Online Data Backups
Online backups are the new craze for most businesses thanks to lower storage costs and better broadband speeds. Most online backup software will create automated backups that require little intervention from the user. Most backup software is very easy to use requiring very little IT skills. This also helps reduce the duties of any staff member who needs to create backups.
Online backups can rescue a company from a major disaster, even a simple hard drive crash should be considered major. How we see online backups is like an extra insurance policy for the business. We have even seen clients reduce their business insurance premiums from using offsite backups, something you may want to ask your own insurance company about.
If you are thinking on using a remote online backup service we suggest considering some of the following points:
How do online backups work?
The whole concept behind an online backup is very straight forward. Your computer or server will have a software client installed that sends data over the internet to the backup service provider.
Are online backups safe?
Yes & No as different factors will come into play. Any IT professional will tell you that no business system connected to the internet is 100% safe intruders or malicious viruses. When looking at the security aspect of remote backups you need to investigate various factors that include the backup software, the service provider or even the physical location of the backup servers.
Software data encryption – Making sure your data is encrypted before it leaves your business server is highly important. This will make it more difficult for anyone to intercept the data between your server and the backup server. You’ll find many reliable online backup services using 256 Advanced Encryption Standards within their software.
Location of support – If you business is 24/7 mission critical and you want to use online backups, ensure you have access to 24/7 support from the backup provider. If you don’t have access to 24/7 support and your business is an 8hr operation consider using a provider in the same time zone as your office.
Physical location of the backup server – Where is the physical location of the backup servers? Depending on your business industry you might be required, by law, to retain your business data within your country. Research if your business falls under such laws.
Information on the data center - There are various aspects of security to look at when it comes to the physical location of the servers. Is the data center reliable? How are they housed within a data center? Are the servers within a locked cabinet? Who has physical access to the servers?
Disaster recovery for online backups
Data replication plays a huge part in the disaster recovery plan for the online backup provider, without it they run the risk of losing all data, including yours. Ensure your own backups are being replicated by the service provider so that you have better redundancy on your restores.
These are just a small number of pointers that need to be considering when improving your business disaster recovery plan.