Data security is a top priority for any business. It not only helps to prevent data loss, but it also acts as an extra layer of defence between your company and cyber criminals who may be looking to steal information from you. The recent increase in cybercrime has prompted many businesses to examine their data loss prevention practices more closely. This is due to increased awareness of the consequences of cybercrime, as well as the numerous news articles that appear on a daily basis about a company being attacked by cybercriminals and the financial losses they suffer. To avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime and suffering data and financial loss, it is essential that you back up your data and have a disaster recovery plan in place.

A secure backup plan will assist in protecting your valuable information and ensuring that all of your most recent documents and data are always backed up. This will give you peace of mind that your business will not suffer from interruptions or downtimes in order to remain productive and efficient. This blog discusses the importance of data backup as well as best practices you can use to improve your data security.

Importance of data backup:

• Data security: One of the primary reasons for backing up your data is the security and peace of mind it provides. Whether your computer fails or you lose all of your important files due to a hard drive failure, you can quickly recover your data. It also aids in the prevention of data loss. You can easily recover data that you accidentally deleted or that another staff member deleted, which means that even if you delete the file, you'll have peace of mind knowing that it isn't lost forever.
• Save time: If a file is lost for good and you have no backup plans in place, you'll have to recreate the documents. This not only wastes time but also severely reduces the productivity of your company. You'll waste time and resources while adding to your workload. With a reliable backup plan, you can avoid this problem entirely, which means you won't have to waste time or resources on time-consuming tasks that could easily be avoided.
• Save money: Many businesses that have experienced cyberattacks in recent years have suffered financial losses. Whether it's due to hackers gaining access to their financial information or legal consequences from losing customers' sensitive information. Being prepared for financial losses is the key to avoiding them. Regularly backing up your data and implementing security measures can help you stay protected and avoid these losses.
• Protection against physical disasters: While cybercrime is a serious threat to businesses and their data, it is not the only way to lose data. Physical disasters, such as fires and floods, occur more frequently than you may realise and can completely wipe out your data, making data recovery impossible. That is why it is critical to ensure that your data is backed up in multiple locations, so that even if one of your devices is damaged or destroyed, your files are not lost forever. Having online backups, such as cloud storage, ensures that your data can be restored on any device, allowing you to continue working normally.It is also important to have a comprehensive data backup strategy in place to ensure you’re prepared for these physical disasters and that you know the steps to take if the worst was to occur.
• GDPR and legislation compliance: Adhering to GDPR and other legislation's data backup rules is an essential part of your data backup strategy. These regulations are intended to protect and safeguard individuals' personal data while also ensuring that your company handles their data correctly. Failure to follow these regulations can result in legal issues and fines, as well as a ruined business reputation and financial losses.

Best practices for your data backup:

Regular backups:

When it comes to data backup, regular backups will be your bread and butter. This is the first step in implementing a backup strategy and will serve as the foundation for your data security. Regular backups ensure that your data is consistently protected and allow you to quickly restore the most recent backup if the worst happens. We recommend daily backups to ensure your data is always up to date and gives you complete peace of mind. This ensures that you lose as little data as possible, resulting in as little downtime as possible and no slowdown.

These regular backups will also help to protect against viruses and malware because you will be able to restore the most recent backup before the threats affect your important files, devices, and business.

The 3-2-1 rule:

The 3-2-1 rule simplifies the process of backing up your data and provides a reliable system to ensure your data is backup robustly. The process involves keeping three copies of your data in different locations to ensure that you are covered in the event of a disaster. The method includes:

• Three copies of your data: Like we mentioned above you’ll first want to have 3 copies of your data.
• Two media storage locations: The second step is to store these 3 copies in two separate types of media storage locations. This could be for example your PC, server, NAS, Hard drive, etc.
• One off-site backup: The last step is to have at least 1 copy at an off-site location to maximise the security of your data and ensure that your data is protected from any physical disasters.

Have a disaster recovery plan in place:

You can never be too prepared, no matter how strong your backup strategy is. There are always unforeseen circumstances that can occur at any time. A disaster recovery plan will provide you with an additional layer of security while allowing you to get your business back up and running in no time. These plans are intended to provide insurance for your company while allowing you to focus on your company and its goals.

Automate your data backups:

With human error accounting for 95% of cybersecurity breaches, leaving your backups to manual processes can be detrimental for your business. It not only puts your data at risk, but it can also be extremely time consuming because you'll have to spend 40-50 minutes backing up all of your business data and then double-checking whether the data has been backed up or not. It also eliminates the risks associated with manual data backup, such as forgetting to backup your data, and is extremely dependable and consistent.

Encrypt your data:

Encrypting your data can take your data backup strategy to the next level. It will also help to improve your overall security and ensure that your sensitive data is always protected. If your data falls into the wrong hands, it won't be able to be accessed, making it essentially useless to criminals looking for your sensitive information. It also allows you to send and transfer files without the fear of losing your data.

Protecting your data with Edmondson’s IT Services:

At Edmondson’s IT Services we help to protect businesses across West Yorkshire and the UK with our secure data backups. We understand that a reliable and secure data backup solution is one of the first things every business needs. We monitor all of our clients’ backups to make sure that they are stored properly. In addition, we also develop a full disaster recovery plan for your business and can schedule backup tests to suit your business needs. Backup your data today and secure your most important information.