Notification: Incoming Transmission
To: Regional Governor’s Office, Sentinel Base, Oversector Outer
From: Lt. Arreg’la Kompoutador, Forensic IT Specialist, IDMR 4th Division
Date: 5 Selona, 2 (AFE)
Subject: Memorandum: On the Critical Nature of Offsite Backups
Governor T██n,
By now you will have received the After Action Report (AAR) submitted by the 4th Division Imperial Forensics Team following the recent incident on T███s Base [Coordinates: ███████], and given the findings contained therein I expect this memo will come as no surprise. The data recovery efforts for materials and files related to the “Necromancer” project scope following the insurgent attack on the Advanced Science Department’s T███s facility is now complete, and the prognosis is indeed grim.
Our investigation revealed that T███ Base had no backups of any kind in place for the files in Doctor H███’s labs, and the immolation of the space has therefore incurred a catastrophic loss of valuable research. This is an unforgivable oversight and a deplorable waste of Imperial resources, even more so because the whole situation could have been so easily prevented. The vulnerabilities that the rebel insurgents were able to so efficiently exploit during last week’s breach were hardly unknown and, in fact, have been recurring topics in IDMR internal meeting notes going back more than two galactic standard years.
It is the responsibility of IT Specialists in any branch of service to oversee backups of all critical data to enable us to quickly recover from disruptive incidents, no matter how unlikely. As such, my team has advocated every quarter since the start of the current regime for implementation of data protection policies designed to minimize loss risks across the sector, yet all of our proposals to-date have been rejected and all earmarked capital redirected into a top-secret project that appears to fall under your own purview. Can this “Stardust” effort really be more important than protection of critical data throughout the entire known galaxy?
I urge you to consider a more equal distribution of funding across projects until such time as acceptable disaster recovery plans have been implemented at all sites sector-wide. To ignore this critical component of business continuity is unconscionable and potentially cataclysmic. When we meet to review budgeting for the 3 AFE financial year I hope we can revisit my recommendation to consult with a mid-rim based Private Sector Technology MSP, Macktez, as their approach to Backup Management demonstrates an excellent standard of service to provide their clients with peace of mind that their essential data will not be lost.
Macktez Backup Management monitors the status of backups and identifies potential issues before they cause disruption. Ongoing monitoring also better equips us to respond to vulnerabilities more quickly. Manual tasks are grouped together and performed on a scheduled, recurring basis, efficiently ensuring that automated tools are working properly.
This incident underscores my point that even the most well-designed, state of the art, multi-billion credit infrastructure is not infallible, and while we can protect against any known threats or systemic issues, there is no way to account for every potential eventuality. What if, say, one day the officer providing executive oversight for a major military development project is carried off to the far reaches of uncharted space by a pod of migrating space whales (hypothetically, of course)? That sounds impossible, naturally but it’s a big, strange galaxy out there.
Very Respectfully,
A. Kompoutador
PS: Have there been any updates on the request I submitted last month to improve the ongoing wifi issues at Sc██f Base? I’m sure Macktez can help with that too.
