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What are the Limitations of Remote Backups?

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It is important to remember that remote backups of your data are only as good as the company used to store them. Before signing a contract with any company, thoroughly investigate them, their business practices, their financial standing, and their overall reputation. Your remote backup is only as good as your backup company.

If the unexpected happens, restoration from a remote backup can be slow. System files can take hours or even days to be restored for small companies, and even longer for larger, more complex systems. Bare bones data can be restored rather quickly, but if there is a complete system failure, count on restoration to be a very time-consuming process. To eliminate the lack of speed as a limitation, the use of broadband or DSL internet service should be considered.

One other limitation of remote backups is that of passwords. Losing the password that allows you to restore your data is the same as not having the remote backup at all. Not every employee needs to know the password for a complete or partial system restore, but the password does need to be protected and stored in a safe location, not just scribbled on the back of a business card in your wallet. Make sure your password is complex enough to slow down the hackers, but memorable enough that you can recall it in a pinch.

Security is always an issue when storing sensitive data outside of corporate walls. Virtual data is more at risk then hard copies and so remote backups must be encrypted and held within a firewall that is fail-safe. Hackers no longer have to be sitting at a computer to try hundreds of password combinations a day, and through the use of anti-encryption programs, they merely wait for a “hit” on a password to gain access to data stored on servers and the web. Make sure your remote backup company has layers of protection built into their operations before releasing your sensitive data to them.

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