How much data do you think your business stores? How much of that data does your business need to operate? Regardless of your answers to these questions, one thing is for certain: you need to take action to ensure your business’ data is never put in harm’s way needlessly. It should be able to survive in the face of great adversity, whether it’s from a fire, weather incident, cyberattack, or simple user error.

Today, we’re covering how your business can guarantee its data is backed up and safe from all manner of threats.

Your Data Backup Medium Matters

It’s not enough to simply have a data backup, and it’s not safe for you to take the cheap route and go for something simple that “just works.” If you think an encrypted hard drive is good enough for data backup, think again. A major threat like ransomware could lock down your hard drive in addition to your infrastructure, thereby rendering your data backup useless.

It’s this reason why we recommend the 3-2-1 rule for data backups.

The Industry Standard: The 3-2-1 Backup Rule

In essence, the 3-2-1 rule helps you determine whether or not your data backup solution is capable of surviving the worst types of attacks—in other words, the ones that could put an end to your business for good. Here are the rules:

At least three copies of your data exist at all times: one operational version and at least two backups.

The point here is redundancy, which allows you to get around problems like hardware troubles and ransomware. You want to have spare copies that you can rely on in your darkest hour.

Your data is stored in at least two media formats.

Again, we’re aiming for redundancy here, so keep your backups in separate systems. You might keep your operational data in your office server and a data backup in a cloud solution for easy access when it’s needed.

At least one copy of your backup is stored offsite.

The cloud is a great way to store your data offsite, away from threats that could target your infrastructure. It’s easy to restore a backup from the cloud, and you can do so wherever your business will operate, whether that’s your primary office or a temporary one.

Make Sure You Follow This Rule

While you could set these backup strategies in place and forget about them, you shouldn’t. You want to test them frequently to ensure they still work, especially if you are automating the process. Make sure you’re receiving notifications if and when the data backup process fails so you are aware of it and can take action appropriately.

If you don’t want this responsibility… Let’s talk.

Guaranteed Data Backup Today

Your business shouldn’t gamble on its data infrastructure, and with First Column IT, you won’t have to. We’ll set up your data backup system, routinely test it, and take action if anything looks like it’s not working right. Learn more today by calling us at (571) 470-5594.

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