Have you ever thought about what is one of the worst things that could happen to your business?
Perhaps you have thought about failure to attract clientele, or for individuals to not be appealed to what you have to offer as a business. However, we all know the saying ‘knowledge is power,’ which is something that business owners and cyber criminals appreciate.
While you may think that your business’ data is only important to you, think again, as cyber criminals put their finger on a business depending on the business’ money, data and reputation. This is one of the reasons why data backup is important for your business, as you may never know when a cyber attack may happen.
Why The Right Data Backup is Critical for Your Business
A recent study done by the Australian Cyber Security Centre has revealed that 62% of all SMBs in Australia have fallen victim to cyber crime, placing cyber attacks high as one of the most dangerous threats any virtual or physical business can face.
Unfortunately, it’s no surprise as the study also revealed that nearly half of SMBs reported to spend less than $500 on cyber security per year. This lack of investment could perhaps be due to the low level of understanding that comes with cyber security, which in turn reflects on the failure to realize why backup is important for business.
It can be argued that the most dangerous cyber threat for an SMB in today’s world is ransomware, due to how quickly ransomware can strike and the complexity of the malware.
Ransomware can affect a device that can encrypt your entire network in the blink of an eye, leaving you locked out of your own network and without any access to any files that may be found on your computer. The only solution cyber criminals give you is to make a ransom payment in exchange for giving you access to your files and network again.
Once a ransom payment has been made, it’s rather difficult to track down a cyber criminal, as the deposits are always asked to be made in Bitcoin or other types of cryptocurrency. Cyber criminals are aware that most people are not knowledgeable enough to understand that paying for ransom for a cyber crime is not as easy to track as a bank transaction is.
Business owners frequently hurry to make a payment to get their business back online without realising that once the payment is made, there is little they can do to track down a cyber criminal.
Failing to backup your data is not only a matter of ensuring the success of your day-to-day operations, but it could also put you out of business. A study held by Small Business Computing reports that from all businesses in the US, 60 percent fail to run daily backups, with many failing to run backups at all.
These statistics are further backed up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the U.S., which states that businesses should only be worried about ransomware, but of natural disasters as well.
If a business happens to be affected by a natural disaster, FEMA statistics show that 40 percent of businesses fail to open after suffering from damage caused by a natural disaster, with 25 percent failing within a year of a disaster.
The United States Small Business Administration also confirms that sadly, 90 percent of businesses fail within two years of suffering a disaster of any type.
In the event that you happen to fall victim to ransomware, or even a natural disaster event, it will be much easier to deal with the situation at hand and contact the authorities if your data is safely backed up and can be put to use as soon as it is needed.
So, what is the best solution for business data backup? Let’s take a look.
The Best Data Backup Solution Is Not a Product – It’s a Strategy!
Although there are software programs, or services such as Kaesim Cybersecurity, that can be used to protect your business from malware, data backup solutions are not something that can just be done or acquired by making a purchase.
This is something that requires methodical strategy. Here are some of the best solutions for business data backup.
- Cloud Backups: Perhaps the most basic form of doing a data backup, cloud backups help you to ensure you can protect your data and also restore it in a different device. However, even data that is backed up online can be hacked, which is why this is considered to be just a basic form of data backup. It is considered to be basic, because it will aid in the case of device damage or failure, but it will not be much help in terms of a cyber attack.
- Cybersecurity Support: Once your network has been hacked and you have lost access to your files, there is nothing you can do. This is the smartest way to deal with ransomware, as no one will know how to protect you better than a team of professionals in cybersecurity. Unlike an IT team, cybersecurity agencies are prepared to act while facing a threat and know exactly how to help your business cope with data loss and aid in the process of restoring your system. The advantage of working with a cybersecurity team is that they offer support 24/7, as they have to be alert about any security mishaps. However, the cybersecurity agency will need to have a previous data backup in order to salvage any of your business data.
- The 3:2:1 Strategy: This strategy is noted as one of the best and most effective roads to data backups. The reason behind this strategy’s success is that it involves three strategic backups that are stored in two different locations. Oftentimes businesses choose to keep one of the backups on site, with the other two additional backups being found on the cloud, or other locations. The important part of this strategy is keeping one of the backups strictly offline, as any type of malware that may affect your devices will contaminate any backups found online. The physical aspect of one of the backups in this strategy are what makes it the best solution for business data backup.
The Cost of Failing to Run Regular Backups
According to a study done by EMC Corporation, where 3,300 IT company decision makers were surveyed from twenty-four different countries, lost data as a result of cyber attacks has increased by 400% in the last two years, demonstrating why data backup is important for your business.
This increase in data backup loss has cost businesses a total of $1.7 trillion worldwide in the past year alone. Not only did the survey help to collect data regarding the probability of cyber attacks on real businesses, but it also helped to understand the readiness businesses presented in terms of cyber attack reaction.
The survey revealed that 71% of those who were surveyed stated they did not feel fully confident in their abilities to back up their business data accordingly.
Preparing for Data Loss
Whether data loss happens in the form of device failure, a cyber attack or damage from a natural disaster, it’s important to be prepared with a team of professionals who will help you to react proactively and accordingly to the situation at hand.
If you’re not sure how to go about data backup for your business, reach out to Kaesim Cybersecurity, and get some advice from some of the best professionals in the industry, who will guide you to choose the right data backup strategy and will help you to implement or reinforce other cybersecurity measures.
