Data backups seem simple on their face: you copy your business’s vital data so that when disaster strikes and your files, records, and configurations are wiped, you can restore the backups and keep operations moving. But things are not so simple, especially in today’s cloud-first IT landscape.
Many business leaders hold incorrect ideas or make misguided assumptions about data backups that could leave them vulnerable. Don’t be one of the many businesses that’s forced to close their doors after a data loss event. In the spirit of World Backup Day, we’ll bust some common data backup myths so that you and your workforce can minimize the risks of data loss events.
Only big businesses need data backups
Owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often believe that their organization is too small for cybercriminals to target, but this could not be farther from the truth. Cybercriminals prefer to target SMBs because they know that these companies typically underspend on security, making them easy targets.
For instance, ransomware attacks are easy to level at SMBs like yours. These attacks lock your data away until you pay a ransom. A data backup will mitigate the damage. This is just one reason why SMBs need data backups as much as larger enterprises.
SMBs need data backups, and fortunately for them, this next myth is also untrue.
Data backups are too expensive
Gone are the days when data backups required miles of tape or expensive hard drives. Cloud-based backups are widely available and exceptionally cost-effective, as the hardware costs are handled by the provider. You can even scale up and down with ease simply by calling your cloud provider.
SMBs of all sizes and sectors can now easily fit robust data backups into their IT budgets, as cloud-based backups require only a small monthly fee that includes support and automatic upgrades.
Our cybersecurity tools prevent data loss, so we don’t need backups
Cybersecurity tools are vital to your organization’s ability to prevent and mitigate cyberattacks that cause data loss. Unfortunately, cyberattacks are not the only source of data loss events.
The Ponemon Institute, a nonprofit cybersecurity research organization, found that nearly a third of data loss incidents are caused by accidents, such as:
- Employees deleting the wrong data
- Hardware failures and damage corrupting data
- Devices getting lost or stolen
Anti-malware and other cybersecurity tools simply aren’t capable of preventing these incidents, so data backups are your only defense.
Our data is in the cloud, so it’s safe
One of the most common misconceptions about cloud computing is that data stored in the cloud is automatically safe and its security is guaranteed by the cloud provider. This is a dangerous myth, as it leads to complacency and vulnerability.
You and your cloud provider both share responsibility for the security of your data, and many data loss events can still happen despite it being stored in the cloud, such as:
- Accidental deletion by users
- Malware or ransomware infections
- Botched migrations with overwritten data
- Software licenses that delete user data when they expire
- Data corruption caused by poor third-party integrations
Simply storing your data in the cloud is not enough. You need a cloud-based data backup solution that replicates your cloud data and stores it elsewhere for safety and peace of mind.
Contact the experienced IT consultants at SpectrumWise, and we’ll help you uncover data vulnerabilities caused by insufficient or outdated data backup solutions. We can also make recommendations for backup solutions customized to your needs, then implement, maintain, and manage them for you. With SpectrumWise as your IT partner, you can focus on your core operations, secure in the knowledge that no unexpected data loss event can threaten your business’s survival.
