Sending your data to an off-site location is something I've preached here since my tenure began. However, one thing about that idea may give you pause - security. It's one thing if you're sending your data to your home office in Poughkeepsie or Peoria. It's altogether another thing if your data is headed to a vendor's location. While you may have data security that's tough as nails, but what does that vendor provide? Is your data as safe as you would make it?

Luckily (or unluckily, as I like to say), a lot of data centers have what they think is secure data, but in actualality they're sitting ducks for a major breach. So anything the vendor would provide in the way of security would be either equal to or greater than their own security. But many of us would much rather take our chances with major catastrophe onsite than entrust our data to strangers.

That doesn't have to be. Utimaco Safeware has a report on what your threat level might be, and how to bring security and peace of mind to your data storage relationships. Give the paper a read - it has some very useful insights. One of the main points is that vendors and companies need to agree in writing what the security levels will be, and how they will be delivered. You can find it at the Ziff Davis web site.