The case of Lerepco IT Group – Ways of securing backup media

The case of Lerepco IT Group – Ways of securing backup media

The Lerepco IT Group has been concerned about backup procedures, and it was facing challenges associated with clients. The existing solutions were not functioning appropriately, and client-related issues were becoming widespread. The company has 320 end-users across 10 locations (The Lerepco IT Group, 2020). It has been transporting its physical tapes to a remote facility; however, it was inconvenient for the company. The data amount that required backup expanded significantly.

Moreover, unsustainable procedures and timing issues were also creating problems. Across all the ten locations, the clients were unable to handle backups comprehensively. Cybertheft, along with unexpected disasters were rampant, and the company required quick restoration of its local data. The necessity of securing and safeguarding data developed as well. All the attempts towards successful data backups were in vain. The need of the hour is to ensure the availability of local data. Moreover, data should have been encrypted and could have been stored in secure data centers. It would have been possible to gain a productive and competitive edge over others in the industry by considering off-site data backup.

Identifying the methods of securing backup media

The case of the Lerepco IT Group suggests that poor management and ineffective security led to backup issues in the organization. Security-related issues can be handled by implementing effective ways of securing backup media. A list has been outlined below considering the importance of a backup strategy in the organization –

• Storage and protection- In the case of on-premise backup, it is necessary to rotate backup sets once every week. Storing backups in a secure location is vital for the organization. Some geographic locations are prone to natural disasters, and it might damage the entire office. Therefore, in case of catastrophic events such as hurricane or floods, it is advisable to be cautious and consider storing data in another backup center (Thilakanathan et al., 2014).
• Identifying ways of assessing critical data– The organization leaders must prioritize data based on their usefulness and functions. Some kinds of information must be available at the fingertips. The organization cannot bear the loss of internet connectivity, and therefore, leaders must be aware of ways to assess vital data in case of unavailable internet connections.
• Testing before implementing- Another way of ensuring backup security is to design and test the recovery plan. Different computers can be used to restore some of the important files.

Discussion on off-site backup

Off-site backup storage is a technique that ensures data security. Notably, the organization can utilize the cloud backup, which is a form of off-site backup. Vital information or data is sent over a network and a disk drive can be sent to the service provider. One of the preferred mediums of backup is the disk (Elnikety et al., 2002). It ensures greater speed. However, disks might create risks as it is less durable. The organization must be concerned about the costs while implementing cloud backup. Costs increases based on the number of users, frequency, bandwidth, and capacity. It would be feasible to predict long term costs.

References

Data Backup and Recovery – Case Study | The Lerepco IT Group. (2020). The Lerepco IT Group. Retrieved 16 February 2020, from https://lerepco.com/data-backup-and-recovery-case-study/

Elnikety, S., Lillibridge, M., Burrows, M., & Zwaenepoel, W. (2002, January). Cooperative backup system. In The USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies.

Thilakanathan, D., Chen, S., Nepal, S., & Calvo, R. A. (2014). Secure data sharing in the cloud. In Security, privacy, and trust in cloud systems (pp. 45-72). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.