Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technology that we're slowly becoming more exposed to as new products are developed to make everyday tasks easier.  AI actually had a bit of an interesting start - it grew from the technology used to break the German Enigma codes in World War II, however we are more familiar with its more benign uses in beating chess champions or even in our virtual phone assistants.  Enterprises have been quietly developing AI-based cybersecurity strategies that are proving to have promise in protecting systems and even are being used in counterterrorism efforts.

One of the most terrifying crises an enterprise will face is the hacking of their data or the hostile takeover of their servers, a practice carried out with malicious code known as ransomware.  Production coming to a halt is the smallest worry of these situations - costs to repair, replace, and reformat drives can be extensive and even then is no guarantee that all data will be recovered.  And, in some industries there are serious legal and business consequences in response to breaches of customer data.  But what about cloud data storage?  That offsite data can be the most vulnerable.

In a recent study conducted by data recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack over 800 IT professionals were surveyed about their use of tape backups.  The survey, conducted in the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, the US, Canada, and Australia, quereied participants on several major aspects of tape backup use:

• Cost of tape-based system and maintenance
• Quantity of tapes retained and their age
• Frequency of the need to access tape backups
• Number of redundant backup systems

The study found the following results: