By Patrick Logan, President of Seltek
The need to have a secure data backup has never been more critical to businesses, especially for smaller, more vulnerable organizations. Data can be compromised in many ways including cyber-attacks, accidental loss or deletion, bugs, security breaches, or hardware failures. We advise taking every step possible to keep your company and client data secure. A backup is not just hardware; it is a business’s strategy based on the organization’s unique storage and access needs. Backup is essential to disaster recovery and business continuity plans in the event of technology or natural disasters. Backup should be a company’s top priority.
3-2-1 STRATEGY
An effective data back-up strategy to apply is the 3-2-1 strategy. This simply means that you should have three copies of your data. This data backup strategy is a large part of business continuity and data accessibility.
- Store two copies onsite on different storage media.
- The third copy should be stored offsite.
There are different types of backups such as image-level and file- level backup. Exploring which solution works for your business should be a part of backup planning. Is this enough? The answer is no! Realizing the value and sensitivity of your data is important. Investing in data protection and backup is essential. But what good are these steps if it does not work? Backup testing is a crucial part of the process. Automate your testing procedures and test often.
DATA LOSS CAN COST YOUR BUSINESS MONEY AND CUSTOMERS
Here are some reasons why it is important for a small business to back up their data.
- Over 20 percent of businesses that experience data loss or suffer a cyber-attack lose customers. And, 40 percent of those companies lose more than 20% of their customers.
- More than 50% of all businesses that are victims of a cyber-attack or data breach are subsequently subject to public scrutiny and suffer losses in brand reputation, customer loyalty, and customer trust.
- 29 percent of businesses that are victims of attacks lose revenue, and nearly 40 percent of those businesses lose more than 20 percent of total revenues.
- Among companies that suffer attacks or breaches, nearly a 25% of them lose significant business opportunities following the data-loss event.
Failure to protect data has major implications, but your business and reputation will survive if your data is intact and accessible. Make sure you work with a team that can help you prevent the worst from happening. Seltek is here to help; book a call with us on our calendar.
