Remote or online backup services (RBS) offer a process to transfer electronic files to an alternate location for storage so they are available to you should you experience a business halting event that results in the loss of some or all of your in-house data.
There are many benefits to this type of service. However, the individual benefit or degree of its application is dictated by the service itself. Not all remote backup services are the same. They may all seem like it from an initial perspective Value Dumpster Rental Virginia Beach but when you get right down to it you will find significant differences between them. Please use this as a guide to establish what is important to you, your organization; and make sure you select a service that fits you, the consumer. I hope you will never need to fall back on your investment but if that’s the case, you will be happy you took a little time to investigate. The last thing you need when dealing with a business halting event is to learn that what you thought was taken care of doesn’t meet the needs of your recovery plan. By then it’s too late and the costs to your business add up quickly.
Benefits and Differences
Generally, an accepted global benefit to RBS is the reduction in operating expenses required to manage and operate more traditional backup solutions. It’s more cost effective. This is of course if your company only relies on RBS to protect its data. Although I feel RBS is more advantageous and reliable from a continuity perspective than other solutions nothing is 100% effective. There are flaws in every process. My recommendation to all my clients is that they use RBS as a second level of protection for their organization. Optical or tape backup is useless when they are consumed in the same fire that destroys your physical presence and let’s face it, few “properly” transport their backups offsite on a regular basis. You’re probably asking yourself; why not just adopt manual transport offsite instead of investing in RBS? Good question. Let’s stick with saying that brings up a whole new set of risks that are out of the scope of this article. I’ll write that one next, I promise. If you can’t wait for it then give me a call and we can talk about it.
So, let’s get into the differences you should know about so you can investigate and find an RBS solution that’s right for you.
Encryption
This is a biggie and can be quite confusing. Some RBS providers have it, most don’t. You need encryption if you are going to store protected or critical information on somebody else’s server. Remember, no matter what they say the supplier can see your files on the other side. If they are not encrypted you could be exposed to HIPAA or PIPEDA violations which can result in lawsuits, fines, bad press, loss of customers or even the loss of your business.
Some RBS providers state that files are encrypted when in fact your files are sitting on their server in a readable format. What they mean is that your files are only encrypted during transfer between yourself and them. It’s exactly the same as you submitting information via a form through a secure website. You know, the web pages with the little lock in the bottom of the browser? Your online bank would have it. This type of encryption does not protect your files from being viewed by them so be careful.
There are also many different kinds of encryption. The strongest algorithm that is publicly available to my knowledge and at the time of writing this is 448bit Blowfish. That’s almost twice the encryption banks use today. Online providers will use all sorts of different encryption technologies. The lower the bit rate the easier it is to crack. Be wary of providers that don’t tell you what they use as they may be using their own proprietary format. If I build my own encryption algorithm it wouldn’t be hard for me to build something in it to universally decrypt files using it. Really think about encryption as the lack of it can expose your company to tremendous risk. Especially if you don’t know the service provider you are dealing with. If you knew them you could at least get them to sign a confidentiality statement to limit your liability.
Location
Where is your data being stored? Is it in a secure data centre or is it in someone’s basement? Is it in Canada or somewhere else? Be careful when dealing with a foreign company that advertises a physical Canadian presence. Most of their offices are focused on marketing and sales while their data centre is elsewhere. You may think your data is on Canadian soil when in fact it’s being backed up to a data centre in New York. There is also rumor of proposed legislation that will limit Canadian data to Canadian storage facilities. The last thing you need to do is switch providers when you’ve already invested time and money in backing up significant amounts of data to a foreign provider.
That brings me to another point on location, how will you get your data back should you need it? When dealing with small amounts of data this doesn’t pose too much of a problem however, large amounts of data can present significant concerns. If you lose your data your likely dealing with other associated issues such as alternate locations, hardware, and software. What good is all that without the data to fuel the business? Depending on the amount of data, it could take a significant amount of time, even weeks to download depending on your connectivity and other variables. Ensure that your RBS provider has some alternate means to get your data to you based on your Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Better yet, choose a local RBS provider that can manually retrieve your data, deliver it to you and manage the data restoration process while your focus is elsewhere. Every second of not being operational can be detrimental to your business.