Physical Off-Site Backup Storage

This question asks if your vendor physically moves backup copies to a different location - like storing backup tapes or drives in a separate building or city. This protects against local disasters where both your main data and backups could be destroyed if they're in the same place.

Keeping all backups in the same location as primary data is a critical business continuity risk. A single fire, flood, or other disaster could destroy everything. Physical off-site backups ensure business survival through local catastrophes, meet disaster recovery requirements, and demonstrate mature risk management to customers and insurers. This directly affects your ability to recover from disasters and maintain operations.

Some companies claim off-site backups but store them in the same building (just a different room) or nearby facility that could be affected by the same disaster. Others transport backups off-site but don't secure them during transport, creating vulnerability windows.