Data loss is one of the most painful problems for a company, especially in this day and age when all information is stored electronically. Such an incident entails a chain of troubles, such as stopping business processes for an indefinite period of time, disruption of supplies, payments, incorrectness of any reporting, and may even lead to significant losses and affect the company’s reputation. It’s good when it’s a problem that can be solved quickly, but usually it still leads to complex problems. The only solution for such a problem is a backup copy (Backup) of data (documents, applications, databases, virtual machines, servers, workplaces, settings, etc.). It should not be confused with data archiving, as these are significantly different things.
There are only two ways to backup:
- manual, where the required files are selected, copied, and sent to another medium. You need to perform a backup with the date and time of creating the copy.
- automatic, where special software automates the backup process.
If the user decides to create backup copies manually, over time, it is guaranteed to lead to a decrease in the regularity of such operations and ultimately to the loss of data at the most inconvenient moment, when the last backup was made a long time ago.
The best solution is BackUP according to the 3-2-1 scheme
Our specialists implement backup according to the 3-2-1 scheme. This approach ensures fast and maximally guaranteed data recovery, and minimizes risks for the enterprise’s business processes. 3-2-1 means that there should be 3 copies of the data at the same time, two of which should be located outside the data environment, and one of these copies should be outside the IT infrastructure of the enterprise and be disaster-resistant. Of course, having so many copies of information, and especially an off-premises copy, can pose a risk of information leakage, so we encrypt all backups with strong algorithms, such as AES256, and do so until the backups are moved off-premises.
The plan is the foundation of a quality result
For high-quality backup, it is necessary to develop a backup plan, in which the data that needs to be saved, the volume of data, the source of data, and the frequency of backups are specified. This plan should be updated in conjunction with any changes that occur in the information system or data model in use.
Periodic testing of reserved data.
It is quite common to hear about failed attempts to restore data from backup copies, when it appears that the backup copies exist, but the data cannot be restored from them. Such an unfortunate moment can happen if you do not take care of data storage locations and do not periodically test data recovery. We definitely include this in the BP (backup plan) and the test plan.
Backup recovery plan
In June 2017, many enterprises in Ukraine and around the world faced the complete loss of part of their IT infrastructure and services due to the unprecedented NotPetya attack. In such cases, it is important to have a recovery plan for each block of data from the backup. Having a recovery plan allows you to minimize downtime as much as possible. By the way, none of our clients had to use backup recovery plans after the notPetya attack on June 27, 2017, because the echelon protection built by our specialists was able to withstand and protect enterprises from notPetya, WannaCry, and other similar attacks by preventing them from entering the protected perimeter of the infrastructure.
Development of backup plans, testing and recovery
Individual backup plans, testing of backup copies and recovery of data from backup copies must be developed for all customers of the subscriber service. At the same time, we understand the importance of backup for any enterprise, so our specialists also develop and implement individual plans for individual orders. We prepare and provide solutions for safe storage and guaranteed recovery of data for both small and medium-sized organisations and large companies. Data loss will no longer threaten your business like the Sword of Damocles. Another important point to consider is that if a company loses important information, such as accounting databases, ERP systems, or documents, the blame cannot be placed on accountants or other users. Only those responsible for developing and implementing the backup, test, and recovery plans can be held accountable for such an incident.