45pc of Irish organisations back data up on tape – survey


11 May 2011

Forty-five per cent of Irish organisations prefer to back up their sensitive data on tape, a survey suggests.

Five hundred Irish organisations participated in The IT Force and ICS Informed annual survey, which was conducted with KeepItSafe.

The importance of backing data up was not lost among these companies, with 95pc of respondents saying they backed their company’s data up in general. Some 88pc back it up on a daily basis and 61pc have a documented disaster recovery plan in the office.

Tape was the most widespread method of backing up data at 45pc and 16pc used disk-based methods. Some 23.2pc used online backup services, which grew from 7pc in 2010.

Fourteen per cent wait for two years before replacing a backup tape while 41pc didn’t know how often tapes were replaced. Some 27pc of respondents were unaware if their data was encrypted on their tapes.

In spite of the reliance of traditional data backups, 38pc admitted to a significant data loss incident. Among those, 18pc said they never managed to retrieve all of the data that was lost.

In the event of a data breach, 37.5pc of respondents said that responsibility for the breach is mixed between an IT services provider and an internal employee.

Some 66pc said that backing up data was the responsibility of more than one employee and 18pc said they were not aware of what their legal obligations were in regards to data protection and management.