Does your company use GitHub? And if so how do you protect your data there? You might be wondering why I’m asking that question when you consider GitHub as some sort of protection for your code. Well, you might be lucky enough to not see for yourself what exactly GitHub down means, but many users experienced problems with the service outage, and so will many do in the future. But there are some things you can do to ensure your data safety and accessibility when a failure occurs to GitHub. In this article, we will talk about why you need to protect your GitHub repos, and how to do it with a proper backup.
What is GitHub
Let’s briefly talk about what GitHub is. GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaboration. It allows developers to collaborate seamlessly without compromising the integrity of the original project’s code.
That’s a quite simple explanation, for what GitHub is. But the real thing driving GitHub is providing a place for storing code as your intellectual property. Yet it’s not a backup solution – you need to secure your code separately, by performing your own backup.
Intellectual Property safety importance
Code as intellectual property is probably the most valuable asset inside your company. Have you ever thought about how much it cost you? How long can you work without access to this code? And finally, how much will it cost you in case you lose it? Please bear in mind there is almost always a risk of being compromised…
Data breaches, systems downtime, policy changes, and more – all of those factors can limit access to your repositories on GitHub, and in conclusion, put your intellectual property at risk. And without proper protection of your IP, your business might not be able to harness the full potential of code created by your employees.
Let’s now take a look at what risks are waiting to influence access to your data.
Shared Responsibility Model
But first, you need to know what you are responsible for…
As most SaaS providers, it relies on a shared responsibility model that defines which security tasks are handled by the service provider and which are handled by you as a user/customer. There are many ways GitHub keeps your code secure, repairs errors, handles hardware, server-side software failures, and data center outages. But regardless, your data is always your concern – you need to make sure it’s properly protected. Even if considering legal and compliance issues – it is better to keep copies of the files for extended periods of time which backup provides.
GitHub down – Problem #1 – Outages
Believe us or check it out, but there were many times that GitHub was down, leaving many companies without access to their code and possibility to work. Going further, with many financial losses.
For example in June 2020, there was a major outage of the Github service that lasted for hours. That kind of outages can impact developer productivity, especially if they occur during crucial launch windows. Think about your company – how long will you be able to work without access to your GitHub data? How much such an outage will cost your company? Are you able to afford it?
And GitHub downtime is only the tip of an iceberg…
Github down – Problem #2 – Cyber threats – Internal and External
One of the most common issues when it comes to cybersecurity incidents is human error. It’s the problem we can never underestimate. Especially, as developers typically have one GitHub account that they use both for personal and professional purposes, sometimes mixing the repositories. Accidental deletion of branches, overwriting them, or even intentional deletion made by the frustrated worker (or even ex-worker, who still has access to the repository). If you don’t protect your data, that kind of problem can make your work completely useless.
And we must remember the threat that lurks around every corner when it comes to data – malware attacks.
Github down – Problem #3 – Hardware and Software Errors
Not only the human errors or hacker attacks can lead to losing access to your data, but it can be also influenced by many sorts of hardware and software failures.
We need to remember that hardware and software failures can happen on the client-side, and if the data is not protected well enough, it all can be lost – especially if you work with Git only on your own local server.
Adding problems with synchronization, saving repositories, downloading it, you can see a full range of issues that can slow down, postpone or disable the development process and expose your company to financial loss.
Xopero ONE Backup & Recovery for GitHub
As you can see GitHub as a versioning service proved itself as a quite reliable solution, yet it’s not bulletproof. That is why, you should protect your GitHub repositories with a proper backup, allowing your company to guarantee business continuity in case of disaster or any event of failure. Xopero ONE Backup & Recovery now protects your Intellectual Property. Make sure your GitHub, Bitbucket or GitLab servers, repositories, and metadata (including comments, requests, milestones, issues, releases, wikis & more) are fully protected – on-premise, or in the cloud.
- Any storage compatibility – keep your data safe on-premise or in the cloud (Amazon, Azure, etc.)
- Backup code with every push or according to your own backup schedule and plan – set it and forget it (it will add new repos automatically)
- Xopero have the #1 most user-friendly console and data-driven interface on the market
- Restore data to a repository or local device – anywhere you need and get back to code immediately
- Flexible versioning and unlimited retention
- Data-driven, super-easy interface #1 on the market