Traceable Quantitative Risk Assessment Applied to Investment Decision for Local Backups

Most organizations have critical data, i.e. customer data or large databases. If these data are lost, organization's existence is in danger. As a consequence, backups for the systems are produced. However, some data are stored only on the computers of employees. These data are usually less critical, but their value cannot be neglected. At DATEV eG in Nuremberg, the question has risen whether it is economically justified to install backup mechanisms for these data. To answer this question, we first present a model to perform an assessment. With the help of this model, we calculate the expected annual cost of repair employees' computers and data including all side effects. Finally the break-even point in cost-efficiency is computed for the example of DATEV eG.