How to Minimize Downtime and Ensure Data Recovery With Effective Archiving and Backup Solutions

It’s inevitable that, at some point, your business will suffer a cyberattack. Over 72 percent of companies worldwide were affected by ransomware alone as of last year. With over half of organizations worldwide reporting losing at least $300,000 due to cyberattacks, these incidents are costly, too. These metrics say it all: Regardless of how many defensive barriers you put in place, odds are, at some point, those defenses will be penetrated.  

Unfortunately, too many businesses and IT pros focus exclusively on reinforcing those barriers. While those defenses are essential, they don’t solve the entire problem. What matters most if your defenses are breached is how quickly you can bring your business back online.

That can be challenging, especially in the case of ransomware attacks. Once ransomware infects your systems, it may be impossible to access your data. Not paying the ransom—typically demanded in cryptocurrency—may result in hackers destroying or leaking your data on public sites. The real problem is that this can happen even if you do (or even can) pay up. Without access to mission-critical data—which hackers frequently target—your business could face days, weeks, or months of downtime. 

Comprehensive Data Protection: Proactive and Reactive Components

Defending against these threats takes a comprehensive strategy that employs both proactive and reactive approaches. You’re already familiar with most proactive tools, such as firewalls, intrusion-detection systems (IDS), and employee cybersecurity training programs. (Find training resources from the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST} here.) 

These are all valuable components of a comprehensive strategy. However, the reactive tools and solutions you choose are vital for reducing downtime following a cyber incident. Together, proactive and reactive tools and solutions can help you manage risks more effectively. 

Impacts of Data Lifecycle Management on Backup Strategies

Your business is dealing with increasing amounts of data generated internally, by customers, and by third-party vendors. Easy access to this data by authorized users is crucial to ensuring productivity. That emphasizes high availability and performance for primary storage and systems. 

That’s why you need data-sharing policies that cover internal and external stakeholders. These policies identify who can access specific data sets, under what conditions, and which security measures apply (e.g., multi-factor authentication (MFA). This helps maintain data protection and compliance with regulatory requirements, such as GDPR.

As your data ages, it may not need to be accessed frequently, if ever. That data should be archived to free up more of your primary storage. The most cost-effective approach is a data archiving solution that follows a consistent, planned schedule for moving it to offsite backup facilities. While offsite storage may mean slower access, it also means your data will be available if needed.

Finally, you need to implement proper data disposal procedures. Data no longer required for compliance or other purposes should be securely deleted to prevent unauthorized access. Data deletion strategies include data sanitization, which removes all data, including hidden content such as metatags and document properties.

Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Strategies

Backups are a crucial aspect of data lifecycle management. Arcserve strongly advocates the 3-2-1-1 backup strategy: Keep three copies of your data on two different media types (such as network-attached storage, tape, or a local drive), with one copy stored offsite or in the cloud, and one copy kept in immutable storage.

Immutable backups are saved in a write-once-read-many (WORM) format that can’t be altered or deleted, even by hackers or internal admins. Immutability gives you a last line of defense, ensuring your data can be retrieved no matter what. In this post, take a deep dive into the technology behind immutable storage.

Learn more backup strategies and tips in this post.

Backup and Disaster Recovery Solutions: Ensuring Business Continuity

Given its incredibly high cost, a comprehensive approach to data protection is your best bet to reduce or eliminate downtime. That includes frequently backing up your data, which enables point-in-time data recovery just before a breach or ransomware attack. The more time between backups, the greater the potential data loss.

Choose an agile, scalable system that can evolve as your business grows. Arcserve Unified Data Protection(UDP) offers an all-in-one data and ransomware protection and cybersecurity solution to neutralize ransomware attacks, restore data, and perform effective disaster recovery (DR). The solution supports immutable storage and delivers scalable onsite and offsite business continuity for a multilayered approach that provides complete IT resiliency for your virtual, physical, and cloud infrastructures. 

Request a demo to see the powerful data protections Arcserve UDP offers. 

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