In Honor of World Backup Day

67 percent of data loss is caused by hard drive crashes or system failure

14 percent of data loss is caused by human error

10 percent of data loss is a result of software failure

70 percent of small firms go out of business within a year of a large data loss incident

In business and in life, we plan for the unexpected. The old adage is often true: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. With businesses being increasingly data-driven, it begs the questions:

What’s your digital backup plan?

What would happen if your computer didn’t turn on tomorrow morning, and you couldn’t access your files?

Think of that meticulously crafted project, client database or spreadsheet – the culmination of countless hours of hard work and months of numbers.

Can you put a price on the value of your business’ data?

Could your business continue without it?

Not sure what a cyber incident affecting your data would cost your business? Use this Recovery & Downtime Cost Calculator to find out.

World Backup Day

To bring awareness to the importance of protecting our digital assets, March 31st has been designated as “World Backup Day”.

Why the need? The fact is that hardware fails, software can malfunction, files can become corrupted, laptops get lost or stolen, data can be deleted by mistake (or on purpose by a disgruntled employee) and hackers actively target business’ data with ransomware.

To have a good Data Backup and Recovery Plan there are several factors to consider:

Are Your Backups Immutable?

An immutable backup is one that can’t be altered or deleted once created, providing a fail-safe against accidental or malicious changes. It’s the difference between putting your backups in a digital shoebox vs a digital safe.

You may think “All of my data is stored safely in the cloud on Microsoft tools like OneDrive or SharePoint (or Google).”

This is not an immutable backup!

According to their Terms of Services, (see section 6b) Microsoft recommends all data is regularly backed up using Third-Party Apps and Services. allCare IT can help you shoulder that responsibility, providing truly immutable, automated, monitored, granular, and versioned backups. Guaranteeing your backups are regularly updating, storing version history of your files, configuration settings and end user preferences for a minimum of six months with the option for more.

Combining a good cloud-based backup with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) backup, aligns your businesses data with three core principles of cybersecurity: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (the CIA Triad). It ensures compliance with Canadian Data Sovereignty laws, provides you with a stronger cyber insurance posture and a Business Continuity Plan to reduce costly downtime.

Would Your Business Benefit by Having a Local Backup?

As an additional measure, local backups on physical devices like a network-attached-storage (NAS) device can provide an extra layer of control and security. allCare IT can provide a service that encrypts and uploads your data to the cloud (an immutable backup) before downloading that same data to an on-premises device. This allows access to large amounts of data quickly as data remains within your physical possession, mitigating dependency on Internet connectivity or speed.

What Data Should You Backup?

First, consider your overall backup strategy. Think of your server and on premises workstations, your data stored in the cloud and mobile devices. Consider the criticality of this data. All data that is essential for your business operations, regulatory compliance, or intellectual property protection should be backed up. This includes, but is not limited to customer records, financial transactions, accounting and HR data, configuration settings, application data and user preferences.

Every business is unique. So having a good IT Support company you can partner with is imperative. They will consult with you to help you understand the importance of comprehensive backup solutions tailored to your specific needs and data. They will ensure your backup plan not only protects your data, but also compliments your cyber insurance policy, complies with all required regulations and allows for fast recovery if the need arises.

Perhaps it’s no accident, that World Backup Day on March 31st, is positioned just before another well-known date on our calendar. Don’t be an April Fool, have a digital backup plan. It’s not just a safety net; it’s a lifeline that ensures your businesses continuity and resilience.