The ASI Archive

OCTOBER 2017

Something old, something new...

Both help protect against today's data threats

I attended the ARMA International Annual Conference held earlier this month in Orlando. It was an excellent event and I commend the ARMA team, especially given the damage suffered by the city in September due to Hurricane Irma.

Given this devastating natural disaster, a video presented during the ARMA conference was particularly meaningful. At one point, the video referred to RIM professionals and service providers as “protectors and guardians of information.” In the face of numerous recent catastrophic natural event, it was a powerful message. Certainly, data protection and disaster preparation in the face of natural disasters was top of mind for conference attendees. Discussions also focused on man-made threats to data from cyber-attacks that are becoming increasingly virulent.

Different disasters, different strategies
Let’s start with natural disasters. It’s not IF a natural disaster will occur but WHEN. Add to this that it seems natural disasters in recent years are happening more frequently and with greater ferocity. This can mean that it isn’t a small area that is affected. It can be entire regions – even entire states, as seen by Hurricane Irma. Given this reality, it’s best that data be hosted outside the immediate area. Data backup via the cloud is a smart approach. It ensures data is protected and accessible once your data center and/or business is operational following a disaster.

Cyber-attacks present different challenges to protect the integrity and provide access to your company’s business-critical and confidential data. By their very nature, they rely on your data being online. Cyber-criminals have become extremely adept at finding ways to gain acces to data for their own gain, for ransom or to destroy it altogether. We’ve covered these risks at great length in previous issues of The ASI Archive. You’ll find these listed below.

Given this relatively new threat, many companies are utilizing an old strategy as part of their backup plan – tape storage. The significant advantage of data backed up to tape is that hackers have no way to get at the information. It’s also extremely reliable and affordable. According to this article from The Wall Street Journal, top-of-the-line tapes can hold up to 15 terabytes and can be archived in third-party locations at a fraction of the cost of cloud storage.

Be redundant
Given the different threats and their implications to data security, the most effective strategy to protect it is a multi-layered one. Whether backups are maintained locally or in the cloud, to minimize loss, data (especially business-critical data) should be redundantly hosted in multiple sites located in different risk regions.

Test and retest your backups
The point of failure for many backup plans is that the backups are never tested. When the time comes to restore the data, there’s nothing of value that can actually be restored. Be sure there is a process in place to test backups regularly.

Cyber-attack resources

Find additional info on how to protect your data in these recent issues of The ASI Archive:

Questions or would like more info on how you can protect your data from cyber attack?

You might’ve noticed the ASI website looks a little different. From front page to footer, the site is completely redesigned to be mobile-friendly, with new content and functionality. We invite you to browse around and provide feedback or suggestions to help us improve your experience.

Tech Tip: 10 apps that could save your life during disaster:

More important than protecting your company’s data is to ensure the safety and well-being of your employees. This article describes 10 apps that could help you prepare for, respond to, and recover from a disaster. One of them could be what saves the life of a colleague, family member or friend.

ASI supports Shred School

ASI is proud to continue its sponsor support of NAID Shred School in 2017. Shred School is designed to provide affordable training to all secure destruction industry professionals and NAID active members in an effort to improve their businesses. Attendees are introduced to the secure destruction industry, data protection legislation, sales tips, marketing best practices, and NAID programs. CSDS can even earn continuing education units.

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