Venyu Blog

You know online publishers take their subject matter seriously when one of their columns is called the “War Room” and the immediate photo you find there is of a sentry wearing a flak jacket hoisting what appears to be the barrel of a next-generation machine gun into the air. (For the record, the actual name of the publication in question is called “The Business Insider”, but for the scope of the discussion that follows, that’s kind of a benign designation, as you’ll see).

In any case, the column in question, entitled “10 Essential Data-Security Measures Every Business Should Take” includes such well-known tropes such as Establish strong passwords; Put up a strong firewall; Secure your mobile devices and laptops; and Educate your employees.

Among these 10 (and in the interest of full disclosure it ranks #7), is Backup Regularly. Roland Cloutier, Chief Security Officer for ADP and a board member for the National Cyber Security Alliance, promotes the idea of scheduling regular backups to the cloud as a painless way to ensure that all your data is stored safely. How frequently backups are completed depends, as Cloutier responds with tongue firmly planted in cheek, “however long you could live without your data.”

For some of us that transition in time is expressed by either RTO (Recovery-Time Objective) or RPO (Recovery Point Objective). For the rest of us Cloutier’s almost toss-off comment says more about our ability to, as the Boy Scouts of America motto goes, “always be prepared” than it does, I think, about the state – either present or future – of actual data security.