The most important step you can take to proactively protect your business is backing up your files. Before securing your network, before improving password security, before user education, if you don’t currently have a backup, take one now! Don’t even finish reading this update.
Got that done? Great! Now, there are best practices to doing backups right. Here is why your data protection should automated, tested, off-site, and versioned.
Automated Backup
The best of intentions are not enough to guarantee that your backups will always be current. We all get busy, priorities change, distractions come. An automated backup/restore process will ensure you have all your data, including the most recent.
Tested Restore
If you are already taking backups, that’s great! But when was the last time you tried to recover a file or folder? Don’t take the chance that only when you really need it will you discover that your backups are no good, or incomplete. Do test restores on a regular basis to be sure the data will be there when you need it. Restore tests should also be automated for the reasons given above.
Off-site Storage
Any backup is slightly better than none, but, as with any insurance policy, you need to plan for the worst. If a fire or storm takes out your entire office, or thieves come and clean you out, any backup kept at your office will be gone right along with the originals. To avoid irrecoverable loss, your data needs to exist in two places separated by a distance.
Versioned Backup
The rise of crypto malware makes even these precautions insufficient. If your PCs get encrypted, then what you will be backing up is encrypted files. Unless you keep old versions of your backups, your most recent backup could overwrite good data with bad and destroy your chance for recovery. Versioning, if sufficiently deep, will allow you to go back to a point in time before the encryption.
ComputAssist’s Proactive Data Protection includes all these features and more. Contact me now to see how easy it is to know that your business information is secure.