Effective Data Protection For Businesses With Multiple Locations

Stefan Haase, Product Director Data Services

Mark Hall, Product Director Network Services

InInBackground

Background

Multi-site environments are difficult to manage

Business consider cloud based services

Concerns about data management

Offsite data protection

Data compliance and security

Network access and security

InInChallenges

Data Challenges

Offsite data managementHow is data stored?How is data protected?

Data encryptionIs data encrypted?How is the encryption key managed?

Data complianceIs data stored in a compliant fashion?Is there an audit trail?

Network Challenges

• Delivery of multiple business critical applications with different needs on a cost- effective, single converged network - i.e. Voice, Data Backup, Internet, and VPNs to all your sites, large or small

• Ability to centralise your IT services without compromising availability and performance

• Need for fast & flexible provision of network bandwidth across multi-site WAN

• Need for best practice network security

• Lack of internal expert resource

InInRequirements

Requirements

• IT needs to be able to set policies for primary, archive and backup data

• Management from a central site needs to be enabled

• No additional hardware onsite• Data needs to be offsited automatically• Offsite data needs to be directly accessible • Data needs to be transferred and accessed

securely from each site• All data needs to be stored securely • Data compliance requirements need to be

adhered to• Carbon footprint needs to be reduced

InIn Security

Data Security

• How and where is data stored?• How has got access to data when it’s stored

offsite?• What encryption is available?• What software solution is used?• How can data be accessed & recovered

securely?• What happens in the event of a disaster,

and what are the recovery procedures • Can a copy of the data be hosted in a

geographically separated data centre?• Security needs to be a core part of the

offering - it can’t be anything other than industrial strength

Network Security

• How will the different ‘services’ on the converged WAN be kept separate?

• How will access to network devices be restricted and any access audited?

• How will traffic be controlled between networks with different levels of trust?

• How can remote users be connected to the corporate network without compromising its integrity?

• How can data that has to be transported over ‘insecure’ networks be protected?

• How can WAN suppliers help customers develop and continuously improve their security policy?

InInBest Practices

Best Practices

• Choose best of breed supplier• Choose the right level of service for the

type of data you want to manage and protect

• Automate data management• Agree departmental storage, archive and

backup policies• Set central policies• Encrypt data where appropriate• Ensure secure data storage location• Ensure business processes are aligned• Review policies and procedures on a

regular basis

InInSupplier Selection

Choosing the right supplier

• Access to best of breed technology

• Review service provider’s track record

• Review customer case studies

• Ensure data is stored in the UK

• Visit the service provider premises

• Review security provision

• Access to 24x7 support

• Ensure carbon foot print reduction

Questions to ask your service provider

• How financially stable are they? Your business is at risk if they suddenly run out of funding and have to switch the lights off.

• How much experience do they have? A big advantage of a cloud computing provider is that you should be tapping into their previous experience, not being their first experiment.

• Are their quality processes the same level as yours? It’s well worth a visit to their HQ to see and understand the processes behind the cloud; as an IT professional you know what you’re looking for.

Summary

Moving data to the cloud can offer a secure way for multi –site businesses to manage their data securely provided that:

• The service provider has got a decent track record

• Network are secured and managed

• Data is managed according to its value

• Data management is automated

• Data encryption is used where appropriate

• Data compliance is ensured