MANY IRISH companies are leaving themselves open to disruption or lost revenue due to poor disaster-recovery processes, a new survey has found.

According to the research, 43 per cent of organisations have no plan to safeguard data in the event of a disaster, and 25 per cent do not store their data-backup media in a fireproof location.

More than half of the companies with no disaster-recovery plan (54 per cent) said they did not intend to develop one, while 16 per cent believed their business was too small to need one and 12 per cent felt the cost was prohibitive.

The survey, commissioned by MJ Flood Technology and CA, found that all 117 respondents use backup technology to protect their data. However, some use flawed practices which could endanger the integrity of that information.

Some 16 per cent of companies store backup media onsite only, when best practice advises storing copies onsite and offsite to mitigate the risk of physical damage, fire or theft.

More than a quarter of organisations (27 per cent) rely on just one person to be responsible for regularly backing up important business data.

More than one-third of respondents (39 per cent) said they encountered problems trying to restore their data from a backup disk or tape to verify that it works, while 31 per cent said they had never tried doing so.

Under the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003, companies storing personal data are obliged to take appropriate measures against its unauthorised destruction or deletion.

Commenting on the findings, data protection commissioner Billy Hawkes said he had noticed a tendency among some private and public sector organisations to take their customers’ personal information for granted.

“A backup system is an essential means of recovering from the loss or destruction of data and is therefore vital to public confidence in the administration of an organisation’s databases,” said Mr Hawkes.