We all know how important it is to backup your data. It’s a “no brainer”.
However, we see improper backups every week. It is concerning.
Here are four simple questions you should ask your team to determine if you are properly backed up:
- Is your data backed up?
- Is your data stored securely offsite?
- Is your data protected from ransomware?
- If we have to go to a backup, how much data (time and money) do we lose?
Now, let’s look at each of these a little bit closer.
1.- Is your data backed up?
As silly as this question seems, it is often answered with “NO”. The problem with backups is that you typically do not care about them until you need them. It is an unfortunate mindset, but it makes sense. As a business owner, you have better things to do with your time than constantly worry about your backup.
Fortunately, it is an easy one to determine. Simply ask your IT staff to send you a report on your backups for the last month and have them explain the success of those backups. Keep in mind that you might want to archive certain periods of data for historical purposes. Discuss this with your IT staff.
If you do not have IT Staff, give us a call (306) 361-6787 and we will help you out.
2.- Is our data stored securely offsite?
Offsite data storage is a must-have in 2021. Ransomware and other malicious attacks on your data are rampant and it is only a matter of time before your data falls victim.
You might answer “YES” because you are manually taking a storage device home nightly and swapping it out on a daily basis. Although this will work, it has been proven to be unreliable and you data could be at risk in this scenario.
A much better solution (and well worth the cost) is to have you backups sent to a secure offsite data center. The software available today makes this process painless and it will ensure that your offsite backup is both reliable and safe.
3.- Is your data protected from ransomware?
Ransomware is becoming more and more of a threat as hackers become more advanced and technology becomes more embedded into day-to-day business.
A reliable data center will have measures in place to protect your data from ransomware. For example, they will put encrypted copies of your data onto isolated storage mediums such as tape (you read that right … tape!).
Give us a shout if you feel you need some advice in this area. We can quickly help you with some options on a short call (306) 361-6787.
4.- If we have to go to a backup, how much data (time and money) do we lose?
Aside from having a backup, this might be the most important question you can find the answer to.
Depending on the volume of data your organization processes in a day, this timeframe could drastically change.
An organization with 3 people might be okay with losing a day of work. However, an organization with 100 people might not want to lose more than 15 minutes.
Again, give us a call (306) 361-6787 if you are uncertain about this.
All the best in 2021!
– The Complete Team
phone: (306) 361-6787
email: helpdesk@completetech.ca