Data loss can have a serious impact on any business.
Many organisations that suffer from data loss never recover.
The reasons for the loss can vary from human error to a malware attack.
The best way to prevent a data breach is to understand why it’s happening.
For 83% of companies, it’s not if a data breach will happen, but when. Usually more than once. When detecting, responding to and recovering from threats, faster is better.
Speed reduces costs and the chance to stay in business.
Source: Cost of a data breach report
On World Backup Day, we are taking a look at the importance of backup and a recovery plan.
What is backup?
A backup is a copy of all your important files.
“Data makes the world go around, the world go around, the world go around”
Ok Liza Minelli may have been singing about money but in business terms your data is immensely valuable. Losing access to that data could be disastrous for you and your customers.
Your company’s data is likely to be in several locations: people’s computers, physical and virtual servers in your data centre and one or more of the servers in the cloud. Each of these requires the correct backup method.
What should I backup?
It’s not just the obvious things like files and databases, but configurations as well. What about that server that was set up a few years ago and took weeks getting the configuration right? Or the time that was spent creating group policies in Active Directory to make computers look and behave exactly as you need?
In case of hardware failure, malware, accidental misconfiguration, or anything else that takes these services down, it’s important for you to be able to restore quickly and be confident that what you’ve restored will work.
IT Naturally recommend you apply the 3-2-1 rule of backup:
- 3 sets of data, (production and 2 copies)
- 2 backup copies
- 1 backup copy in a geographically separate location (this could be in another cloud)
Why backup?
- You Could Lose Your Whole Business: Over 40% of businesses that have a major data loss are forced to close, for the other 60% there is a significant fiscal impact with a long recovery. This can be down to the lack of an effective data recovery plan. It’s one thing to back up your data but you need to fully test that you can restore this data and recover your systems in good time.
- To Save Time: Your back up plan will have an enormous impact on the time and complexity of the recovery process. Even with just a small data loss, with the need to recover individual files and folders, without the correct back up in the right location could mean 3-4 hours just recovering a word document. According to the “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021″the average breach lifecycle is 287 days (about 9 months). Time is Money.
- Peace of Mind: If your company has solid backup and recovery processes in place, there’s peace of mind that you are ready in the event of any type of data loss. For the IT manager and their team, this gives confidence that you are in control of all aspects of your company. Whatever size your business is, regular backups are essential.
Remember, your backup is a ‘copy’ of your company data. It’s the beating heart of your business and needs protecting.
Need help with a strategic backup plan?
