[July 11, 2011] : Cloud computing addresses need for improved Disaster Recovery as hackers put businesses under threat Tweet Jul 11, 2011 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Hacker group Anonymous claimed last week to have stolen 25 internal user names and passwords from Apple in the latest of a series of attacks on government and corporate websites around the world. Whilst the notorious hacking group LulzSec has recently drawn a close to its 50-day cyber war against high profile names such as Sony and Fox News, cyber hacking continues to be a huge concern for both public and private organisations across the world. The necessity for highly secure data systems has become ever more crucial to businesses, particularly when dealing with the aftermath of a hack, as generic disaster recovery tools - challenged by creative forms of cyber crime - are quickly becoming outdated. The size of the problem is such that the International Data Corporation estimated that for every hour of downtime, companies lose an average of 52,000, however, despite these losses, Gartner estimates that only 35% of SMBs have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place. Disaster recovery plans are generally part of a larger, more extensive practise known as Business Continuity Planning, and often focus on bridging the gap where data, software, or hardware have been damaged or lost. Andrew Gilbert, Managing Director of Node4 and winner of the 2011 European Data Centre Entrepreneur of the Year award, believes that not enough emphasis is given to the importance of having a sound disaster recovery plan in an age where data security is constantly compromised by cyber hacking incidents. "Companies have failed to realise the potentially paralysing effects that they could face due to hacker-induced downtime, and there is a greater need to explore more secure alternatives when faced with increasingly sophisticated attacks," said Andrew. Cloud computing as a Disaster Recovery tool While some have questioned the security and safety in siting their mission-critical data onto servers in the cloud, others have argued in favour of the more effective data security and safety measures offered by these providers. As the cloud industry continues to boom, information on the benefits of its adoption as a means to efficiently backup data continues to spread, negating many of the misconceptions and security concerns being raised. According to a recent CloudTweaks report, one critical benefit offered by cloud solutions is better disaster recovery management through online data storage and remote backup solutions. The report further explained that this would enable companies to store their mission-critical data on servers that are not located onsite, thereby minimising risks by allowing the data to be stored across geographically dispersed locations. Andrew Gilbert said, "The interests of companies are best served through access to a number of regional data centres, and with the private cloud opening a multitude of horizons for data security, cloud computing is becoming an increasingly important disaster recovery tool. Online backup storage in the cloud is a much safer option because it allows customers access to critical, real-time data no matter where they are, and companies like Node4 continually invest in the latest and best security and backup solutions so customers don't have to." Companies backing up their data on to on-premise physical servers run the risk of losing their original and backup data in the event of a disaster hitting their premises. However, a company with cloud-based data can access its data as long as connectivity exists, be it fixed line or mobile. Using virtualisation technology, servers can be virtualised and companies have the ability to back up entire servers off-site, thereby minimising their risks. By storing backup data in a secure, remote location, as well as updating it regularly, businesses can reduce the time needed to recover from a disaster and resume business quickly. About Node4 Node4 is a specialist in data centre and communications solutions. Launched in 2004, the company has grown rapidly in the past seven years through its comprehensive service offering and the growth in demand for hosted IT from businesses all over the UK. Its competencies include colocation, managed hosting through dedicated servers and virtualised environments, connectivity, SIP trunking and hosted telephony. It has four state-of-the-art data centre facilities, two located in Derby and one in Wakefield and one in Northampton, which offer the latest in security technology, ensuring that even the most mission-critical applications are hosted securely and protected. The company aims to be one of the UK's major forces for colocation services in the UK and to this end, provides the highest levels of performance and system availability to its customers throughout the UK. Node4 ranked 45th position in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 and won 1st place for fastest growing Midlands Technology Company in the Deloitte Fast50 and 22nd in the UK. The company also featured highly in 139th position of the Deloitte Fast 500 recognising fastest-growing technology companies across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Node4 is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, a Cisco Premier Certified Partner and also won the prestigious Cisco Innovation Award of the Year for the UK and Ireland. For more information, please visit www.Node4.co.uk For press enquiries, email [email protected] or contact the Node4 press team on 0203 357 9740. Photographs are available upon request. ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected]. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]