Announcement: Backup tool removal

Hi all,

At Clear Books, we are committed to providing you with the highest level of security and reliability. In line with this commitment, we continuously review and update our features to ensure they meet the best standards and serve your needs effectively.

After careful consideration, we have decided to remove the backup tool (Tools > Export > Backup) from Clear Books, which is currently only available to some customers users. We want to share the reasons behind this decision to ensure you understand our commitment to your security and the integrity of your data.

1. Security Best Practices: The current backup tool does not align with industry-leading security best practices and we believe that removing this feature is necessary to uphold the highest security standards.

2. Automated Backups: To ensure the safety and security of your data, we maintain daily backups as part of our internal processes. We store a backup for each day, going back 30 days from the current date.

99% of full account restorations are performed using our own daily backups.

3. Backup files used as Data Retention: As set out in our Terms of Use, once an account has been closed, the data will no longer be accessible. That data will be archived after three months, and permanently deleted seven years after your account closure. If an account restoration is requested before the data is deleted, the account will be restored with data as it was at the point of closure. A backup file taken from the backup tool is not needed for this process.

Please note: Restoring data is not always the best solution. In many cases, we can address the underlying issues that are prompting the restore request. Our team at Clear Books will always be able to help advise the best course of action.

We plan to remove this tool by 31st October 2024. We appreciate your understanding and continued trust in Clear Books.

Tommy