Dealing with a disaster: Can you recover from data loss?

ITRetail

14 Mar

March 31st is
World Backup Day

In this month’s blog we discuss the best ways to back up your data, why it’s important and the consequences of getting it wrong.

A colourful backup data illustration of a woman working on laptop in front of a server stack with a padlock on. — Dealing with
a Disaster:

Can you recover from data loss?

Whether it’s an individual employee’s laptop, your customers’ personal data, or your company’s financial records, successful backup strategies depend not only on keeping copies of all your relevant business data, but also how this data is restored following a loss. Research by World Backup Day offers the following insights in relation to backups and data loss. World Backup Day is a reminder to consider your backup strategy before a data disaster occurs.

21% of people have never made a backup

113 phones lost or stolen every minute

29% of data loss cases are caused by accident

30% of all computers are already infected with malware

The importance of your business data

Data is critical to the running of a business, yet many companies do not fully realise the importance, or process, of properly protecting this data until it is too late.

The primary purpose of backing up your data is to create copies in case the original data is lost, corrupted or stolen. You can (and should) invest in mitigating the causes of data loss, such as malfunctions, carelessness, malicious intent or natural disasters, but data loss on some scale is an inevitability and you should always be prepared for the worst.

Main Causes of Data Loss

31%

Hardware/System Failure

29%

Human Error

29%

Viruses & Malware/Ransomware

Data loss on a small scale, such as an employee losing their work phone, may seem like a minor inconvenience, but such devices are essential to your staff performing their everyday duties. The stress and loss of productivity involved in replacing these items, especially when scaled up for larger organisations, can spiral, so it makes sense to take simple steps to ensure the devices are backed up.

Large scale data loss can be crippling, if not fatal, for companies if a suitable recovery plan is not in place. As well as the cost of downtime, there may be regulatory financial penalties for data breaches and leaks. Furthermore, ransomware attacks are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated, and even companies that pay the ransom are not guaranteed to recover their data.

The true cost of data loss

$5,600

The average cost of downtime to a business is $5,600 per minute.

93%

93% of companies without a recovery plan will close within one year of a major data loss.

$170k

The average ransom paid by mid-sized companies following ransomware attacks is $170,404.

Disaster recovery plan for backed up data

For a data backup strategy to be effective, not only must backed up data be protected from the same fate as the original data, but there should also be a plan to recover and reinstate this data so that your business can continue to operate as before, i.e. disaster recovery.

There are a number of considerations when implementing a disaster recovery plan, such as which storage technology to use, whether backups will be manual or automated, the scope of the backed-up data etc., but the main objectives to consider will be your organisation’s recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO).

RPO sets out how far back you will need to go to restore your systems, and therefore how much data you are willing to lose. An RPO of 24 hours may be preferable to an RPO of one week, but this requires more resources and storage, i.e higher costs. RTO is the time taken to restore your systems from a backup copy and continue with normal operations. This depends on the amount of data needing to be transferred and restored, and the technology used to do so, but can also be reduced with proactive planning and testing of the recovery process.

A common strategy for ensuring your data is suitably duplicated and reliably recoverable is to follow the 3-2-1 rule.

3

Three Data Copies

As well as your original data, you should keep at least two duplicate copies.

2

Two Storage Types

To prevent risk of media specific failures, data copies should be stored on different types of storage device, e.g. internal and external hard drives, removable devices, cloud storage.

1

One Off-Site Copy

As data loss may be a result of a localised issue, a data copy stored elsewhere ensures a robust data recovery strategy.

Ultimately, a well implemented backup and recovery plan will rely on a competent backup administrator to ensure correct setup, confirm backups are successful and carry out regular checks and tests of the recovery plan. As ransomware attacks now increasingly target backed up data, a backup administrator must also be aware of the latest strategies and technologies to thwart such attacks.

This is where Pinnaca can help. We have the expertise and experience to advise on or setup an effective disaster recovery plan for your organisation, as well as ensure you are protected against data loss as part of a wider IT management strategy.

A wooden clipboard sitting on a desk with a paper checklist clipped to it titled How robust is your data and recovery strategy?

How robust is your data backup and recovery strategy?

Key questions that will help you assess your plan and improve your process.

Download The Free Data Backup Guide

Backup solutions from Pinnaca

Pinnaca has many years of experience providing proactive security and disaster recovery services to ensure our clients’ data is protected. We work with cutting-edge technologies and the latest technical innovations, such as secure cloud storage solutions, immutable data backups, virtual machines and more, to ensure your data is always safe and recoverable.

Working with partners and solutions, such as Datto, Acronis and Azure Cloud, we can create backup strategies and peace of mind that your data is recoverable. These can provide complete disk-image level backups capable of quick recovery of your business systems, and we also cater for file level backups as well as site recovery solutions if the original is corrupted or lost.

Email is not only a vital source of business data but it is also one of the main points of attack for cyber threats with 94% of malware distributed via email. Pinnaca offers solutions such as Barracuda and Datto for email and SharePoint backup. Partnering with the likes of Barracuda and Datto means we offer the latest security features and keep up with the ever-evolving threat of cyber-attacks.