Data is an essential facet of running a business, whether it’s a small, medium, or large enterprise. Losing the critical data of your company can cost you a lot, not just money. Moreover, if you rely on cloud platforms like Office 365 or Microsoft 365, your data is prone to cyberattacks or ransomware attacks. That’s why it’s vital to back up your data continuously to avoid any disaster.
Data backup is the process of creating storing copies of files, which later can be used to protect your organization against data loss. Data backup is also referred to as operational recovery, as the backup file is used to restore the lost data.
Facts about Data Loss and Cyberattacks
Many facts about data loss and cyberattacks show why it is crucial to back up your data timely.
Around 4,000 major ransomware attacks have happened across the world since 2016
Ransomware victims paid more than $24 million to get their data back in 2015
More than 50% of businesses become a victim of cyberattacks or data breaches, which affects brand reputation, customer loyalty, and customer trust
SMEs are the primary targets of ransomware, which doesn’t take preventive measures to secure the data
Around 29% of businesses lost their revenue, and 40% of companies lost more than 20% of total revenues
Possibility of loss of business opportunities due to data loss or data breaches
Losing crucial data for an enterprise can be devastating, impacting a company’s overall image and income. Thus, having a backup for critical data is vital to protect that reputation and keep up the business operations.
Importance of Data Backup
Let’s look at some essential aspects that will show why it is crucial to back up data in an organization.
Protects your Business Data
The success and growth of a company largely depend on the essential data pertaining to daily operations. Database backup helps you avoid data loss issues after disasters and ransomware attacks, provided you the data in a place where the malware couldn’t enter. It helps restore data devices during disaster recovery. So, the value of data stored in your computers makes it crucial to back it up.
Adds an Extra Layer of Protection
Backup adds extra protection to your data files and saves you from disasters. For instance, online backup systems like cloud backup is a precaution against catastrophes like natural disasters. With cloud storage, you get multiple features like automated data backup and comprehensive file management to improve storage and backup without manual efforts.
Security Measures doesn’t Work Always
Most businesses often take a proactive approach towards cybersecurity by adding network security solutions, robust firewall configurations, patch management tools, penetration testing, etc. But, these preventive measures don’t always work appropriately for mitigating data loss. For example, most SMBs are not able to take advanced security measures. A report by Nationwide Insurance shows that 68% SMBs don’t have a disaster recovery plan. Thus, creating a backup is an alternative option to advanced security measures, and it doesn’t even cost anything.
Cybercrimes are Evolving with Technology
Due to digital transformation, the frequency of cyberattacks has increased in the past few years. At present, businesses are generating enormous data for every activity, from lead generation to customer conversion, and cybercriminals are always ready to take over this data.A CNN report shows that the average small business lost around $1 million in 2017 due to ransomware attacks. This shows how cybercrimes and ransomware attacks are spreading over time. Ransomware is just a small thing in cybercrime; malware, supply chain attacks, DDoS attacks, zero-day exploits, and data breaches are more significant threats than them for any organization. These cyberattacks target sensitive business information stored in the cloud or on-premises infrastructure.
Additional Backup for Cloud Computing
If you’re using any cloud platform to store and access your data, it needs additional security to protect that data. Most businesses have moved their operations from an on-premises environment to the cloud platform to save money and reduce management efforts. But moving to the cloud doesn’t lessen the chances of data being lost or stolen. There are higher chances of cyberattacks on the cloud. Thus, it will help if you have additional protection from third-party solutions to protect your data.
Insider Threats to the Data
It’s not necessary that only an outsider will steal your data. In some cases, employees are found to be the culprit who poses a threat to their company. And for an insider, it’s easier to steal or erase business-critical information without proper security protocols. According to cybersecurity professionals, regular employees pose the biggest security threat to their organizations with excessive access privileges. This also makes it crucial to back up your data regularly.
Customer Protection
If you’re in a business dealing with customer’s information and data, it is more crucial to secure that data than your business. A company runs on a customer’s trust, and losing critical data will completely destroy their trust. Moreover, you’ll be held responsible for losing your customer’s data and might end up paying a colossal reimbursement. Therefore, securing customer’s data with a backup file is more crucial than anything.
Quick and Easy Restoration
With a backup file, it’s easier to restore data to its original destination. Your data is essential for your business, and specific circumstances like power surges, virus attacks, and malfunctions can affect it. So, you should always have a backup to restore the information quickly to its original destination.
Every business should prepare itself in advance for disaster by backing up its critical information and recovering it with ease whenever necessary. However, it’s not always easy to backup data manually, especially if you use multiple platforms for communication, emailing, or sharing files. You need an automated backup solution that can quickly backup your data from the respective platforms.
For instance, Kernel Backup Suite is an advanced utility designed to back up your Exchange, Office 365, Microsoft 365, Lotus Notes, Outlook, Amazon Work Mail, and SharePoint data. It is capable of creating a backup for all popular email servers, clients, and services. It even allows you to select the specific data that you want to recover. With Kernel Backup Suite, you can create a data backup in multiple file formats. It acts as a one-stop resolution for all your backup requirements.
Wrap Up
Creating a backup for business-critical information is necessary to avoid any hurdles in restoring data after cyberattacks like ransomware. With a backup file, you always stay one step ahead of the threats, malware, or cybercriminals who are planning to steal your data. In this article, we discussed why data backup is crucial for every small, medium, or large enterprise. Moreover, we also covered an alternative solution to backup data from multiple platforms.
