Recent cyber security scares at leading organisations prove that offsite data tape backup is still one of the most effective and secure ways of storing information. As businesses increasingly depend on the cloud and other online storage solutions for the management of their information, hackers are becoming more capable at targeting leading cloud providers.
The Risks of Cloud Backup
Generic Protection
Many organisations have false expectations when it comes the security they can expect when using the cloud. The security cloud providers offer their clients is normally uniform and so the unique information security vulnerabilities of each customer are largely ignored. For enhanced data security businesses need to seek out a system which can be tailored to their own needs and will successfully protect the data most valuable to their operations.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Businesses often take a back seat approach when it comes to cloud storage, choosing to rely on their cloud provider completely when it comes to the security of their data. This means that businesses are sometimes left in the dark when new threats to their data arise and are not able to react appropriately to such risks.
High-Profile Targets
What’s more, as businesses are choosing to all store their data in one place, with leading cloud providers such as Google or Amazon, the temptation for a cyber criminal to hack a leading provider is becoming greater. Whilst undoubtedly these leading providers do have the resources to prevent such attacks the volume of threats they receive are far higher than what an individual business might expect to face.
More Persistent Attacks
Cloud providers know that in order for their service to be trusted by users investment in data security is a top priority. When a cloud hosting business is affected by a data security threat it can have a hugely negative impact on its’ reputation. The virtual server company Linode, which has data centres across the globe, was recently the target of an DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack lasting for over a week. As a result of the problems plaguing Linode’s cloud-based data centres, customers in London experienced connectivity delays with many virtual services coming offline.
A data attack of this scale and longevity can cause significant disruptions for customers who – if not in a forgiving mood – could look elsewhere for their records and information management needs.
Data Tape: A Reliable Backup Solution
Data tapes are offline which means many of the threats associated with using cloud providers are immediately mitigated and critical channels of infiltration for hackers are permanently closed. Data tapes that are stored in secure offsite storage facilities are out of hackers reach.
Admittedly, data tape can be a more time consuming form of data backup, with users having to wait for longer periods of time when retrieving their data. However a longer retrieval time can also be a further indication of this backup solution’s reliability. Data that is physically removed from a business is more likely to withstand common security threats, such as that of the bitter employee looking seeking revenge by destroying or distributing a business’s most valuable data.
The advantages of data tape make it a favourable method for secondary and tertiary information backup. This means that businesses often use data tape backup in conjunction with other online backup solutions, with their data tapes being the final point of call in the event of an information management disaster.
If a businesses were victim of an online attack it can then rest assured that it’s critical data is safe, at an offsite location, ready for use as backup recovery. This hybrid system can deliver the security and efficiency that businesses desire from a data recovery program.
