If you are a developer, no matter what you do and you are one of those devs that use cloud services such as GitHub, GitLab, etc, etc, …. last 1st Febrary you could hear the news that GitLab deleted by error a bunch amount of Gigas, and backups failed (not all, but some of them).
I must admit that although the incident is serious, GitLab has been transparent with the issue, and it has been informed in every moment of the real situation, with their clients in mind, something that honors them.
Preaching about data and privacy
This year 2017 I have a proposal, I have proposed myself to evangelize everyone who asks me why it is important to have control over “your data”, which are yours, by your means. You can read http://www.manejandodatos.es/2016/2/privacity-data-are-distributed-and-also-it-is-not-yours about trusting the data to Internet company, because you can have a big surprise!
And, as much as I say, I do not get people to reflect on this issue, until there is a misfortune (of data, of course!)
Reflections on what happened in GitLab
Here are my reflections related to the incident occur in GitLab (and that can happen to you!):
1.- I can’t trust nobody
It is good to share things, or use services of Internet companies to make backups, because they make life easier, etc, etc …. but you must always keep in mind that you are responsible for your data and Your work, and that it is no more than in addition to these services, have your own rules, ie, in addition to uploading data and projects to the Internet, you store them in certain sites, or on various computers, ….
2.- Backups policies must be published for every company
Every body that works for a company with compoters must know when, where and how backups are being done!
3.- Backups fail
Yes, inevitably, this happens more often than it seems, and for that reason, nothing better than to verify that the restore process is working.
4.- Suppports can fail
The failure of the physical supports is one of the causes that can cause backups can fail, so they should be checked frequently. These tasks must be within the task list of the backup policy. If you are one of those who use USBs, you must keep it well, and although it is difficult to happen, it does more often than it seems.
I hope that the “misfortune” of others serves you to improve the processes of each one.
Have a nice day.