Are you assuming your data is safe in the cloud? Despite what you may have been led to believe, a robust and diversified backup plan is the best way to keep your data totally secure.
If your data is stored in the cloud, do you think another type of backup is necessary?
It’s a good question. Most people assume that by the nature of the cloud, any data stored therein is safe from harm.
Unfortunately, that’s not the reality…
Data loss can happen without notice.
Many businesses assume they’ll be fine without a robust data backup. Whether they think they’re too small to be a target for cybercriminals, or they believe that since they’ve never lost data before, they never will, the end result is always the same—data loss.
Consider the facts:
Hard drives fail every day for a variety of reasons. While some failures occur simply because the hardware becomes worn out, others fail prematurely due to external factors like:
Every day we create, update, save and delete files; it's just part of our everyday business life. It's no wonder that sometimes, we delete files or overwrite files by accident. It’s just the cost of doing business.
There are new viruses that pop up every day that put your data at risk. While being connected to the Internet has its benefits, it also comes with a number of risks that just have to be accepted—malware, viruses, phishing, etc.
The fact is that mother nature doesn't care if you backed up your work or not. A server room flood, vital infrastructure being knocked out by winds, and even worse during a major weather event can quickly erase both local and offsite data reserves if your backups aren't far enough away from your offices.
Data loss is often the result of poor digital security; without the right defenses, cybercriminals can easily infect an IT system with ransomware or other types of malware and compromise company data.
Ransomware is likely today's biggest threat to cybersecurity. You hear about it everywhere, along with a range of possible solutions, most of which are defensive ways to keep the intruders out before they encrypt your files and send you the ransom note.
According to the Cloud Security Firm RedLock and its Cloud Security Trends report, more than 50% of businesses that use cloud services like Amason Simple Storage Service (S3) have unintentionally exposed at least one of these services to the public.
This growing trend of unsecured cloud configurations is due to businesses neglecting known vulnerabilities in the cloud, or failing to properly assess their cloud environment to discover unseen security risks.
These researchers found that:
It’s important to understand that just because you’re using a cloud platform doesn’t mean your data is actually backed up according to industry standards.
Take Microsoft 365, for example. Do you know if your Microsoft 365 data is backed up? All of it?
Your first thought is probably, "yes, of course it is"… but you need to be sure. If you haven’t checked, then it may not be backed up as comprehensively as you’d like.
Here’s the key consideration: whereas Microsoft 365 offers “geo-redundancy”, this is not the same thing as a data backup. Geo redundancy ensures your data is protected against system failure. For example, if a component of the infrastructure crashes, you and your team can maintain access to your Microsoft 365 data.
Backups, on the other hand, are a historical copy of data that is stored in a separate location. This ensures that, in the event that your local data is deleted, encrypted by malware, or otherwise affected, you can recover your data from the secondary location.
The bottom line is that Microsoft 365 does the former and not the latter. That’s why, without arranging for a third-party data backup, you could be unknowingly exposing yourself to a number of unnecessary risks…
There are three primary types of backup solutions, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages:
| BACKUP TYPE | PROS | CONS |
|---|---|---|
| LOCAL | Immediate access to data | Vulnerable to ransomware |
| CLOUD | Secure from local threats | Large datasets require extensive bandwidth |
| HYBRID | System-wide capabilities, secure from local threats |
The fact is that a hybrid approach is the best way to properly and comprehensively protect your data. While there are online-only options that will keep you covered, you need to be sure they offer the full extent of backup capabilities you need, and that you have the necessary bandwidth to make use of them.
Do you know how to select a viable data backup solution?
Due to the benefits it provides, the adoption of cloud computing solutions is anticipated to accelerate in the coming years.
It's important to identify which applications and services should be migrated to the cloud. Migration isn't always easy and should be managed by an IT professional that is experienced in cloud migration services. Furthermore, to fully benefit from cloud computing, organizations should develop a strategy that complements their operational goals.
Need expert assistance getting started?
N-Tech Consulting will manage your cloud backup for you, ensuring you always have access to a recent copy of your data, no matter what happens.
Get in touch with the N-Tech Consulting team to talk about cloud-based backup.
