Ransomware gang Nefilim definitely made Santa’s naughty list this year. In early December, they hit home appliance giant Whirlpool and stole some employee data before encrypting the company’s systems. To further ensure Whirlpool’s security team was not in the holiday spirit, Nefilim then published the stolen employee documents on the internet.
Whirlpool published a statement confirming the breach but added that the incident was contained quickly and no customer data was exposed or stolen. The company also claimed the attack did not affect operations, which is lucky given the amount of damage ransomware has the potential to inflict.
As we head into the new year, let Whirlpool’s misfortune inspire you to make cloud backup and disaster recovery strategies a priority in 2021. Security experts are predicting a harsh year for cyberattacks, so now is the perfect time to dial in and streamline your processes by combining cloud backup and disaster recovery in one comprehensive solution.
What Is Cloud Backup?
Backing up data to the cloud is one of the best ways to protect your company from the potentially devastating impact of a ransomware attack or other disaster that causes a significant disruption.
Backup as a service (BaaS) is different from cloud storage and archiving in several ways, security being the most significant. When done properly—i.e., when you frequently make complete copies and store them away from the company network—cloud backups let you restore data and systems just as they were prior to an attack or unplanned outage.
What Is Disaster Recovery?
Disaster recovery is the set of processes an organization will use to get systems and applications up and operating again after a disruption. A disaster recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS) solution should be one step in a larger business continuity strategy that ensures critical business functions can be restored quickly after any type of disaster.
Why You Need Both Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery
BaaS is a crucial part of disaster recovery, but disasters and cyberattacks aren’t the only situations for which having a complete, recent copy of your data comes in handy. For example, accidental deletions, corrupt databases, and updates gone awry affect data, but they don’t necessarily warrant the full disaster recovery treatment.
Likewise, your backups alone won’t ensure operations can be restored after an outage; they are just one part of a larger business continuity strategy. Having solid plans established for both cloud backup and disaster recovery is essential to mitigating data loss in a crisis.
The Advantages of a Combined Cloud Backup/Disaster Recovery Solution
The overarching goal of BaaS and DRaaS is to minimize downtime and protect sensitive data. Combining both initiatives into one solution (BaaS/DRaaS) helps organizations achieve this goal by providing several key advantages over supporting each individually.
Reduced Complexity
Implementing discrete solutions for every IT function creates a convoluted environment that is difficult to manage and almost impossible to secure. Each additional vendor/tool/application increases your company’s attack surface by introducing new vulnerabilities and decreasing visibility.
Efficiency and Reliability
Cloud backup and disaster recovery solutions benefit from top-of-the-line technology and data centers that are geo-dispersed for a high level of redundancy and high availability. The best Baas/DRaaS solutions offer automatic failover and push-button failback for maximum uptime.
Improved RTOs and RPOs
Recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) are THE parameters to watch when it comes to data protection and disaster recovery. The always-on continuity you get with a combined BaaS/DRaaS solution helps ensure you hit your RTO and RPO targets.
Increased security
Cloud services providers can’t afford to lose customer trust, so they make security a top priority. Cloud-based backup and disaster recovery solutions are protected by state-of-the-art security technology at every layer—from the environment and physical perimeter to the data and infrastructure layers.
Easy Scalability
Combining cloud backup and disaster recovery into a single solution means you always have the perfect amount of resources available. As your needs change, it is easy to scale up or down to meet demand.
Faster Recovery
Cloud-based solutions can be accessed from practically anywhere, which significantly shortens recovery time. No matter what caused the disaster, someone on the recovery team will be able to install the backup files and initiate the disaster response.
Lower Costs
Cloud backup and disaster recovery reduces costs associated with disk storage space and hardware and software maintenance. A unified strategy also frees up IT staff to work on business-growth initiatives.
This year, make a resolution to simplify data protection and disaster recovery. Combining your BaaS and DRaaS solutions into one is an ideal place to start. Download How to Build a Disaster Recovery Plan to learn even more ways to protect your business-critical systems, applications, and data from what is predicted to be a very active year for ransomware attacks.
