Why You Need Business Continuity for Services in the Cloud
Kronos, one of the largest timekeeping platforms used by thousands of enterprise organizations globally, was hacked over the winter of 2021. On December 11th, the company discovered a ransomware attack against its cloud servers and began notifying clients on December 12th, stating that restoring systems could take several weeks. They advised their customers to “evaluate alternative plans to process time and attendance data for payroll processing, to manage schedules, and to manage other operations important to their organization.” according to Morning Brew.
Over 2,000 businesses were affected including Honda, Whole Foods and Tesla. Some organizations were left with no alternative other than resorting to clocking in and out using paper or the honor system. Other organizations resorted to paying employees based on average prior pay cycles of work + overtime, as it became impossible to manually calculate payroll hours.
Businesses should have continuity plans in place for cloud based services in case the primary service provider experiences an outage. Continuity plans should be periodically tested for effectiveness. The middle of a crisis is never a good time to conjure up and execute a continuity plan.
Why You Need Off-Site Backups for Data in the Cloud
An electrical fire at OVH, one of world’s largest cloud providers is a prime example of why it’s important to back up even if your data is in the cloud. Last year, an electrical fire broke out in SBG-2, a five-story data center building in Strasbourg, France. The fire was so intense that firefighters were met with meter-long electrical arcs and heat as intense as 752° F. The fire razed the entire building and partially damaged SBG-1, an adjacent data center.
According to The Register, “Over 140 customers have filed a class action lawsuit against the company seeking damages for losses arising from the fire. According to the law firm handling the complaint, Ziegler & Associates, numerous French government websites were affected by the fire, including data.gouv.fr, the National Education website, the Center Pompidou website and Meteosky. The law firm claims many customers lost their data as a result of the fire and did not understand the need to pay for additional backups.”