the backups and check them is commendable. But if all your backed up information is held onsite there is still the chance it could be lost.
Fires, floods, theft and vandalism can all lead to loss of or damage to equipment or peripherals and the data held thereon. As we said at the outset, you can’t predict these types of events, but they happen to business like yours.
That’s why you need to be prepared.
But what more can I do?
It is important that backups of data and configurations are an integral part of your IT Management Policy which, in itself, will contribute directly to your Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning. In addition to running your own regular backups, you should consider online backup and specialised disaster recovery services.
Online data backup solutions are effectively a backup to your backups. They will provide added peace of mind because you know your data will be safe in the event of a disaster on your premises.
Specialised disaster recovery services ensure that the configuration of some, or all, of your IT infrastructure is regularly imaged and securely stored offsite. In the event of a disaster, these images can be uploaded to replacement or loaned equipment to ensure you can be up-and-running again in a matter of hours, not days.
It’s better to be safe than sorry.
SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS:
• Backups should be an integral part of your overall IT Management Policy.
• Run regular –preferably daily - backups of data.
• Ensure system configurations are backed up – monthly is acceptable.
• Monitor your backups to ensure they have run successfully.
• Consider offsite, secure storage for your backups or, better still, utilise professional IT service providers for online backups and specialised disaster recovery services.
