Conducting regular backups of your data is one of the most important things you can do to protect against virus attacks, human errors, and hardware failures. As a business, you need to automate your backups and follow proper backup rules on an organizational level.
While an estimated 1 in 10 computers is infected with viruses each month, 30% of people have never backed up their data. As a business, forgetting to back up your data can lead to business continuity issues, decreased productivity, lost revenue, and damaged reputations. Through the 3-2-1 backup rule, you can protect your company's bottom line and prevent your organization from losing its data.
What is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule?
The 3-2-1 backup rule is a general guideline for how you should store your data safely. It recommends the number of data copies you should have, the kinds of media you should save it to, and how many offsite backup files you should get.
With this backup rule, you should always use the following three steps.
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You should make one primary backup. Then, you should create two additional copies. If something happens to your primary backup, you need to be certain there are other copies you can replace your data with.
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You should save your backups to two or more media types. If something knocks cloud storage offline or affects the cloud storage site, a portable hard drive can protect your data. Likewise, cloud storage can prevent data loss if your hard drive, USB drive, or other storage device is physically compromised.
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You need to store at least one of your backups offsite. This prevents data from being lost during a natural disaster, fire, or similar event.
Data loss can happen because of software corruption, theft, human error, or a ransomware attack. You may unintentionally lose data during a database migration. Additionally, hurricanes, tornados, fires, and other natural disasters can lead to lost data.
The point of the 3-2-1 backup rule is to prevent this kind of data loss from happening. It's different from other types of cybersecurity insurance because it's entirely in your control. Instead of compensating you for your financial losses and helping you recover from a disaster, this rule allows you to keep all of your data in the event of an unexpected mishap.
Does your business meet the backup rule? If not, you need to make some changes. You also need to see if your company has a plan in place for responding to cyberattacks.
Your disaster recovery strategy should help you get your business-critical systems back online after a cyberattack occurs. Through the 3-2-1 rule, your business can have an easier recovery process after a major event.
Negative Effects of Business Data Loss
Unfortunately, many businesses don't plan out a disaster recovery strategy until it is too late. If you don't have a backup method in place already, your company could suffer from some of the following negative impacts.
Lost Customer Information
With a normal data breach, you have to worry about hackers accessing your customers' and vendors' information. You may be exposed to liability issues if you store financial information for your clients.
When data isn't backed up properly, it isn't just the security of your customers' information at risk. If you don't have the information stored anywhere else, you could lose all of the leads, client records, correspondence, and sales history you've built up over the years. In a worst-case scenario, your company would essentially have to start building a client list from scratch.
Reputational Damage
A data breach or ransomware attack is unlikely to remain a secret. After a 2013 breach involving 40 million stolen credit and debit card details, Target's brand and reputation took a major hit. Ultimately, the organization had to pay out $18.5 million in a settlement as well.
Lost Customer Loyalty
Your customers won't be interested in giving you financial data and personal information following a breach. After all, how could they trust you to protect their data again? If your clients have other options available, they'll start looking into them after a data loss incident.
Disrupted Productivity
Your employees need the right tools in order to do their jobs. After you lose your data, it can take hours or days to recover lost files. During this time, you will suffer from staff downtime.
Lost Revenue
If your employees can't work, your company will hemorrhage money. You'll also lose money from all the leads and potential customers who won't want to work with you because of lost data. Instead of just losing revenue, your company could end up going bankrupt if you are unable to get your company up and running within a few hours.
Best Practices for Your Business Data Backup Strategy
Instead of waiting for the inevitable, it is always better to plan ahead for a data breach, hardware failure, or other data loss. In 2022, IBM estimated a typical data breach cost companies $4.24 million. During the previous year, 5.9 billion accounts were affected.
No matter how good your defenses are, a hacker will eventually target your business. If you are lucky enough to escape a ransomware or malware attack, your company could still suffer from an earthquake, hurricane, or another natural event. You can't stop every bad event from happening, so finding safe, effective ways to back up your data is essential.
Other than using the 3-2-1 backup rule, there are a few different ways you can keep your company protected. The following strategies should be used to protect your company from data breaches and other unwanted events.
Back-Up Data on a Regular Basis
One of the most important things you can do to protect your company's data is to back it up regularly. At the very minimum, you should back up your data weekly. Ideally, it would be best if you were backing up your data once a day.
If you suffer from a data loss, you won't be able to recover any data you created since the last backup occurred. Because of this, you should back up your data frequently enough that you aren't severely inconvenienced if a data loss occurs.
Fortunately, backups don't have to be complicated. While you can always perform them manually, you can also set them to occur automatically at set intervals.
Stop Inbound Internet Access Incident Management Expenses
The entire point of a backup is to keep your data safe. Even when following the safest internet practices, there's still a possibility that data can be accessed. If your backup device is connected to the internet, it could be infected with malware.
Backup devices should be designed to transmit data to the cloud, but they shouldn't accept inbound communications.
With this kind of device, you should use a LAN environment. Outbound communications should also be limited so your device is as protected as possible.
Likewise, you should separate your backups from your company's network. If your other machines are hit by ransomware or malware, your backup will also be affected if it is connected to the network. A backup is the only way to get your data back following a major ransomware attack, so you need to keep them from becoming infected with malware.
Encrypt Your Backup Data
Another best practice is to encrypt your data. Encrypting your backup gives it an extra layer of security against theft. Even if hackers or cyber criminals manage to access your backup, they won't be able to access the information.
Encryption is necessary for all businesses, but it is especially important if you work in healthcare and must follow HIPAA guidelines about patient data. For the best level of security, your backup should be protected while it is at rest and during transit. Ideally, you should use AES 256 or SSL key-based encryption because both of these encryption types are believed to be unbreakable.
Hire a Reputable Cybersecurity Team
You built your business and reputation by excelling in your industry. Unless you happen to work in cybersecurity, knowing how to perform backups, install cybersecurity software, and prevent ransomware attacks are probably not activities you are used to. You wouldn't perform a root canal without going to a dental expert, so don't manage your cybersecurity without the help of a cybersecurity expert.
Hiring a cybersecurity team can get the backup support you need. You can also get a personalized backup and disaster recovery strategy, so your company can keep operating during challenging conditions. Additionally, your cybersecurity team can help you prevent, investigate, and remedy cybercrimes.
Follow the 3-2-1 Backup Rule & Other Strategies for Business Security
The 3-2-1 backup rule can help your company operate after a major data loss. With this backup rule, you have to make one primary backup and two copies using two or more kinds of media. In addition, at least one of your backups must be located offsite.
If you need assistance with backups and disaster recovery, we can help. For more information about how our team's managed IT services can help your business, reach out to Makios today!
References: USGS,
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