Security 101: Secure Your Data And Systems
Part 4: Backups, Backups, Backups
We cannot stress enough how important it is to do backups every day, and to get these backups out
of your office. It's so easy to have a hardware failure, flood, theft or fire that could wipe out all
your computers - and more importantly, your data - overnight.
We aren't trying to scare you, but your data is your business, and here's a frightening statistic:
as many as 50% of companies that have this level of catastrophe - complete data loss - are out of
business within a few months.
Here's what you need to do:
What You Need To Do
- Install a solid, reliable and automated backup system. For most companies, that means tape
backup - portable drives are good, but experience tells us they rarely get taken off-site, so in
the event of a catastrophe, they're almost certainly useless. Backups that aren't automatic are
also unlikely to happen routinely
- Set it up properly, use good software, and test restoring the data regularly (at least quarterly)
- Purchase at least 5 tapes (Monday - Friday) and rotate them daily. It's no good to use 1 tape,
because when you really need it, it will be the one that failed. Good tapes may or may not be cheap,
but losing data permanently is FAR more costly
- GET THE TAPES OFF-SITE. We can't stress this enough either. If you have a fire, flood or theft
and the tapes are sitting on top of your server, they WILL be gone also. Never, ever rely on 1 specific
tape to be available for a restore. If getting your tapes off-site seems too onerous, buy a fire-proof
safe (not just fire-resistant!), and permanently install it somewhere else in the building.
Don't just sit it on the floor, because if you have a break-in, thieves WILL steal a portable safe
- Expect your tapes to wear out after 1 year or so, and replace them before they fail
- If installing your own tape backup solution is not possible, consider an off-site backup service that
will download and store your data each night automatically. Charges for this can be very reasonable, and vary according
to the amount of data and sophistication. Another choice may be off-site replication of data to a server
elsewhere - at home, for example
- An average client of ours can have a completely solid and reliable backup system in place for $2-3000.
While that may sound like a lot, think of it like fire insurance - when you need it, you'll be really
glad you had it, but ideally, it'll never be used
Call us today for cost-effective security review
Please contact us today, and we'll come to your office to review your existing security
procedures and identify areas that you could or should improve. When your business is at stake, security's something we all
need to take seriously.