How SBS Protects lts

The Merchant asked Mike Moberg, lT manager, about Spenard Builders Eupply's backup and recovery plans:

Howoften doyou backup your files?

First of all. we have stores that span the breadth of Alaska, from Banow at the very northern tip to Sitka in the southeastern part of the state. About half of our stores are on a centralized computer and the other half are on their own stand-alone systems.

All locations are backed up every night on to tape media and a system directory on their own specific computer. Each system is backed up on a weekly basis to a disaster-recovery server located in Anchorage.

Does each store have its own backup system?

No, we don't have complete backups system at each location; we keep a system ready to go at the data center at our Anchorage headquarters. With any disaster, someone from the data center would have to go to the location so they would just carry the backup svstem with them.

Does 5BS have a disaster recwery progam?

We have a somewhat informal disaster recovery program, mostly based on what the lT department will do to get the computers back up. Thal is Just the tip of the iceberg whon it comes to disaster recovery. The actual program involves much more than iust getting the computers back up. We are in the process of developing a complete whole company process.

Any advlce on Insider threats and changlng passwords?

Because of the nature ol our computer environment, mosl of the insider threats comes from theft of material not computer information.

We are probably not the best example of a sophisticated password system as I only have five people in the department. We all have access to the master password because we all wear many hats. We all lrouble-shoot all systems, not just one little area. In larger shops, a process for changing passwords should include specific guidelines to the appropriate personnel.

What about data stored on PC's and laptops?

We fall down a bit in this area, because only about a third of the company is actually backed up to a file server. This is an area we will be addressing in the near future.

tomizations are always backed up.

"With a full backup, consumers can be confident they'll be able to conduct a complete recovery in one easy step," said Matthew Moynahn, Symantec Corp. "Consumers need a solution that makes backup and recovery of important data and files easy and convenient for users at all levels of computing sophistication. "

In September, IBM released backup software that continually copies all user files, which can be saved on a remote computer or locally. Microsoft has also launched its first backup product, Data Protection Manager.

Computer Associates plans to release a security-product bundle designed to work with Microsoft's Windows Server System for mid-sized businesses. Called the Business Solution Suite, the programs will include anti-virus, antispyware, and data backup and restoration software.

No matter which backup solution you chose, be sure to test the system periodically. Check your backup log for errors and try to restore some files to ensure the system is working properly. Will you have what you need to stay in business? A company's survival depends on what's been done to prepare for a disaster before it happens.

"If you don't have proper testing of your system backups you are fooling yourself into believing you can restore a crashed system," said SBS's Moberg.