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Hard Disk Backup Storage Security has Many Meanings
From the IT Engineer to the business continuity team at a large enterprise, the meaning of storage security has a wide variety of connotations. Facilities managers often conclude that this means physical security, locks, secure storage racks, or a data center that has the proper access control is rightfully secure. When looking at the larger picture and considering business goals it's important to take every point of view into consideration. When analyzing new hardware purchases across the enterprise or for a pilot testing program it's a safe bet that many people in the chain of command will take part in the decision making process.
The IT Security Perspective
Network files services and security are usually a primary concern at an IT level. Whether that means encrypted network logins, secure socket layer (SSL), NFS (v2, v3), HTTPS, or share and user level domain security level access, the meaning of disk storage security is certainly far more technical. As business data storage requirements grow and technology changes, the IT personnel should be getting a few more pats on the back for their input on analyzing new disk based data storage hardware.
When you think about this in more detail, even the backup options for redundancy are a measure of disk storage security. Can the hardware be used with the current data backup software that is already in place? Does the backup hardware have built-in Snapshot Support in case of a complete server crash? Is there an integrated backup manager for ease of use?
This of course includes options for RAID 0,1, or 5 as well as removable disk backup for scalability as your data storage requirements continue to grow.
Ultimately what is important is that the IT team works together and has a great synergy with the rest of the company who must also evaluate the storage hardware on different levels.
The Regulatory Compliance / Security Perspective
Today, more than ever, it's crucial to manage your IT infrastructure and comply with Federal Regulations (HIPAA, SOX, California Privacy Act, Payment Card Procession, etc), while maintaining a solid plan for data backup security. Most enterprises are faced with a myriad of regulations to ensure both physical security and limited access control, but must also demonstrate the importance of data disaster recovery. Best business practices include fire protection as well as waterproof or flood protection to ensure availability of data in a natural disaster to meet federal regulations. From a security perspective this can even mean that data must be kept on site or at least secured within a WAN between neighboring data centers.
While the team members understand that the federal regulations do include their fair share of red-tape, it's vital to the business to keep working together and understanding the business needs from this point of view. Ultimately a large enterprise can save millions of dollars by implementing the right data storage hardware across the enterprise the first time.
The Physical Security Perspective
Storage security analysis from the physical perspective in the simplest of terms means theft protection and access control. Storage hardware that is rack mountable, removable storage disks that have limited access or a data center with tight CCTV or digital video recording systems to monitor who can access the data on a daily basis are all part of the this process.
When considering the physical security of storage hardware your facilities managers' input is crucial to remember, and by doing so at the start of storage hardware evaluations you'll have less hassle and headaches in the end.
What is the Point?
The point is that best practices should include disk backup systems that are trouble free, dependable, scalable and require no additional training or staffing, meeting storage security requirements across the board.
Plug and Play solutions that dovetail into your current IT environments and platforms are key to leveraging your disk storage hardware investments in ways that achieve compliance across multiple sets of regulations and drive the business forward - meeting goals and objectives for growth and success.
Aligning the business IT systems with overall business objectives and goals is of great importance as storage gets cheaper and data becomes priceless.
