Learning from Delta: The High Cost of Outdated Backup Systems

By Susan Richardson, Manager/Content Strategy, Code42

Chances are you know someone whose travel plans were snafued by the Delta system outage that cancelled 1,800 flights and delayed thousands more in August. IT experts are now pointing to Delta’s outdated disaster recovery technology as the culprit.

But here’s the thing: Delta thought they were ready. Delta’s CEO said the company spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” on backup systems in the past several years to protect against exactly such an incident.

Delta thought their backup was modern. Is yours?

The lesson: Disaster readiness is never done. If you’re not constantly evaluating your backup solutions, you’re putting your organization at risk—not to mention missing added value that modern solutions deliver.

Five signs you don’t have modern endpoint backup

To help you steer clear of disaster, here are five easy signs your backup system isn’t the latest technology:

1. You still get Help Desk calls to retrieve lost data.

The latest backup systems feature intuitive, self-service file restore so employees can do it themselves. Not surprisingly, enterprises with a modern endpoint backup system cited fewer file recovery-related support tickets as a top benefit in a recent survey. More importantly, IT pros were able to use the reduced support time to justify the cost of a more advanced system.

2. Your backup system doesn’t support multiple platforms.

Today, 96 percent of companies support Macs. The enterprise has gone heterogeneous and your backup system should, too. A modern endpoint backup system doesn’t discriminate between Windows, Linux or OS X and doesn’t require a cumbersome VPN connection.

3. You have no visibility into what’s on employee devices.

The latest backup systems give IT a comprehensive, single point of visibility and control across every computer and laptop in the enterprise. You gain the insight to pinpoint leaks and prevent insider threat because you know:

• Which employees are uploading which files to third-party clouds
• Which employees have transferred which files to removable media
• Which employees have uploaded which files via web browsers, including web-based email attachments
• Unusual file restores that may signal compromised credentials
• The content of files and folders
• The location of sensitive, classified and “protected” data

4. You can’t pinpoint where a breach occurred.

With legacy backup, you have to conduct lots of inquiries that take lots of time. With a modern endpoint system, you have visibility into every endpoint (see #3), so you can quickly identify where a breach occurred and reduce your Mean Time to Contain (MTTC). You also eliminate unnecessary reporting because, with 100 percent data attribution, you can be certain if a breach occurred and how many records were breached.

5. You have to confiscate a device to enact a legal hold.

Really? Are you still putting up with that significant productivity drain? With a modern endpoint backup system, your legal team can conduct in-place legal holds and file collection without confiscating user devices—and without having to rely on IT staff.

Need better backup? Start here.

If two or more of these statements apply to your organization, it’s time to go shopping for modern endpoint backup.

Download The Guide to Modern Endpoint Backup and Data Visibility to learn more about selecting a modern endpoint backup solution in a dangerous world.