Offsite Data Storage

Why offsite data storage - Why outsource - How it works

Offsite backups are an essential part of IT risk management. Unfortunately, it is often neglected because of its mundane and repetitive nature. However, physical offsite backups are like a parachute... if you don't have one that works when you need it, you may never need it again!

Business survival

How would your business survive a disaster resulting in data loss?

Most modern enterprises are now fully dependent on the availability of their systems and data to conduct business on a day-to-day basis. The loss of system availability and data can have a critical impact on business.

Research conducted by the Insurance Council of Australia found that "43% of Australian businesses suffering a business disaster of any kind do not reopen and a further 38% reopen but collapse within 3 years... 71% in total ultimately do not survive a disaster of any kind" and that "businesses have a chance of surviving a disaster if they can be back up and operating within 5 days of the disaster".

Regulatory Compliance

Do you comply with record retention regulations?

The retention of business records (including electronic records) has become an important element of business governance. Several laws and institutions regulate or provide guidelines in this regard:

• The Corporations Act and the Income Tax Assessment Act specify that business records should be retained for 7 and 5 years respectively. The ITAA specifies that these records should be available on your systems to ATO officials in enough detail to assess your tax liability.
• In Tax Ruling TR2005/9 the ATO specifies that backups should be kept in a temperature and humidity-controlled environment. This is consistent with the recommendations of all major magnetic tape manufacturers.
• Principle 4 of The Privacy Act states the following with regard to storage and security of personal information: "A record keeper who has possession or control of a record that contains personal information shall ensure: (a) that the record is protected, by such security safeguards as it is reasonable in the circumstances to take, against loss, against unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure, and against other misuse;"
• Under the Trade Practices Act civil actions for misleading or deceptive advertising (e.g. brochures, website) can be brought for up to 6 years after an event and for up to 10 years for product liability claims.

Offsite storage is essential

If you experience a fire or flood, if your system and onsite backups are stolen, or if disgruntled staff destroy onsite data, your offsite backups are essential for the survival of your business.

Could you continue to trade?

If you lost your computer systems right now and could not locate intact backups, what would that do to your business? Could you process sales orders, deliver goods or services, invoice customers, order goods and services from suppliers etc?

Could you carry out essential activities?

Would you be able to continue with manufacturing or distribution activities, marketing and sales activities,and payments to staff, creditors and tax authorities?

Could you control your assets?

Unless you are able to swiftly reestablish control of critical business assets such as stock, debtors, human resources, cash and work-in-progress, a system disaster can rapidly bring a business to its knees.

Could you locate lost data?

Valuable data relating to customers, suppliers, products, processes, contracts, documents, transactions, emails and assets is accumulated over time. To recreate and rebuild this data will be expensive and time-consuming.

Other costs and implications

You will lose revenue as well as marketing momentum, your reputation and goodwill will be damaged, you may lose supplier discounts, you could face legal action as a result of your inability to meet contractual obligations and there is a significant cost to rebuild your data.

Senior management could face litigation

Senior management have a responsibility to take care of the business and its assets, which includes all system data. Failure to do so can render management responsible for losses incurred by creditors, bankers, shareholders and customers, thereby exposing management to litigation and penalties.

Onsite storage facilities are usually inadequate

Most storage environments are inadequate for the storage of backup media. Factors such as the type of storage cabinet (is it certified for data), temperature, humidity, dust etc influence whether you can count on your backups working in a disaster.