Ensuring a business can keep moving forward by simply backing up

Instances of mass data loss are all too common in today’s business and technology landscape. Whether it be a result of a cyber-attack, or simply an error in data migration or backups, losses can affect companies in all sectors.

A recent incident involving Google and superannuation fund UniSuper underscores the importance of protecting against data losses, and the operational breakdowns that can incur, by maintaining external backups with alternate suppliers.

Earlier this year, UniSuper experienced an outage that prevented its members from logging into their accounts. Unbeknownst to the UniSuper team, a misconfiguration of their subscription at Google Cloud had overnight caused the deletion of UniSuper’s entire Private Cloud subscription.

As a result, over 640,000 members were shut out of their accounts, with Google having no immediate way for the lost data to be retrieved. Of course, UniSuper had a number of backups set up with Google Cloud, though unfortunately, the misconfiguration impacted them too. Across two backup locations, all UniSuper data was completely wiped.

A technical note from Google Cloud later confirmed that the outage occurred as an “unknown consequence of defaulting the customer’s private cloud to a fixed term, with automatic deletion at the end of that period.”

Fortunately for UniSuper, backups with a secondary service provider allowed it to recover its data. It took two weeks to restore the data and provide UniSuper’s members access to their accounts.

What can businesses learn?

While the circumstances of the UniSuper outage are extremely specific, it is cause for concern where businesses are using one cloud provider to do everything. The impact of the outage demonstrates the serious need for continued evaluation of partner safeguards, and of the reliance businesses have upon them.

In seeking to avoid service and operational interruptions, there are several key principles worth keeping in continued consideration.

• Importance of Redundancy: This incident illustrates the critical need for organisations to implement external backups in addition to their cloud provider. Relying solely on the cloud can leave data vulnerable to unexpected losses, emphasising the need for a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery (DR) strategy.
• Enhanced Security and Reliability: Utilising a robust backup solution that ensures data is protected across more than one layer of security or verification can help reduce the risk of data loss. UniSuper only avoided irretrievable losses by developing a multilayered contingency.
• Tailored Solutions for Business Continuity: Accessing a customisable cloud backup solution, one designed to meet the unique needs of your organisation, can help to further assure its effectiveness.

When it comes to cloud storage and backups, risk mitigation is of paramount importance. Even if contingencies are in place, the fragility of these environments are all too often called to our attention.

Ultimately, finding partners who understand the needs of your business, and can tailor their offering to fit them, is often the fastest route to ensuring the level of security and efficiency required. As business needs evolve, having a diverse, sensitively designed solution can mean the difference between thriving, and simply surviving.

To further enhance redundancy and protect critical data, Interactive offers an advanced backup and DR solution outside the public cloud, designed to safeguard against the kind of data loss experienced by UniSuper.

Leveraging our partnership with Commvault, a leading data management provider, we deliver a hybrid backup approach that combines on-premises storage with cloud-based solutions. This ensures that even if your primary cloud provider encounters an issue, your data remains secure and accessible through independent backups.

Our solution is customisable, allowing businesses to tailor their backup strategies to meet specific needs while maintaining compliance and business continuity. With Interactive’s comprehensive backup offering, you can mitigate risks and strengthen your overall IT resilience.

Contact Brad today to find out more.