and don’t forget encryption.
by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless
your firm’s safety net in the event of any disaster is your data backup. it better be consistently performed and securely stored offsite.
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typically, firms have a problem when the process they relied on to make the backups didn’t work or was not complete because new servers, drives or directories were added but not updated in the backup program. this is becoming a common problem as more data and more applications add significantly more volume, making the backup application require more storage and a longer running time to complete.
here’s what you need to do:
if your firm is still utilizing tape backups, immediately replace it with faster disk-based solutions as these older systems can slow down network performance for your staff!
“81% of firms back up all their data to the internet, with 67% doing so on a daily basis” – cpafma 2019 survey
today’s disk-based and internet backup solutions can provide better reliability without relying on internal personnel to physically swap tapes. while larger firms will build storage area networks, this technology is often priced out of range for most small to medium-size firms. the practical solution for a small firm is to have a very fast storage drive attached to the network that can make “snapshots” of the firm’s data throughout the day; these can then be securely copied offsite via the internet or backed up to a removable disk backup separately.
these data drives were typically referred to as sans (storage area networks) in very large firms or for smaller backup needs, they were called network attached storage (nas). these devices can restore a lost or damaged file faster and easier than retrieving a tape from an offsite location, loading the index and then restoring the file.
today, there are a number of backup storage systems that also assist with disaster recovery, particularly in firms with virtualized server environments in which the device (bdr: backup disaster recovery) can emulate a server and be utilized in the event of a failure. having regular onsite backups is necessary for quick restores of files, but all firms should have data backups securely offsite.
in the event of a disaster impacting your physical office, you will need to have offsite backup. moving physical media such as tapes or backup hard drives is preferred over not having any offsite backup, but there is a hidden cost in purchasing additional media, ensuring that the data is verified and encrypted (in the event it is lost or stolen) and the ongoing time spent physically administering backups and moving them between the firm and offsite locations.
archiving to a local hard disk/backup array and then having that device backed up offsite via the internet has become the standard for data backup and recovery.
as the cost of reliable broadband internet access and offsite disk storage space has continuously been driven down over the past few years, more firms are finding that there are web-based backup solutions that are cheaper, more reliable and can run on an automated schedule. individuals and small firms can utilize hosted services such as sos online backup, evault, mozy pro or carbonite, whereas medium to larger firms will want to manage their own offsite backups themselves using tools such as datto, veeam, dell appassure and emc data domain, which can back up to a storage device either in another of the firm’s locations or to a custom hosted colocation facility.
firms today should look for providers that have experience with supporting accounting applications and can virtually rebuild the network or create a private cloud in the event of a disaster, which should become an integral part of the firm’s disaster recovery plan. the beauty of these internet-based services is that they can be set to back up automatically hourly and keep any number of versions in a secure offsite location, thus the firm has the ability to recover from any disaster and also get access to previous versions of a document if a file was accidentally overwritten “sometime in the last year.”
recommended action:
- have your personnel verify that all data is being backed up, verified and stored offsite on at least a daily basis and that at least one person from each department is knowledgeable on how to locate and restore a file.
- ensure that all media that is physically moved offsite is encrypted to be in compliance with your state’s cybersecurity laws.