Businesses rely and thrive on data, customer information, financial records, and operational documents. Each are critical assets that demand protection.
Given this, a robust backup strategy is fundamental for businesses to implement to safeguard against potential disasters including cyber threats that could cripple operations.
Let’s look at eight effective backup strategies Adept IT Solutions recommend implementing to ensure the safety and accessibility or your valuable business data.
1/ Follow the 3-2-1 rule core principles of file backup
At the heart of a resilient backup strategy lies the 3-2-1 rule, a foundation that all businesses should adhere to. This rule advocates for:
- creating three copies of crucial data
- storing data copies on two different types of storage media, and
- ensuring one copy of the data is stored offsite.
Embracing this principle as one of your backup strategies minimises vulnerabilities and fortifies against hardware failure, human errors and malicious cyber-attacks that could jeapardise critical data.
2/ Choose wisely between onsite and offsite backups
Choosing where to backup and store data is a strategic decision for business owners and a selection the team at Adept IT Solutions can assist you with.
Onsite backups offer immediate access and can be less expensive. However, they can be more susceptible to physical damage by fire, flood, or theft.
Offsite backups, be it through dedicated client owned backup services or remote servers (both options Adept IT Solutions can provide to our customers) and third-party cloud backup offerings, protect data from local disasters and provides added security, accessibility to help comply with regulatory standards.
You can also combine onsite and offsite backups for optimal reliability and recovery as part of your backup strategy.
3/ Consider cloud storage solutions
Cloud storage provides robust security measures, remote accessibility, the ability to collaborate on documents and files and scalability, making it an increasingly favoured choice for businesses seeking both flexibility and reliability in data storage. Cloud storage providers (such as Microsoft Azure) address compliance, regulation and legislative rules that can be essential for larger business organisations.
Adept IT Solutions can assist business owners who are considering migrating towards cloud-based solutions.
4/ Be sure to backup SaaS platforms
Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive present businesses with automated backup solutions. However, these providers have more limited capabilities to backup data within the SaaS application. In fact, most SaaS applications user agreements outline that it is the customers responsibility to complete backups of this data, nor do they provide the functionality to restore the backed-up data.
Given the above, companies who use SaaS platforms should implement additional backup procedures such as creating additional copies of SaaS application backups and storing them in separate, secure locations.
For businesses that use SaaS platforms such as OneDrive, SharePoint and Mailboxes, Adept IT Solutions can provide a quote to provide 365 backups as a service to ensure this data is adequately stored.
5/ Safeguard vital access points with endpoint protection
End points within a business network are prime targets for cyber threats. Implementing endpoint protection solutions such as installing managed antivirus software and web filtering through application and patch management is essential in shielding individual devices and crucial access points from malware attacks, hardware failures or accidental deletions.
Adept IT Solutions will assist businesses to implement robust endpoint protection by installing appropriate virus protection and completing application and system patch management on your behalf.
6/ Ensure backups are frequent and aligned with the business needs
In an environment where cyber threats such as ransomware, spam and phishing attacks, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks and Distributed denial of service (DDos) are becoming more frequent, daily backups are essential. However, it is important to note that the frequency of backups should align with the criticality and frequency of the data changes within the business.
Dynamic data might necessitate frequent daily backups while static data could require less frequent backups. It is important to strike the right balance to ensure comprehensive coverage without compromising efficiency. Adept IT Solutions can provide advice and assistance when it comes to developing the best data backup plan and implementing effective backup strategies for your business.
7/ Define clear policies for long-term data retention
Often businesses must adhere to data privacy regulations when it comes to retaining and storing long-term data. It is therefore essential to define clear policies based on required retention periods for the type of historical data your business keeps to ensure data storage compliance.
Adept IT Solutions can provide our clients with advice on data retention as part of a broader IT compliance and auditing assessment.
8/ Fortify backup security data with encryption
The encryption of backup data is paramount to data security, no matter the location where it is stored (onsite, offsite or in the cloud).
Encryption ensures that even if data is compromised, it remains unreadable without the encryption key. Robust encryption protocols serve as a vital layer of defence against potential breachers.
Adept IT Solutions can verify whether your backup data is being encrypted, ensure frequent backups and provide solutions that separate storage of everyday backups from long-term retention data.
The consequences of having inadequate backup strategies
The absence of backups or encountering backup failures can inflict severe consequences for businesses.
Loss of critical data can lead to financial losses, operational disruptions, legal ramifications, and severe reputational damage. Moreover, in the realm of cybersecurity, backups serve as a potent defence against ransomware attacks, providing a fallback option in case of infiltration.
Adept IT Solutions assists with backup strategies, policy, procedures and processes
The team at Adept IT Solutions can assist any business with implementing a robust and comprehensive backup strategies built on our recommendations above.
We can also complete a full IT compliance and auditing assessment to discover any potential risks or inadequacies in your existing systems and procedures and provide cybersecurity awareness and training as an additional layer of education for your employees.
By implementing regular, systematic backups you can ensure data resilience, safeguarding against unforeseen disasters and cyber threats. You will also reduce the chances of downtime occurring, allowing your businesses to continue to operate doing what you do best.
If you would like to know more, contact the team at Adept IT Solutions on 1300 4 23378 (ADEPT) or email us at info@adept-it.com.au.
