Data back-up for computer systems
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Like many businesses our computer system is backed
up. This
ensures that we able to restore vital information in the event of a
computer failure or other problem which disables or destroys our
servers or desktop/laptops.
We have always backed up regularly and then taken a copy of the back-up
off site for security of data. Recently the system
proved fallible because one person thought another person had done the
back-up and to cut a long story short, no one had done it.
Our business was at risk because we only had a week old copy off
site. Fortunately nothing happened.
I decided that we couldn't rely on luck and next time we might
not be
so lucky.
My new bank, Barclays, was offering an automated back-up system, where
the entire server was backed up and then an incremental back-up is
taken daily and automatically; this means that all our data is
available to restore and there is no element of human interaction
required.
Is the data secure? Yes, it is encrypted to the
same level as credit cards, 128-bit SSL encryption on transfers,
256-bit AES encryption on storage. It is mirrored to another
data-centre for additional security.
No one else can access our data, not even the data-centre so we know
that it meets our strict data requirements. It is also
available to restore, if or when, we need it.
The first data save did take rather a long time, overnight in fact, but
the incremental back-up is quick as it only saves changed
files.
Is this expensive? No surprisingly it isn't and if or when we
really need to restore data in an emergency it will be worth every
penny./
About the Author
Chris Eden FIBC, MISSA, ACQI is a director of Quality Matters
Limited an established independent management consultancy based in
Essex, UK which specialises in Independent System Audits.
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2009-06-08 12:43:33 in Computer Articles
