{"id":9441,"date":"2020-04-13T10:22:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T00:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nsrd.info\/blog\/?p=9441"},"modified":"2020-04-13T10:22:13","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T00:22:13","slug":"meme-monday-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nsrd.info\/blog\/2020\/04\/13\/meme-monday-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Meme Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s that time again to explore data protection myths and details through the power of the meme! Since it seems fitting at the moment, I’m going to spend a bit of time looking at data protection as it applies to remote work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OneDrive and Backup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First up we’ll start with an animated gif, which sums up pretty perfectly my reaction when someone says, “we’ll use OneDrive for desktop\/laptop backup”:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You don’t really<\/em> think OneDrive is backup do you?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The premise is simple: users can copy their documents to OneDrive when they want a “backup”. Honestly, when I hear this, I don’t just want to scream, I want to scream in rage<\/em>. This is the laziest sort of IT thinking you can possibly get and it’s wrong in so many ways. Let’s list the top three:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • It’s replication<\/em>, not backup<\/em>.<\/li>
  • Any backup built around user initiation is doomed to fail<\/em>.<\/li>
  • It’s replication<\/em>, not backup<\/em>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Yes, I repeated a point! That’s how important it is. And you should be prepared to scream it until your lungs hurt at any IT team that tells you that you can “backup to OneDrive.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Users can’t store important data locally<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    There’s a delightful innocent naivety in this trope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Can’t store important data locally<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    There’s a funny constant about users: they’ll do things you think they can’t. It starts by thinking of the most basic things \u2013 data validation. Sometimes it seems that half of UI testing is deliberately putting weird data into input fields to see how a program reacts to it. “Enter a number between 1 and 100” works well until someone puts in “-0.ninety \u03c0” and suddenly your nuclear control station catches on fire, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So whenever I’m told by someone that they don’t need to backup laptop\/desktop computers because users can’t store important data on their local systems, I’m reminded of “oh my sweet summer child.”<\/p>\n\n\n\t

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