A high number of Irish companies are using potentially unreliable methods to back up sensitive data, despite the obligations they have to keep it safe, a new survey suggests.
Of 500 organisations that responded to the IT Force and Irish Computer Society poll, 45 per cent indicated tape was their preferred method of backing up data. Some 16 per cent used disk-based methods.
There was a large increase in the number of companies using online back-up services from 7 per cent in 2010 to 23.2 per cent this year, the society said.
“Despite the continued reliance on traditional methods such as tapes, 38 per cent admitted to a significant data-loss incident.”
Of those who had experienced such data loss and who had attempted to restore it, some 18 per cent admitted to never getting all the lost data retrieved.
“In contrast to the widespread occurrence of data loss, the principle of backing up data is still heavily accepted amongst Irish organisations,” the ICS said.
It said 95 per cent of respondents confirmed they back up their data. A total of 88 per cent back up data on a daily basis and 61 per cent have a documented disaster recovery plan in the office.
Data management arrangements in organisations “differ widely”, according to the report.
More than half (54 per cent) of organisations have data leaving their office in some format on a “regular basis”. But the ICS said a “staggering” 27 per cent were unaware if their data was encrypted on their tapes.
A total of 14 per cent of respondents wait for two years before replacing a back-up tape and a full 41 per cent said they did not know how often tapes were replaced.
The society said the survey had shown that it may also be hard to pinpoint those responsible when there is a data breach.
Some 37.5 per cent of respondents claimed responsibility was "mixed between an IT services provider and an internal employee".
Two-thirds said that backing up was the responsibility of more than one internal employee.
A total of 18 per cent confessed to not knowing their legal obligations relating to data protection.
Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes said earlier this year there had been a “very significant” increase in the number of reports of security breaches in the past year.
The figures rose from 119 in 2009 to more than 400 last year.
In 2009, theft of laptops or other IT equipment was the main source of breaches. But last year, the main source was more traditional types such as mistakes with direct mailing, with information sent to the wrong person.
He told The Irish Times in February it was now "less usual, but unfortunately still too common", to have reports of large-scale data breaches due to loss of unencrypted data equipment.
The annual poll is conducted by IT Force and the Irish Computer Society in conjunction with online back-up service KeepItSafe. A contribution was made to the Dublin Simon Community for each survey participant, the ICS said.