Where are our bank details kept?

Daliah

The data centres used by banks are in bomb proof buildings. Not necessarily nuclear proof but we won't need any money if we get nuked. There is also redundancy built into the systems, and disaster recovery plans exist and get tested regularly.

Section62

JamesPeter said:

And there was I thinking every banking transaction was entered, in copperplate writing using a quill pen, into heavy leather-bound ledgers!

I remember back in the day Barclays would check the previous day's balance on a microfiche... I've often wondered how the fiche were produced (overnight?).  This would have been 70's/early 80's.

Thrugelmir

Prism said:

The big old school banks tend to store the most important data on IBM Power Systems (originally known as AS400s). 

That takes me back.... Mirrored hard drives. Twice daily external backups. 6 hour IBM support response. 

jimjames

Daliah said:

The data centres used by banks are in bomb proof buildings. Not necessarily nuclear proof but we won't need any money if we get nuked. There is also redundancy built into the systems, and disaster recovery plans exist and get tested regularly.

I'd be more worried about hacking or ransomware attacks than being bombed. Seems a far more likely scenario at the moment and could still prevent access to any account data. See what happened to KP (not a bank I know)

https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/news/kp-snacks-supply-chain-crunches-to-halt-after-ransomware-attack/1440238.article

coyrls

For banks the princples of operational resilience are defined by the Basel agreements, I think Basel IV came into effect in January this year.  See https://www.bis.org/bcbs/publ/d516.htm. In the wider financial sevices area, operational resilience is defined by the FCA for the UK.  See https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/operational-resilience.

p00hsticks

For a (fictional) worst case scenario, have a read of this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/President-Missing-Bill-Clinton/dp/1780898398 

Reaper

A long time ago I used to work for a large insurance company. The computers were housed in a central "fort" in the centre of the building with 6 foot thick reinforced concrete walls. Apparently it was designed to survive a jumbo jet crashing into it. Surrounding it were us expendable programmers with just weak walls and sheet glass to shield us from the outside.

These days typical disaster planning for financial companies involve regular backups to offsite storage. If done correctly they should be periodically testing recovering from those backups.

MX5huggy

The AS400 at work keeps plodding on, it’s like a death row in mate it’s finally days are repeatedly announced but it keeps getting last minute reprieves. It’s functions are salami sliced from it as new systems come in. 

Thrugelmir

Deleted_User said:

Thrugelmir said:

Prism said:

The big old school banks tend to store the most important data on IBM Power Systems (originally known as AS400s). 

That takes me back.... Mirrored hard drives. Twice daily external backups. 6 hour IBM support response. 

... Jumpers for goalposts

Remember working on the GLADIS (General Life Administration Display Information System) installation at Friends Provident Life Office. Two mainframes each the size of a tennis court coupled back to back. One mainframe came from second hand from Pan Am airlines. Technology has come a long way since. 

NannaH

There are companies who specialise in data security with physical secure servers and also cloud storage.  The one I know,  (a family member works there) on an anonymous airport industrial estate,  has solar panels and a shipping container full of back up batteries, plus generators.  The server rooms are supposedly protected from EMPs but obviously that has never been tested.  Whether banks use private services like that I don’t know.