Kroll Ontrack suggests organisations should check if their backup systems and protocols are in place before incorporating cloud in their storage architecture.

Organisations should also check if these systems and protocols meet their own in-house backup standards and whether their cloud vendor has a data recovery provider identified in its business continuity/disaster recovery plan.

In addition, organisations should also ask what are the service level agreements with regard to data recovery, liability for loss, remediation and business outcomes.

Only 17 percent of respondents test their data recovery plan regularly to validate technical and personnel readiness against cloud or virtual data loss technical recovery capabilities.

Thirteen percent of those surveyed do not have a data recovery plan.