Tao Of Backup Wailing Wall Story
Thieves attempt to destroy all backups at Daewoo.
This incident didn't affect me; I just saw it in the
newspaper and thought I'd add it to the wailing wall. This
article shows how important it is to keep offsite backups,
preferably at a secret location.
THEFT FAILS TO LOG OFF DAEWOO
By Mark Hollands.
Thieves used a forklift truck to smash an $80,000 computer
in a $2 million raid that appeared aimed at crippling the
electronics company Daewoo.
During a raid, late last month, the IBM computer was thrown
down a staircase, repeatedly run over by the forklift,
hurled against a wall and then drowned in water with a fire
hose.
Daewoo's computer back-up tapes, which held company secrets,
were thrown in a bucket of water and destroyed.
But it was not enough.
Disaster recovery engineers have spent six days piecing the
computer back together, sometimes using magnifying glasses,
to ensure Daewoo stays in business.
...
The night after the break-in, the thieves struck again. This
time, they searched without success for more of the
company's back-up tapes. This has led police to speculate
that one gang member might be covering the tracks of
embezzlement or another white-collar crime.
...
The engineer said Daewoo staff had been foolish enough to
leave the back-up tapes on the premises.
If the tapes had not been destroyed, the computer could have
been replaced with minimal disruption.
"Everyone knows back-up tapes should never be left in the
office in case of a fire, or something like this. I reckon
Daewoo are pretty lucky," he said.
--- "The Australian" newspaper, 2 February 1999, p.7.
Ross Williams
Adelaide, Australia,
Tue 02-Feb-1999 1:49am
