Backup Frozen in Alaska but Paper Saves the Day

March 26, 2007: In the mother of all regrets, a computer technician in an Alaskan Government department has made a simple keyboard error and wiped data on a $38 billion state fund.

Further to the technician’s dramas, he also managed to reformat the backup drive in such a way that the backup data could not actually be recovered. Overall it was nine months work, and a mistake that looks set to cost the state $200,000 in damage control.

The Alaska Department of Revenue is facing international scrutiny yet quietly recovering after the mistake that occurred last week. Data on applications for Alaska’s oil-funded account was deleted, information that controls one of the state’s biggest drawcards for residents.

The processed applications formed part of the Alaska Permanent Fund, recently established to set aside shares in oil revenue for future generation and as a means to keep oil-cash flow out if the hands of current politicians. With 300 boxes of paperwork originally processed, entering the information took staff members nine months to complete. More then 800,000 electronic images were also lost during the wipe.

The keystroke error occurred during ‘routine maintenance work.’ While no further explanation has been offered by the computer technician, the Department says ‘no one was ever blamed for the incident.’

Consultants from Dell and Microsoft are currently working to retrieve the information.

Comment on this story.