diff --git a/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/backup/BackupStatus.java b/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/backup/BackupStatus.java
index 9fed702d5a5..d05246e5184 100644
--- a/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/backup/BackupStatus.java
+++ b/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/backup/BackupStatus.java
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
 import org.apache.jute.BinaryOutputArchive;
 import org.apache.jute.InputArchive;
 import org.apache.jute.OutputArchive;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 /**
  * Coordinate the backup status among processes local to a server;
@@ -35,6 +37,8 @@
  * to the ZAB protocol or by some external mechanism.
  */
 public class BackupStatus {
+  private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(BackupStatus.class);
+
   /**
    * The name for the backup status file.
    */
@@ -133,8 +137,12 @@ public synchronized void update(long logZxid, long snapZxid) throws IOException
     }
 
     if (!statusFile.exists()) {
-      System.out.println("Creating file " + statusFile.getAbsolutePath());
+      LOG.info("BackupStatus::update(): Creating statusFile " + statusFile.getAbsolutePath());
       statusFile.createNewFile();
+      statusFile.setReadable(true, false);
+      // TODO: potentially insecure. making this writable might make this vulnerable to tampering
+      // TODO: but file lock file needs to be worldwide-writable
+      statusFile.setWritable(true, false);
     }
 
     FileOutputStream os = null;