The 31st of March marks World Backup Day, an annual reminder for businesses to back up their important data. With cyberattacks, hardware failure, software corruption and human error all potential risks, backups are an essential protection against data loss. In this post, we look at the causes and impact of data loss, the key features of effective backup strategies and the benefits of cloud-based backup solutions.
Contents
The growing threat of data loss
Data loss can happen at any time and for a wide range of reasons. Hackers and malware can delete files, hardware failure can make data permanently inaccessible, software issues can corrupt data, and human error can result in accidental deletion.
In addition, disasters like floods and fires or even power surges can damage the equipment on which data is housed and destroy what is stored there. Without a reliable backup, it can be difficult or even impossible to restore your valuable data.
The impact of data loss on your business
When data is lost, the consequences for businesses can be catastrophic. Indeed, around 60% of companies that suffer a data loss will fail within six months due to operational downtime, reputational damage and the costs and timescale of recovery. Additionally, if personal data is lost or stolen, businesses could face significant penalties for violating regulations like GDPR.
Even short-term data loss can have long-term consequences, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. This is why it’s not just having a backup that’s important but having a backup strategy that enables recovery to be quick and which restores as much data as possible.
Take greater control of your data, read: Data Inventory Management: Choosing the Right Hosting Provider
Features of an effective backup strategy
When creating a backup strategy, there is a range of important factors to consider to ensure it provides the level of protection your business needs. These can include:
- Automation: This enables backups to be scheduled at the right frequencies and eliminates the risk of human oversight.
- Encryption: Encrypting your backups both in transit and at rest ensures they stay secure.
- Stored offsite or in the cloud: Storing your backups remotely from your system or premises means that if your system is compromised or there is a disaster like a fire, the backups are not lost.
- Fast restoration: To reduce the impact of data loss, it’s important to choose a backup solution that allows you to recover data quickly.
- Scalability: As the data you back up increases, you need backup storage that can grow with it.
- Backup management: Ideally, you need a solution that lets you easily manage all aspects of your backups (storage, frequency, retention policies, security, etc.)
For more information, read: Futureproofing Your Data with Backup Strategies
Common backup methods and their limitations
While any backup method is better than none, some methods are now seen as outdated or unreliable for business purposes. For instance, while many companies save files to external hard drives, USB sticks or tape, manually back up data to office servers, or store important documents on PCs, these approaches come with significant risks.
External drives and tapes are prone to failure, have limited lifespans and are vulnerable to theft, fire or physical damage, while manual backups are easily forgotten or can be configured incorrectly. Moreover, data saved to local devices is often left unencrypted. All these issues can make recovery slow, partial or even impossible.
The advantages of cloud-based backups
Cloud backup solutions overcome many of the issues with the methods mentioned above. Backups are automated, stored remotely, checked for integrity to ensure they will work, and encrypted to prevent access, theft and tampering.
An important feature of cloud backups is that they provide flexibility, allowing businesses to schedule backups at the frequency they need, something that can be vital when data is regularly updated. Additionally, cloud storage can be scaled on demand to ensure that businesses always have enough space to house their backups.
Cloud solutions also provide a high degree of management. User-friendly, internet accessible dashboards enable companies to manage storage, frequency and retention policies while allowing them to restore the data they need, whether individual files, full systems or specific applications. With regard to security, cloud backups utilise multi-factor authentication and access control to prevent unauthorised access.
Run a website? Read: Website Backups – Why Cloud is the Best Solution
Acronis Cyber Protect
For businesses seeking a cloud-based backup solution, Acronis Cyber Protect offers all the essential features needed to safeguard your data.
A comprehensive, secure and scalable solution, Acronis can backup physical, virtual and cloud-based systems, regardless of where your servers are hosted. This includes services running in AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, or locally hosted infrastructure and websites.
It is also easy to use. Once installed, everything is managed through a secure, web-based portal. Data is protected with military grade AES-256 encryption, and ransomware protection prevents backups from being tampered with. With flexible recovery options, you can restore individual files, full databases or even entire servers in just a few clicks. Moreover, it is protected by 2FA and role-based access control, ensuring only authorised users can reach your backups.
Conclusion
World Backup Day is a poignant reminder of the importance of protecting your business from data loss and its consequences. Hopefully, this post will have shown the weaknesses of traditional backup methods and the benefits of modern, cloud-based solutions for implementing effective backup strategies.
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