All-Encompassing Data Backup and Recovery
Data backup is imperative for any company looking to keep its data secure.
Data backup essentially makes exact copies of your files, databases, or entire computers. Backing up your data protects you if you lose everything from a cyber attack, natural disaster, or another disaster scenario.
Be Structured, a managed service provider in Los Angeles, is proud to work with Unitrends to offer superior backup software to our clients.
What is data backup?
A data backup is a copy of digital data so it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. A simple example is making a copy of emails in your inbox so you can recover them if they are accidentally deleted.
It’s important that companies have an all-encompassing strategy for their organization’s data, including information that is stored both in the cloud and on internal servers. Having a data backup plan that covers all types of information will ensure you are able to recover quickly if something happens to your organization’s files.
The key components of any successful company strategy are planning, process, structure, documentation, people and recovery.
But hoe do you choose the right data backup and recovery solutions for your business?
These have been outlined by Chief Security Officers as follows:
– Planning – Prioritizing what needs to be backed up, understanding the risks involved with each item, what backup media will be used etc.
– Process – How backups are done
– Structure – Where are the backups located
– Documentation – Information about how often things get backed up including notes for auditors
– People – Who’s responsible for doing the backups
– Recovery – Ensuring recovery procedures are in place to mitigate risks
With all of these elements in place, companies can sleep soundly knowing that their data is securely protected.
Having a systematic backup plan for your company ensures that there’s no confusion around where critical information is stored or what steps you need to take should something happen that requires restoring your organization’s files.
Additionally, it will demonstrate to auditors that proper precautions have been taken and they don’t need to worry about any issues related to compliance. Having both some in-house tech personnel in addition to an outsourced technical support team can add even an extra layer of security and tech eyeballs to keep your system safe and running smoothly.
How to determine what data needs to be backed up
The first step to data backup and recovery is to determine what data needs to be backed up, since there are different ways of backing up different types of data. For example, a company should back up their business-related data that can be used as proof if needed, such as emails and tax files.
Another type of backup for companies would consist of the technology aspect – backing up all computer programs and networking configurations. This ensures that employees will not lose valuable time trying to remember how they made certain changes and allow them to recover quickly and efficiently and protect against future ransomware attacks.
For home use: If you want to do an easy form of personal backup solution without spending any money or having to purchase extra software, simply copy your files into a new directory on your computer. This doesn’t provide any protection in case of ransomware, but it can help save you time if you accidentally delete something important.
For business use: Organizations should take extra precautions when backing up their data in case of ransomware attacks or other unforeseen events that may cause data corruption or deletion. A popular backup system is the 3-2-1 backup solution, which consists of the following components:
- 3 copies of data
- Each kept on 2 separate storage types
- With at least 1 copy being offsite
Some examples are having one copy of your files on an external hard drive or USB and another stored in the cloud such as Google Drive/Dropbox/OneDrive. This solution ensures that a company has a backup for their data in case of drive failure or physical theft.
For home use: An easy solution for backing up your personal files is to have 2 external hard drives and copy your pictures, music, documents, etc. onto both disks. This way if 1 disk fails you still have all the information backed up on the other one!
If you want to add an extra layer of protection without spending any money, simply save everything in a new directory so it’s easier to find in case something happens to the existing files!
Backing up business data
The first step in protecting a company from ransomware attacks is proper data backup and recovery procedures. Identify what needs to be backed up (which depends on the business) and set up a system to easily backup all files. Some files should be backed up daily, weekly, monthly, etc. depending on how frequently changes are made to that data or config file.
The frequency of backups also depends on the specific type of data being saved. For example, financial data needs to be backed up more often than emails because there is more money at stake with it being used for transactions every second of the day!
A good IT support company can assist in setting up critical backup strategies.
The main point is for businesses to have multiple ways of backing up their files so they are hopefully protected from any unwanted changes or loss of information whether it’s due to ransomware or a virus, natural disaster, software failure or accidental deletion/formatting of a drive.
What does a Cloud based platform do?
In today’s world, businesses and individuals store an increasing amount of data in the cloud.
Popular options for this include Google Drive/OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud or Amazon Cloud services such as S3 or Glacier. One advantage with using a cloud service is that it’s accessible from all your devices so you can share files easily when working on projects with other people.
Instead of emailing large files to each other, you can simply sync them in the cloud and access them whenever needed without wasting company time or storage space on individual devices.
The main benefit of using a popular cloud platform like this is that they usually have built-in security features such as encryption and redundancy (i.e. if one server goes down there are always others to pick up the slack so you don’t lose your data). However, the disadvantage is that they are still susceptible to ransomware attacks so companies should not rely solely on this as a backup strategy.
Businesses need to have multiple solutions for backing up their files and configuring them in such a way that it’s easy for employees to follow when disaster strikes.
It may be beneficial to start with one solution (i.e. internal hard drive) and then add on another once employees become used to doing backups regularly.
Having just one very complicated back-up system is bound to fail so instead use something simple like 3-2-1 or 2+1 until everyone gets used to having multiple ways of saving the company’s data
On-Premise vs. Cloud-Based Backup Solutions
Are Cloud based backup solutions the best available?
We offer on-premise and cloud-based backup solutions. The cloud is a collection of data centers with thousands of servers many businesses are taking advantage of. We work with CoreSite as our data center provider. The high-level security and capabilities of data centers allow businesses to access their data via the internet from anywhere in the world. On the other hand, on-premise backups are data backups that copy your hardware data to a storage device at your location.
One way to prevent data loss is through the use of cloud based backup solutions. These online storage companies will back up your data on their servers so if you lose your files, it’s easy to restore them even if the physical computer is lost or damaged.
The cost for these services vary depending on how much storage space you require and several other factors. A good place to start would be using Google Drive, which offers 15GB of free storage for each user at no charge. There are also several other providers that offer this service usually for a monthly fee.
Another downside with internet-based solutions however comes in the form of security–while it may be out of your hands as far as who can access information while it’s being stored.
Upsides include the cost, which is often less than in-house backups.
Upside: Cheaper than in-house solutions.
Downside: Security can’t be controlled. There are some internet service providers that offer secure backup of your data on their servers through an additional monthly fee.
Most of these storage companies will also store backed up files on more than one server for redundancy should anything happen to the original file or the original server it is stored on. If there are multiple redundancies built into your cloud based solution, then it’s nearly impossible to lose your data completely since you have multiple copies available online at all times.
Unitrends Backup Software
Unitrends’ all-in-one virtual backup appliance is suitable for your hardware or the cloud. Their backup software is easy to deploy, powered by simplicity, and optimized with the high-speed performance needed to protect all different kinds of environments. Starting online data backup adds instant value to your organization, and employing a solution is easy with Unitrends and Be Structured.
CoreSite Data Centers
At Be Structured, we work with CoreSite as our data center provider. Security and reliability are the foundation of all data centers built by CoreSite. By partnering with CoreSite, we can offer unmatched, highly secure cloud-based data backup solutions to our clients.
Be Prepared for Disaster
At Be Structured, our comprehensive managed IT services offering includes state-of-the-art data backup and protection services that help mitigate data loss in the event of a disaster. Our data backup services are intended to keep your pertinent information secure no matter what happens.
We employ multiple levels of security to prevent cyberattacks and malicious behavior from posing a threat to your network. Still, we make sure that if disaster does strike, it doesn’t slow business operations down. With backup services from Be Structured, you can rest assured knowing that your data is safe and secure and that you will experience minimal downtime in the case that anything does go wrong.
Don’t wait another minute to backup your important data.
To get started with managed IT services for peace of mind and security of your information, contact Be Structured.
