With March 31 being World Backup Day, now more than ever, it’s crucial to remind ourselves and to emphasize the importance of protecting your data through proactive measures.

The role that data plays in our lives can’t be understated, as it is estimated that we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per day! This number is only slated to increase as businesses continue to innovate and adopt new technological advancements via applications, communications methods, smart devices and more.

As exciting as it is to have the capabilities to create and access large amounts of data, manipulate it, analyze and leverage it in a multitude of ways, World Backup Day is here to remind us that we should equally invest as much time and resources in practicing effective means of preserving and storing it.

So, What Exactly is a Backup?

First and foremost, it’s important to understand what a backup is. You’ve probably heard that term plenty of times and figured it was something important, and it is! In layman’s terms: a backup is a copy of all your important files that is stored in more than one safe place.

With a backup strategy you would be able to easily access and retrieve any important files that may have been either stolen, deleted, or corrupted, and in this case, you would have multiple versions handy.

Organizations should consistently assess their existing data management systems and processes to determine what is best for securing their information. Although backups are a key element in data security, it is only one step in what can be a much larger disaster recovery plan. With disaster recovery, the mission here is to regain access to your IT infrastructure that could affect your team’s ability to work. In an age of remote working this infrastructure failure would be a huge problem.

Data Protection isn’t Just Important, but Mandatory For Your Businesses

According to Netwrix Research, human error accounts for 50% of data loss within organizations, making it the number one reason organizations lose data. This may not come as much of a surprise considering the amount of accidents that can happen while working on devices such as equipment damage or information deletion. Think about how many times you’ve dropped your phone or spilled a cup of coffee on your laptop.

Businesses must constantly monitor their processes and prioritize the prevention of data issues as opposed to being reactionary to a potentially costly and timely issue.

According to an Identity Theft Resource Center report, there has been a 17% increase in data breaches from 2020 to 2021.These breaches take nearly 6 months on average to get detected and can cost businesses into the millions of dollars to fix, depending on the severity. Imagine how much information can get stolen or lost during this time!

Methods of Backing Up Your Data

There are several methods of backing up your business’ data, but we’ll discuss the most popular.

• The most common method employed is the use of an external hard drive.

  An external hard drive is an excellent method for storing data in a secondary location, however there are some concerns involved. One of the biggest is since you’re dealing with a hard drive, there again is the opportunity for human error, i.e. loss, damage, and theft. Also, if drives aren’t properly taken care of, there is the potential for damage such as when plugging and unplugging the USB.

• One of the best methods for data protection is the 3-2-1 rule.

  The 3-2-1 rule states the following: 3) copies or versions of data, stored in 2) different pieces of media, with 1) of those being off-site. This rule provides the most comprehensive method for protecting your organization’s most sensitive and important data.

Does your company need support and guidance for its next backup or disaster recovery plan? Feel free to reach out to us at info@rushtechsolutions.com We would be delighted to serve you and answer any questions you may have so we can help protect your data. You can also visit our website to learn more!