Why backup GitHub / Bitbucket or GitLab repositories and metadata?
Source code as intellectual property is the most valuable asset inside most technology-related companies. There are many reasons to keep it safe. What are the most common scenarios for data loss and business downtime?
- Errors (human or hardware) - HEAD overwrite, branch deletion, (un)intentional developers mistakes, old repository deletion, hardware loss/breakage/theft, and more
- Service outages and downtime that happen on regular basis (Check: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket)
- Accidental data deletion by service providers (see: GitLab accidentally deleting production data)
- Internal bugs and vulnerabilities of service providers (just to mention GitHub)
- Ransomware attacks and repositories content wiped out (Happened to all GitHub, Bitbucket and GitLab)
- Malware attacks (like Octopus Scanner malware attacking Open Source Projects’ repositories)
- Account deletion or block (and automatic, instant deletion of your data by GitHub)
Moreover, GitHub, GitLab, and Atlassian rely on shared responsibility models whereby they are responsible for the entire system’s accessibility, security, and availability, and you as a user are responsible for data protection. Moreover, they even recommend having reliable third-party backup software in place.
You might also need Git backup for compliance. If you are considering ISO27K or SOC2 audit, make sure you have GitHub / Bitbucket / GitLab backup and Disaster Recovery software.
Discovering security issues, corrupted or lost data, and bugs late in the pipeline requires more time and effort to remediate them. “Shifting left” and switching to the DevSecOps approach - with a backup set at every critical stage of the software development process - is especially useful for organizations strongly focused on minimizing the impact of unforeseen issues.
Read more: Why backup GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket – the risk of data loss