Cloud Storage: Seven Key Questions
Dear Data-Diligent Reader,
Cloud storage is gaining popularity as an easy to implement and scalable way to solve your storage requirements. Before signing up with any third party to store your data in the cloud, make sure you are comfortable with the answers to these key questions.
If you are considering storing your important data in the cloud, then make sure that any cloud storage vendor you are considering can satisfactorily answer these questions:
1. “Who has access to our data?” Ask for specific information on the hiring and oversight of privileged administrators who might have access to your data.
2. “Where would my data be stored?” Ask for details about the data center and its location. And ask if they can store your data in a specific location (in-state, out-of-state, out-of-country, etc.). Ask for verification that they comply with the data privacy requirements of their chosen jurisdiction.
3. “How will my data be stored?” Ask for details on how they intend to segregate your data and for details about their encryption schemes.
4. “Do you have a disaster recovery plan?” Ask if they can completely restore your data and service, and how long that will take.
5. “Will you comply with external audits?” Ask if you or your auditors can audit their processes and security certifications.
6. “Can you help us if we are in an eDiscovery investigation?” Ask your provider what role they would play if you are involved in the discovery phase of a lawsuit. Get contractual commitments, and understand how they have supported other customers in similar situations in the past.
7. “Will you be in business in five years?” Ask them how you will get your data back if they were to fail or be acquired. And find out if the data would be in a format that you can easily import into a replacement application.
The key is to appreciate that the decision to store your data off-site using a cloud storage vendor is not one driven by cost. You need to be comfortable with how and where your data is stored, and how reliable the service provider is.
Iron Mountain Digital thinks that businesses today have unique and complex requirements, beyond simple storage, when it comes to protecting data off-site leveraging the Internet. Their Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS) framework allows customers to capture and protect data from a variety of sources, including PCs, servers and email, and protect that data at their secure data centers, while making the protected information available immediately for use, whether it is for recovery or eDiscovery.
Their Connected® Backup solution is today used to protect over 3 million PCs and Macintoshes while their LiveVault® server backup solution is used to protect the data on over 20,000 distributed corporate servers. Contact us to learn how you can take advantage of these STaaS solutions to meet your data protection requirements today.
We would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!
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