Why the Cloud Should Be Part of Every Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

Let’s say you’re hit with ransomware. You’re concerned, but you feel comfortable knowing that you’ve been taking local backups. You’re confident you can restore a clean backup taken before the infection and get the affected systems back online. No worries.

But you start to panic when you realize you made a mistake. As you set about kicking off a recovery, you look more closely and see that the ransomware also locked down the drive where the backups you were trying to recover were stored. Can you even recover? Or do you need to pay the ransom?

This is just one backup and recovery scenario that might give an IT pro nightmares. It illustrates the point that local backups just aren’t enough. You must add the cloud to your backup and disaster recovery plan if you’re hoping to plan for the worst. Let’s look at a few key reasons you should add the cloud to your data protection mix if you’re not already doing so.

Natural Disasters Are More Dangerous than Ever

It’s not always the IT disasters that get you. From floods to hurricanes, tornadoes to earthquakes, your infrastructure might be more vulnerable to Mother Nature than you think.  And the problem is getting worse. According to NASA, there’s an emerging body of evidence suggesting that climate change could result in even more extreme weather, which can contribute to the risks your business faces. One of the best ways to protect your data is to ensure that it is stored locally and in a geographically separate location, such as a third-party data center. That way, even if a local disaster destroys your primary backup, you still have options.

Ransomware and Cyberattacks Are on the Rise

According to a report by Cybersecurity Ventures, a new organization will fall victim to ransomware every 11 seconds. The report also notes that the global cost of ransomware will reach $20 billion this year. But ransomware isn’t the only threat. State-sponsored actors have begun targeting software that IT pros typically use every day, like SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange. It’s becoming tougher than ever to ensure that your systems don’t have vulnerabilities that are exposed to threat actors. You already know that local backups can help, but as we noted in our introduction, anything on your local network is at risk. Be sure to keep extra backup copies safe in the cloud so your data is protected even if a cyberattack affects your local network.

User Error Is a Persistent Problem

One could argue that human error is the cause of far too many IT problems. Like the person who clicks on a malware link. Or an inexperienced admin who sets up equipment incorrectly or forgets to install crucial security patches and updates. When you get down to it, it’s an individual’s failure to think ahead that results in a lot of IT problems. That means there’s no time like the present to create a plan. It’s crucial to establish rigid security policies at your organization and properly educate admins and end users alike. You also need to create a thorough backup and disaster recovery plan that includes recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO). Then you need to build or upgrade your systems to suit. You’ll find that in almost every case it makes sense to include some form of cloud backup in your backup and disaster recovery (BDR) strategy.

Getting the Most From Cloud Backups

So, what’s the best way to add the cloud to your BDR mix? It depends on your recovery objectives. The cloud offers peace of mind since you can be certain that you have a pristine backup stored safely offsite. But the right cloud solution can do much more than that. If your organization can’t tolerate downtime or absolutely must account for the worst possible scenarios, a disaster recovery cloud is a solid choice. Solutions like StorageCraft Cloud Services give you the ability to recover individual files—or even entire networks—from the cloud in seconds. That gives you an incredible amount of flexibility in the face of cyberattacks, natural disasters, or everyday user errors.

Reach out to a StorageCraft sales engineer for a custom demo and see for yourself what fast, flexible recovery looks like.