Law Firm Data Security: 7 Questions to Ask Your Offsite Backup Provider

Rekall has a lot of experience shopping for legitimate offsite backup companies.  We have tested many and feel that we know exactly what questions to ask in order to cut out the riff raff.  Below are the questions you need to ask in order to get a good idea if your dealing with a legit backup company or a fly-by-night storage peddler.

Q. How long will to restore the firms data entirely?

A. You may have to wait hours or even days if the backup company does not provide a local backup as well as remote.

Q. How many revisions of a file is backed up?

A. The answer should be unlimited, but it will probably affect your data storage block that you purchase.

Q. How long can I backup; can I restore from 1 year ago?

A. FOREVER & YES.  Understand, the longer backup you have, the more you may pay due to a large backup history.

Q. Will the software back up Exchange, SQL, and System State natively, or do I need ANOTHER program to do it for me? AND HOW MUCH IS THAT PROGRAM?

A. The answer should be YES, we will back everything up natively. No other software needed, our software does it all for you in one shot.  A backup company that makes you perform manual backups yourself or uses third party software to perform the backup is simply a trolly service. They are selling you the ability to upload your data to a cloud backup. They rely on YOU to make the backups.  RUN, do not walk away from these companies.  If you have a problem with a backup, due to the fact that they don’t support the backup but only the trolly, you have no one to call.

Q. Is the backup software HIPPA compliant?

A. If it’s not, hang up.  HIPPA compliance is a very simple procedure for security, it means that if you like, you can configure your own security hash (code) when your backup executes.  This is instead of using the standard backup service hash.  If they didn’t put in the time to add this option to their development of the backup software, don’t waste your time considering them.

Q. Do you provide domestic telephone tech support?

A. YES, it must be phone, domestic support is a personal preference depending on the user.  DO NOT SETTLE FOR CHAT SUPPORT!

Q. Do file revisions count against my data storage block?

A. It depends.  It would be nice if they didn’t, but in our research, when the revisions history does not count against your storage block, this amenity is usually accompanied with horrible software, sub-par support, crazy backup age rules and third party backup software.  Be VERY wary of companies who promise revisions that will not add up against your data storage block.