Danylo Belov, UCloud development director, 24 Channels It tells you how to back up, get the right tools, and get you up and running again as soon as possible.

Why do you need backups?

According to cyber protection company Acronis, 40% of businesses that do not have a backup copy of their data do not survive a disaster. Backup or data backup is an important protection tool. It allows you to be flexible, but hides a few important and non-obvious subtleties.

Often times, a backup is needed if the company faces a ransomware attack. This is how cybercriminals block and encrypt your data and then demand a ransom for its return. They don’t deal with the information itself, but companies have to accept the attackers’ terms or say goodbye to the data forever. With a backup, you can ignore hackers and restore all data from another source.

It should not be thought that such a problem threatens only large enterprises. The SonicWall company counted approximately 623 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2021. Compared to 2020, this figure has increased by 105%. The attacks affect different companies, and SonicWall experts believe that their number will only increase due to a full-scale war. Therefore, 86% of respondents named the fight against ransomware a priority in the annual budget.

How to create a backup strategy?

For a comprehensive solution to the problem, it is necessary to explain the strategy in detail. Although it differs slightly from company to company, it generally consists of the following steps:

1. Audit. Examine and classify the data you have in detail. Therefore, it will be easier to choose a place for backup and transfer everything in an organized manner.

2. Plan. Describe the recovery plan and highlight priority service categories. So you can quickly resume work without waiting for non-critical files to load.

3. Protection. If your backups are not securely protected, they are also at risk. Ensure that only selected employees can access them and that the backup itself is isolated from the rest of the system.

4. copy. Backup data should not be stored in the same system as the products. Otherwise, you will lose access to almost everything. Backup is a full-fledged separate project.

How to choose a backup service

After preliminary preparation, it is necessary to choose a tool with a large number for a reliable backup. Today’s top products, according to the Tom’s Guide website:

• iDrive,
• back flame,
• Acronis Cyber ​​Protect Home Office.
• Cloudy it also offers backup of information in data centers abroad.

So, what you need to consider when choosing a partner:

1. Price. Backup services usually work by subscription. Explore all the plans the products have to offer and choose the one that suits you best. Cheaper options may allow for smaller volumes and slower support communications. You can try for a few months for a minimal fee and then buy a more expensive plan if you like the service.

2. scaling. Your business will grow, so more data will become available over time. Accordingly, the amount of data will increase. Choose a service where scaling is simple and does not require special resources.

3. Correspondence to tasks. Not all businesses process data on an ongoing basis. Some, such as online stores or financial institutions, do this almost every hour. And some – once or twice a week. The frequency of backups affects the price, so consider whether it’s profitable for you to pay for hourly backups.

4. Recovery speed. Not all backup services can guarantee that you can recover quickly. If downtime is critical to the company, you should choose a service that has the ability to do so according to your regulations.

Strategy 3-2-1

There is a formula called “3-2-1” used when backing up data. Here’s what that means:

• 3 – Make three copies of your data.

• 2 – save copies on two types of media.

• 1 – Keep at least one copy in a physical environment, not in the cloud.

Such an approach is necessary to protect not only from cybercriminals, but also from the influence of the human factor. For example, from employee errors, program damage or viruses. Even during data migration there are losses, so it’s better to have a backup.

There is only one problem here: copying to physical media is a separate and lengthy process. It has to be done manually, so it’s better to entrust it to one of the staff. You can make such copies once a month or less frequently if it takes a lot of time. Copy only the most critical data to save time and resources. See the backup strategy discussed above.

What to do after a ransomware attack?

Let’s say your company is attacked and the data is already encrypted. Here are the steps you need to do:

1. Perform an infrastructure audit. It usually takes a long time, maybe a few days. The IT professional must ensure that there are no other threats on the system and that the recovery process can begin.

2. Prepare the recovery procedure. If you start restoring everything right away, you risk losing some information or simply getting confused. For this purpose, the recovery plan identifies the categories of data that need to be recovered first.

3. Set exactly when the attack started. This will help you understand which version of the copy you need to restore.

4. follow the instructions. Take your time and read carefully. During recovery, it is better not to improvise.

Other important aspects of backup

Internal communication. During a ransomware attack, you usually need to close your email. Make sure your employees have backup communication methods and you can quickly alert them to problems.

External Communications. Any cyberattack on businesses also affects customers, especially when it comes to data encryption. Make sure your managers have a crisis communication plan and can alert customers immediately. If the problems are really serious, it is better not to hide it.

Results

All businesses that deal with data need backups. Many companies are responding to threats and increasing their cyber protection budgets, including backups. Thus, they become more resistant to ransomware attacks and the influence of the human factor.

Backup should begin with auditing, detailed planning, and classification of data. Then you must choose one of a number of services for copying. It is also better to create a copy in the physical environment according to the 3-2-1 rule. The recovery process after an attack is quite complex. Therefore, it is worth having your own recovery plan and, most importantly, testing it before a critical situation.