https://www.xperience-group.com/news-item/failure-to-prepare-is-preparing-to-fail-world-back-up-day/
Would you leave your house unlocked? Your business should be no different. By not backing up your business data and systems, you are leaving your business unlocked to potential threats. With World Backup Day looming close, don’t be the April Fool this year.
If you haven’t already heard, World Backup Day is looming (31st March) and the importance of backing up your data has never been more significant. The World Backup Day initiative was started back in 2011 by a company called Maxtor (later acquired by SeaGate Technology) to raise awareness for businesses and personal users about backing up their important documents and data.
According to a recent study conducted by Beaming, a business internet provider, 17% of UK businesses don’t backup their business data at all and only 35% of UK businesses store their business backup externally, the rest are relying primarily on their onsite backups. A major concern for onsite backup is the vulnerability and exposure left open to cyber-attacks on the system. If one device is compromised, the entire system can be affected. Guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre recommend that all businesses, regardless of size, should take regular backups of their data.
Could your business still function if you were subject to data theft, a malware attack or natural disaster? Recent reports suggest a terrifying 72% of businesses that experience a severe data breach and have no backup, shut down within 24 months. If you’re lucky enough to avoid this, you still run the risk of losing profit, productivity and detrimental damage to your company reputation and brand.
We suggest as a first step, reviewing your business data and identify what is critical. From here you can identify the best means of keeping it safe.
Backing up your files regularly is the only way to avoid data loss. Data recovery labs suggests that a business should back up their files once every 24 hours. This can either be performed manually or automatically. Do you know how often your data is backed up or if it is even backed up? We would recommend replicating your files, live data and virtual servers to a secure cloud platform. Should a disaster strike, your systems remain safe.
Storing your backup data in a different location disconnected from the device holding the original data will minimise the impact of potential ransomware and malware attacks. Many ransomware and malware attacks go unnoticed by many businesses and when identified, it’s too late because the data to every connected device is corrupted, therefore you have no backup. By keeping your backups in a separate location, you also protect yourself safe from natural disasters such as fires, floods as well as general hardware malfunction. If you take backups, we suggest you review where these are stored to ensure you are protected from multiple threats.
Storing your business data in the cloud can help mitigate risk of data disasters and removes the need to physically store your backups. Often cloud backups are automatic which eliminates the need for someone to do it manually from memory. The cloud also means your data benefits from the best physical and digital security. With the data on cloud, you gain the ability to recover your data, anywhere at any time should a disaster occur.Check out our Cloud Solutions Vs Traditional IT.
Did you know 80% of businesses have no crisis management or disaster recovery plan in place? A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a plan to ensure a business can recover quickly from a disaster (data loss attack). I’m sure you’ve heard the IT Horror Stories when disaster recovery has gone wrong, make sure you have a step by step plan will allow your business to minimise downtime and tackle the issue efficiently and as quick as possible.
Protecting your device or devices is another vital form of backup you may not have considered in the past. If an employee loses a laptop or has it stolen, can that device be wiped? Can the information on that device be recovered? It’s important that this information is stored in multiple locations, avoiding a loss of data or data breach.