We’re already almost two months into hurricane season and I bet that most of you still have no data backup plan in place. That’s right, you heard me. If I had a nickel for every client who told me that their backup tapes were nice and secure in the trunk of their car, or going home with an employee, or sitting on the floor under the server, I honestly wouldn’t have to work. If I had a second nickel for how many of those people finally called me to say “pease come save us, we lost our data”, my great grand kids would never have to work. The fact of the matter is, until disaster strikes, few people stop to take the necessary precautions. It’s human nature to sub-consciously say “that will never happen to me”, but the statistics say otherwise. Add on top of that being careless with how your data is handled, and you will quickly become one of those lucky few who have to sweat out whether or not your backup tapes will restore lost data, or whether that employee that just left you disgruntled actually took them to his new job.
I decided this month to give you a quick FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about securing your data. Feel free to contact me anytime with more questions!
Q: I use data tapes to backup my stuff. Why do I need more?
A: Think of it this way. If magnetic tape was so wonderful, we'd all still have cassette decks and 8-tracks in our cars. Magnetic tape degrades and becomes un-restorable after multiple re-writes. CD’s become scratched or lost. Either of the two can be taken by disgruntled employees or the cleaning lady. It’s an antiquated system.
Q: I use a portable jump drive or zip drive. Why do I need more?
A: Again, see above. The zip drive is even EASIER to lose or be stolen and data encryption on jump drives is useless. Not recommended!
Q: What is the recommended mode of data backup?
A: ONLINE DATA BACKUP, or “disk-to-disk” technology has been around now for almost 5 years but has just in the past 12 months begin to see price points that small businesses could actually afford. This process means that each night, using the internet, your data is encrypted, then compressed at a 2:1 ratio, then sent over the internet to a server in a Tier 4 data center, uncompressed, unencrypted and placed in the receiving folder. Many systems are actually incremental and make changes at the bit level, meaning that the nightly pulls are usually very small and very fast.
Q: Is online data backup expensive?
A: That depends on where you get it from. Figure on paying anywhere from $2 per GB up to $9 per GB depending on the amount and type of data you are backing up.
Q: I heard that people can intercept my data if I back up online. Is that true?
A: Negative. Not possible. While there are technologies for doing that sort of thing, they mainly reside in the world of science fiction and movies. It's just not that simple and rarely happens. There are more thefts of data by the loss or theft of data tapes then any other backup medium.
Q: Is my data safe on the other end?
A: If your data is ending up in an approved and accredited data center, then yes. Generally any Tier 1, 2, 3 or 4 type data center will do, and you want to be out-of-region, i.e., not in Louisiana or the Gulf Coast. The type of data center also depends on the type of data you are backing up.
Q: How do I get to my data if I need it?
A: Most of the services offer a 24 hour rush DVD of your data that you can reinstall, and others offer a straight pull-down from the hosting server through a web-based control panel.
Q: What if I have compliance issues on data because of my industry type?
A: You should research what type of compliance issues there are with your industry such as the European Union Data Protection Directive (EUDPD), Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS), Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Japan’s Personal Information Protection Act (JPIPA), and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) just to name a few!

Understand two that the more and more I talk to people, the more I find that the paradigm shift in technology is generational, meaning mainly that the baby-boomer crowd tends to see technology as a non-issue and don’t integrate it daily into their work or life. For the 30-40 year olds out there, they are the sweet spot of IT and are the most active in business and for the 20-30 year olds out there, IT is either more work, or used expressly for gaming and MySpace.
Most of the regulatory compliance issues listed above only affect the legal, medical and financial industries, but you never know until you ask.
The bottom line is the if you are NOT using a reliable online data backup solution, you are fooling yourself if you think it will never happen to you. Get with the program and protect the one thing that keeps you in business - your data!

Ned Fasullo is the President & CEO of SimplifyIT, Inc. (formerly Truistic Solutions). He can be reached at ned.fasullo@wesimplifyit.net  or by phone at (225) 636-9839. Visit SimplifyIT on the web at www.wesimplifyit.net