Let’s shed light on a topic that often gets overlooked: backing up your data. It’s a minor task that makes a BIG difference for every business. Is your in-house IT team regularly backing up the machines in your office? And what about backing up the content on remote worker’s devices? If this is all news to you, don’t worry it’s never too late to start! If your answer is yes, that’s great…way to be proactive! Then come the questions related to the quality of your backing up. How often are the backups run? Do you know where everything is stored in case of an emergency?
Computers Nationwide is a firm believer in taking precautions now to prevent disasters in the future. One key practice to protect your business, private data, and other important information is by backing up your equipment. We’ve partnered with several industry leading companies that are the go-to solutions for data protection and disaster recovery for our clients:
A global research study commissioned by StorageCraft looks at how well-prepared IT decision-makers (ITDMs) feel they are should their company become a victim of a data disaster: More than two-thirds of our ITDM respondents said they are confident in their recovery plan should they fall victim to a ransomware attack. Those who lack confidence in their ability to recover from a ransomware attack—a jaw-dropping 32 percent—fall into three categories:
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15% say they would simply lose their data
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11% have no idea if they could recover
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6% would have no choice but to pay
If your company falls into any of these categories you need to take action now!
What is Backing Up?
Businesses of ALL sizes need to back up their work. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are. Regular backups are vital to making sure your company’s network and files are secure. “Backup and recovery describes the process of creating and storing copies of data that can be used to protect organizations against data loss. This is sometimes referred to as operational recovery. Recovery from a backup typically involves restoring the data to the original location, or to an alternate location where it can be used in place of the lost or damaged data. A proper backup copy is stored in a separate system or medium, such as tape, from the primary data to protect against the possibility of data loss due to primary hardware or software failure.”
IT experts insist that if you only do one thing to protect your data, backups are the most important step for preventing a disaster. Backups ensure you have the vital data (kept in a safe place) that you need to keep your business running in the case of data loss, a cyber attack, or even a natural disaster. There are a variety of different methods of backing up depending on the structure of your business and your specific needs.
Why Does My Business Need to Back Up?
Think of backups as an insurance policy for your data, something to save you for those “just in case” scenarios. It’s also a simple way to protect your finances and reputation! A few reasons backups come in handy:
- Cyber attacks such as ransomware can strike at any time. If any work devices are hit, the entire network could be brought down. Ransomware encrypts your network until your business pays a ransom to get your data back. This can be avoided if you already have copies of your data! “Due to their lack of security, small businesses are often the prime targets for ransomware attackers. With a secure backup of your system, you can help avoid paying the ransom and simply restore your data before you were infected with ransomware.”
- If a natural disaster hits your physical location, it can easily destroy all equipment and your entire network could be wiped out. Imagine having to tell your customers that you’ve lost all their information. Save your reputation by backing up! “The United States Small Business Administration also finds that a whopping 90 percent of businesses fail two years after suffering a disaster. Part of the problem has to do with failure to back up data, leaving businesses starting from scratch following a disaster.”
- Have a peace of mind knowing your data is safe in any situation. Be proactive for unforeseen circumstances such as work devices being attacked with malware, there’s been a hurricane, or even simple data corruption. “It’s no exaggeration to say that even one incident of major data loss can mean game over for your business. Backups ultimately allow you to focus your business efforts on what delivers value instead of always looking over your shoulder for a network security disaster.”
According to NetApp: “The purpose of the backup is to create a copy of data that can be recovered in the event of a primary data failure. Primary data failures can be the result of hardware or software failure, data corruption, or a human-caused event, such as a malicious attack (virus or malware), or accidental deletion of data. Backup copies allow data to be restored from an earlier point in time to help the business recover from an unplanned event.
Storing the copy of the data on separate medium is critical to protect against primary data loss or corruption. This additional medium can be as simple as an external drive or USB stick, or something more substantial, such as a disk storage system, cloud storage container, or tape drive. The alternate medium can be in the same location as the primary data or at a remote location. The possibility of weather-related events may justify having copies of data at remote locations.”
Are You Backing Up Remote Work Machines?
Most U.S. employees are working remotely during the pandemic. Is your business protecting remote workers data at home, just like you would in the physical office? Teams are using their personal devices to work from home, leaving them even more vulnerable to attacks and data loss. Don’t leave the security of your data up to chance! Make sure your remote work machines are being backed up as effectively and efficiently as they would in the office.
“Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that by 2021 a business will fall victim to ransomware every 14 seconds. Add that to the dangers posed by social engineering attacks, hardware failure, or good old-fashioned user error and it’s clear that a business’s data has never been more at risk. And the risks get much worse when you add remote employees to the mix.” StorageCraft
Fortunately, it’s now easier than ever to protect your company’s internal files, client data, and devices – even for remote work machines. Learn more about the offerings from our partners…
Datto’s File Protection safeguards business-critical files, with fully automated service delivery and end-client functionality. Simple, Secure Backup and Recovery Continuous file and folder backup protects business documents against ever-present threats such as human error, hardware failure, ransomware and lost or stolen devices. Clients can easily and quickly access and restore their own files without raising a support request.
Veeam’s Backup & Replication™ is the one solution for simple, reliable and flexible protection of ALL of your cloud, virtual and physical workloads. Take the stress out of managing your data protection, ransomware prevention and compliance challenges. Key features allow you to completely manage your entire backup data lifecycle.
StorageCraft offers a variety of backup and data protection solutions based on your organization’s needs. A few examples of their trusted tools include OneXafe, ShadowProtect, Cloud Backups, DRaaS, Backup for Office 365, and more! Manage data efficiently and effectively with comprehensive solutions to keep business moving forward.
