In recent years, high-profile breaches have shattered the illusion that cloud providers are infallible. This is according to Nexsan and its sub-Saharan Africa distributor CASA Software.
“From Snowflake’s 2024 breach affecting over 100 major customers to Oracle Cloud’s 2025 incident where millions of records were exposed — even the biggest names have proven vulnerable. The common theme? These environments are marketed as secure, but customers rarely have true visibility or control,” says Adrian Hedges, Nexsan regional sales director EMEA.
Hedges adds cloud security is sold on trust. “Providers invest heavily in marketing and compliance badges, but you can’t see the infrastructure. You can’t verify how your data is handled. And when something does go wrong, you’re at the mercy of someone else’s response plan. You own the data — but they own the access, the process, and the pace of recovery.”
CASA senior sales specialist, Byron Horn-Botha, notes recovery from the cloud or tape might be acceptable if you’re a small operation with limited staff or infrastructure. “But if your business depends on uptime, validation, and speed, relying on a system you don’t control is a gamble. Cloud vendors can’t guarantee performance in a crisis — they can only promise to try.
“And yes, the cloud does fail. In fact, the number of documented outages and breaches continues to grow. Even if the vendor intends to store and protect data properly, any oversight—whether in retention, access control, or security policy—can turn into a disaster that ultimately lands on your shoulders,” says Horn-Botha.
Real Recovery Lives Inside Your Ecosystem
Horn-Botha emphasises immutable backups and storage within your own environment gives you certainty:
- You control who accesses your data, when, and how.
- You can test and validate before restoring — no surprises.
- You recover in minutes, not hours or days.
- You eliminate recurring cloud costs while gaining peace of mind.
“The world is changing fast. Threats are evolving. And while the cloud may be ‘easy,’ it’s not always right — especially when your business is on the line,” Horn-Botha adds.
Why Local Storage Matters More Than Ever
Horn-Botha says local storage, backed by robust security and redundancy measures, isn’t just an old-school approach. “It’s a strategic advantage in a landscape where data breaches can happen at any time.”
He confirms the benefits include:
- Complete Transparency – When you manage data in-house, you see every layer: hardware, network configurations, and access logs.
- Consistent Performance – Local storage lives within your own network, eliminating external performance constraints.
- Customised Security Policies – Off-the-shelf cloud solutions often force a one-size-fits-all approach. Storing data locally means you are in control of your security policies and procedures and can define, redefine and change accordingly
- Swift Forensics and Response – If you suspect a breach, you can immediately isolate and analyse systems without waiting on provider support.
- Implement Immutable Local Backups or Storage – Use systems where data is written once and never altered, ensuring a clean restore point every time.
- Regular Testing and Validation – Schedule periodic restore tests. It’s one thing to have backups; it’s another to know they’ll actually work when you need them most.
- Layered Security Approach – Combine local storage with traditional firewalls, intrusion detection, and ongoing monitoring. Redundancy in protection means peace of mind.
- Adapt and Scale – Local storage isn’t a static solution. Plan for growth with scalable hardware and well-defined policies.
Protecting Your Business by Keeping Data Close
Horn-Botha says South African businesses need to take note of the fact that many organisations are rethinking their cloud-only strategies. “While the cloud has its place — especially for scalability and distributed teams — it’s not the cure-all for data protection. The best way to protect your company’s data is to keep it close, not in someone else’s hands or behind someone else’s SLA.
“By taking control and responsibility for your data through local storage, you close the gap between ownership and true control. The marketing promises of cloud vendors might sound tempting but are no guarantee of data protection.”