The importance of data security

A wide range of sensitive and valuable information is stored that schools cannot afford to lose, ranging from pupil homework and emails to teacher lesson plans and curriculum content.

It seems inconceivable that some schools do not have systems in place to protect or back up this vital information. Often the real value of data only becomes apparent once it has been lost or destroyed and the implications are visible. It is crucial that schools are aware of the importance of safeguarding data and invest sufficient time and resources in ensuring that systems are in place to protect this key asset.

Suffering a loss
Regardless of how well equipment is treated, data is in danger of becoming lost or unavailable for a number of reasons. External threats from internet viruses, fire, theft or power failures pose high risks for schools. Of equal risk are those threats that originate from human error within the school such as overwriting data, deleting files or even vandalism.

Backing up
In order to protect data steps must be taken to ensure that both curriculum and administrative data is recoverable. Putting a back-up storage strategy into action, and ensuring people responsible for carrying out back-up procedures are appropriately trained, ensures data is stored properly and is available when required.

The responsibility of everyone
To ensure full support and buy-in of this process, all users (teachers, administration staff, and pupils) and technical support staff should be involved. Technical support staff must be responsible for managing and maintaining back-up and restoration processes, archiving, and storage resource management for the overall network and devices connected to the network.

What are the choices?
There are various back-up solutions available to schools. Some are more suitable for networks while others are best for stand-alone machines. Different types of back-up carry different characteristics, such as capacity, speed, ease of use and transferability.

The most widely used method is tapes. Simple and easy to use, tape drives offer the first step in defence against data loss because they present a low-cost method of storing large capacities of data. However, this approach does have its limitations. Tapes have a short life, require weekly and monthly rotations, off-site storage, and suitable security and management. Furthermore, this approach relies on a commitment of human time and effort which can all too easily be overlooked.

Another method that is becoming increasingly common is remote back-up. This brings many benefits as it involves transferring all the school data to a remote storage facility based offsite. Back-ups are automatically transferred to the remote location using a broadband internet connection throughout the night. This means that back-up continues after the school lights have gone out; school ICT staff do not have this task to complete during the school day. In the unfortunate occurrence of fire or flood data copies are fully retrievable.

There is more to back-up than just the storage element; the restoration of files is another crucial area. In the event of data loss, the restoration process should be as simple and straightforward as possible. Restoring information from remote storage is easier and faster than searching for the same information on tape drives.

As schools continue to embrace new technological developments, it is increasingly essential to ensure that all information is backed up and retrievable. In order to protect school data now, and in the future, back-up should be integral to every school’s policy.

A small price to pay
A concern that schools may express is that the back-up storage process can appear complex and expensive. However, this area need not be daunting or beyond budgetary restrictions whether undertaken in-house or outsourced. For example, if the process is outsourced a credible managed service provider  they can recognise the unique requirements and financial constraints in education establishments and tailor the back up solution accordingly.

In terms of storage the solution best suited for a school will depend upon four factors:

• Speed – the online and offline speed with which access to the storage is required.
• Capacity – the storage capacity needed.
• Resources – the resources needed to manage the storage solution.
• Budget – how much money you have!

The school’s requirements based on these four factors will greatly influence the choice of solution and hence expenditure. Costs involve the hardware, such as storage; the software, such as the programmes used to retrieve lost data and the human element of the equation. There is a huge variety of solutions on the market with prices ranging from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds.

Mark Hoyland is operations and delivery director at Ramesys, a leading ICT provider to the education sector