Three backup-worthy things you might not have considered
It’s a tense cybersecurity landscape out there at the moment. Breaches and ransomware attacks seem to lurk around every corner. But you’re not alone when it comes to developing defensive strategies, and Stratti has your back when it comes to both prevention and preparation.
There are many aspects to consider when it comes to your backup and disaster recovery plan, from floods to planning for business continuity. One often-overlooked conversation is about exactly what you should be backing up on a consistent basis.
It goes without saying that your critical data is of central importance. We all know you need to be backing up your transactions, personnel files, client information, and identity-related material. But beyond data, there are other specific aspects of your network you should have backed up too.
If you don’t know where to start, let’s think backward for a moment. Say some kind of disaster has occurred, and you need to get back online and reconfigured as quickly as possible.
Ask yourself: what needs to happen first, and what would take the most time to reconstruct if you didn’t have it backed up?
What would you love to avoid rebuilding from scratch?
You should be backing up:
- Cloud data: as many companies move from on-premise to cloud storage, it’s easy to feel like all your data is just “up in the cloud” and therefore safe. But cloud-based information still needs to be backed up, because errors and breaches can still occur in the cloud. Whether you’re using Microsoft Office 365, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams—the list goes on—you need to back it up, either to a secondary cloud storage space or to a hard drive.
- Network configurations: to support recovery after failure or natural disaster, a firewall, like any other network host, has to have some policy-defining system backup. Routers, switches, and system configuration files need to be secured—imagine how much time and effort you could save by having these systems able to be reinstalled in mere minutes, instead of hours and days.
- Database configurations: database files and logs—namely, line of business applications that use a database as their underlying structure, like RightCapital in the financial world or FishBowl for manufacturers, also are very valuable to have fully backed up. Your transaction log is top of the priority list.
Remember: In this day and age, it’s not about “if” you need a backup plan—it’s about when you’ll need it. Determining what to back up is essentially the first step in creating such a plan. So when you’re thinking about what systems would be the least convenient to recover, put those at the top of your backup priority list.
Get in touch with a Stratti expert now to lock down your backup plan so you can move forward feeling both prepared and relieved.
