The Risks of Single-Region Data Storage and the Importance of Multi-Region Backups
by Brett Andrew 14/12/2023
In the digital age, data is the lifeblood of any business. However, many businesses are not adequately protecting their data. This article will discuss the risks associated with not storing data in multi-region backups and the common pitfalls businesses make when it comes to backups.
The Current Risks
One of the most significant risks of not storing data in multi-region backups is the potential for data loss. If a data centre experiences a catastrophic event such as a natural disaster, power outage, or cyber-attack, all data stored in that centre could be lost.
Moreover, future nationwide or multiple nationwide cyber threats pose a significant risk. These threats can range from sophisticated hacking attempts to EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) events. An EMP event, which could be caused by a solar flare or a nuclear detonation, can cause widespread damage to electronic devices and data centres, leading to massive data loss.
Common Pitfalls in Data Backup
Many businesses make the mistake of assuming that data centres are responsible for data backup. While data centres often provide tools for data backup, the responsibility for using these tools and ensuring data is backed up across multiple regions lies with the businesses themselves.
Another common pitfall is not having a comprehensive backup strategy. This includes not only backing up data regularly but also testing backups to ensure they can be restored.
The Need for Preparedness
In the face of these risks and potential pitfalls, businesses need to be prepared. This means implementing a robust data backup strategy that includes multi-region backups.
If businesses are not prepared, it is already too late when a data loss event occurs. The cost of data loss can be enormous, not just in terms of financial loss but also in terms of lost customer trust and damage to the business’s reputation.
In conclusion, while data centres provide the tools necessary for data backup, businesses must take the initiative to use these tools effectively. By understanding the risks and avoiding common pitfalls, businesses can ensure their data is protected, no matter what the future holds.
What options are available?
3rd Party Services that specialise in Disaster Backups
3rd Party services that manage this for you. They provide a storage area and take care of your data by storing it encrypted across multiple global regional data centres as well as EMP Safe environments (physically air-gapped backup snapshots of your last good data set) for the ultimate in business assurance even in the worst possible disaster scenarios. See https://www.empsafe.com.au/
Cloud Data Centres
Azure Storage is a highly available and durable platform for hosting data and applications. It offers geo-redundancy options to ensure high availability even during a regional outage. However this is generally only stored on the same continent, so unless you manually setup a copy to another continent, you data is still at risk.
Azure Storage accounts configured for geo-redundant replication are synchronously replicated in the primary region, and asynchronously replicated to a secondary region that is hundreds of miles away (but on the same continent). This means that your data is protected even if a catastrophic event occurs in the primary region, but not if a national outage occurs.
Note: another key risk with using Data Centres, even in multiple regions and multiple continents, is they do not provide air-gap cyberproof security or protection against EMP events (if all the regions where your data is stored are affected at once, you may lose your data still). A targeted Cyber or EMP attack on one supplier could see massive data loss, although highly unlikely, its risk model is not something that civilians cannot even begin to calculate, yet its still something to consider in your organisations disaster planning. Imagine a bank, government or insurance company losing all their data in a day - its not an option.
I hope that helps! Leave a comment if it helped you or if you have any questions or need a consultant!
Brett Andrew
Enterprise Architect / Lead Developer / Director
Formition Pty Ltd
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