Imagine arriving at the office on a Monday morning, ready to start the new week. But as you try to log onto the system, you’re met with an error message. Panic sets in as you realise everything is gone. The client records, financial data, and project files – everything that the business relies on – have vanished overnight. Once they have been located, they are found to be encrypted. Years of critical data, client records, invoices and contracts are locked behind an extortionate ransom that would cause significant financial struggle for the business if paid. All you know is that without these files, all operations are at a halt; approaching deadlines will be missed and customers are going to start asking questions.
There’s just one important decision to make; pay the ransom and hope the attackers hold up their end of the deal or attempt to rebuild from scratch. But then the IT team confirms that regular backups are in place. Within hours, a full restoration begins, bypassing the hackers entirely. By the next day, your business is back online, and work resumes as if nothing ever happened.
This scenario is not just a hypothetical. According to an article, 21% of UK businesses had reported experiencing a data breach at least once a month, with a further 24% claiming they had experienced data incidents even more frequently. But this increasing frequency of data breaches can be avoided with the implementation of regular backups.
World Backup Day: A Reminder We All Need
Every year, 31st March marks World Backup Day, a global reminder of the importance of safeguarding data. It’s a day for businesses to stop and ask: If disaster struck tomorrow, would we be ready?
Often overlooked until it’s too late, backups are important for every business. In Yorkshire, many businesses assume their data is safe, until an employee accidentally deletes a critical file, or a ransomware attack strikes. Without a reliable backup, the consequences can be catastrophic. Let’s look at how your business can build resilience this World Backup Day to set you up for a safe future.
The Backbone of Business Resilience
Offering businesses a foundation of resilience, having a strong backup strategy prevents you from facing the catastrophic consequences of data loss, regardless of if it’s from a cyber-attack, human error, or hardware failure. The difference between a minor setback and a complete failure often comes down to the quality and reliability of backups. To ensure your business remains operational, a backup strategy must include:
- Regular and Automated Backups: For businesses relying on manual backups, it’s easy to assume that your employees will remember to save files consistently. However, mistakes are inevitable, and gaps in backups can leave critical data unprotected. Automated backup solutions ensure data is securely stored at scheduled intervals to minimise the risk of loss. This can be set hourly, daily, or in real-time.
- Multiple Backup Locations (The 3-2-1 Rule): A robust backup strategy follows the 3-2-1 rule, which consists of keeping three copies of your data (one primary and two backups), two different types of storage (like local servers and cloud storage), and one copy stored off-site (to protect against disasters like fire or cyber-attacks). By following this rule, businesses can mitigate the risk of losing all their data in a single event.
- Secure and Encrypted Backups: Backups must be as secure as the data they protect. If a backup is unencrypted or easily accessible, cybercriminals can target it during an attack, rendering it useless. To combat this, businesses should ensure backups are encrypted both in transit and at rest, reducing the risk of unauthorised access.
- Ransomware-Resistant Backup Solutions: As a prevailing threat, ransomware encrypts files and demands a hefty ransom for their release. However, strong backup solutions incorporate immutable storage, so once that data is saved, it cannot be altered or deleted by attackers. This guarantee’s a business can restore their data even in the event of a ransomware attack without paying any ransom.
- Rapid Recovery and Business Continuity: Downtime can become costly alarmingly quickly, making fast recovery essential. To ensure all prospects of downtime is minimised, solutions like instant virtualisation allow businesses to spin up backup systems immediately, keeping operations running while the primary system is restored.
- Regular Backup Testing and Monitoring: It’s important to test backups to ensure they don’t fail when you need them. This is achieved with regular testing to assure that recovery processes work smoothly and that files can be restored quickly in an emergency. Businesses should perform routine disaster recovery drills to identify weaknesses and adapt their recovery strategy in advance.
How Singularitee Protects Businesses in Yorkshire
At Singularitee, our cyber security services in Yorkshire ensure that businesses have a robust, secure, and seamless backup strategy. We offer:
- Automated, frequent backups to ensure no data is lost.
- Cloud-based and on-premises solutions tailored to business needs.
- Fast recovery processes, minimising downtime after data loss.
- Ransomware-resistant backups, preventing attackers from encrypting backup files.
Is Your Backup Strategy Ready for the Unexpected?
Disasters don’t send warnings. The only way to stay ahead is to have a robust backup strategy in place. Don’t leave your business vulnerable—let Singularitee assess your backup health and ensure your data is protected. Get in touch today and safeguard your business against the unexpected.
