Data is at the heart of most modern businesses, and ensuring that it’s properly backed up is essential for protecting against loss. Whether it’s due to accidental deletion, hardware failure, cyberattacks, or natural disasters, having reliable backup solutions in place is a critical component of any business’s disaster recovery plan. However, many companies make backup mistakes that put their data and operations at risk.
Chief Technology Officer Shaun Hogg explores five common backup mistakes that businesses often make and provides strategies on how to avoid them, ensuring your data is always secure and recoverable.
1. Failing to Back Up Data Regularly
One of the most common mistakes businesses make is failing to implement a regular backup schedule. Many businesses set up backups and then forget about them, or they only back up data sporadically. This creates a significant vulnerability because data can be lost between the times when backups occur.
Imagine a situation where critical business files are not backed up for several weeks. If something were to go wrong during that period, you could lose a substantial amount of important data that would be difficult, if not impossible, to recover.
How to Avoid It:
To avoid this, businesses need to set up automation at regular intervals. This should include daily or weekly backups for essential data, with more frequent backups for high-value or rapidly changing data. By automating this process, you eliminate human error and ensure that your data is regularly backed up without any extra effort.
FOGO Solutions provides businesses with customizable backup solutions that can be scheduled to run at any frequency, ensuring that your data is always protected.
2. Not Testing Regularly
Another common mistake businesses make is assuming that their backups are functioning properly without testing them. Backing up your data is only half the battle—if you don’t regularly test it, there’s a risk that it won’t be recoverable when you need it most. You might find out too late that your information was corrupted, incomplete, or outdated.
How to Avoid It:
Regular testing is crucial. This should include verifying the integrity of your files and checking that recovery processes work as expected. It’s also important to perform full disaster recovery tests from time to time to ensure that your recovery procedures are effective in real-world scenarios.
FOGO Solutions can help you with routine backup testing and recovery drills, making sure your system is always ready to handle data restoration in case of an emergency.
3. Storing Backups in the Same Location as Original Data
Many businesses make the mistake of storing their backups in the same physical location as their original data. For example, if both your data and backups are on the same server or storage drive, a disaster like a fire, flood, or ransomware attack could wipe out both at the same time.
This is especially dangerous for businesses that rely on single-location or on-premises solutions.
How to Avoid It:
To mitigate this risk, store your files in a separate location from your primary data. This could include an off-site data center or a cloud-based solution. Cloud backups offer the added benefit of being accessible from anywhere, ensuring that your data can be restored quickly, no matter where the disaster occurs.
At FOGO Solutions, we specialize in cloud solutions that securely store your data in multiple locations, providing redundancy and ensuring data availability even in the case of local disruptions.
4. Not Encrypting Backup Data
Data encryption is essential for protecting sensitive business information from unauthorized access. Failing to encrypt your files can expose your data to potential breaches, especially if they are stored in the cloud or transferred over the internet. Cybercriminals know how to exploit unsecured files to gain access to valuable data.
How to Avoid It:
Ensure that all backups, whether local or cloud-based, are encrypted. This adds an extra layer of protection, ensuring that even if someone gains unauthorized access to your files, they cannot read or use the data. Strong encryption methods, such as AES-256, should be used to protect sensitive information in transit and at rest.
FOGO Solutions offers advanced encryption options as part of our backup and disaster recovery services. We make sure your data is always securely encrypted, preventing unauthorized access and safeguarding your business’s sensitive information.
5. Not Having a Clear Backup and Recovery Plan
A major oversight that many businesses make is not having a clear, documented backup and recovery plan. It’s not enough to just back up data; businesses need to know exactly how to recover that data when necessary. This includes defining roles and responsibilities, setting recovery time objectives (RTO), and outlining recovery point objectives (RPO).
Without a structured plan, when disaster strikes, employees may be confused about who is responsible for initiating recovery processes, and systems may take longer to restore than anticipated. This leads to longer downtime and a greater impact on business operations.
How to Avoid It:
Develop a comprehensive backup and recovery plan that includes:
- Clear procedures for backing up and restoring data
- Designated team members are responsible for each step in the recovery process
- Defined RTOs and RPOs to ensure that the recovery process is efficient and timely
- Regular updates and training for staff members on the plan
FOGO Solutions can help you create and document a custom backup and disaster recovery plan that aligns with your business needs. We’ll also guide you through best practices and help you define key recovery metrics to minimize downtime during emergencies. Protecting your business’s data is a top priority, and ensuring that you avoid mistakes is crucial to maintaining data integrity and business continuity.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you protect your business from unexpected data loss.
