Are you ready? World Backup Day is March 31 – a day that has been recognized every year since it was first set up in 2011. Initially, it was meant to be a simple reminder of the importance of backups and a time to reflect on how well we’re all doing with this important task – whether we’re protecting our family photos or safe-guarding critical business data.
In fact, World Backup Day was set up on March 31 (the day before April Fool’s Day) as something of a joke. The idea was “Don’t be a fool. Back up your data!” Thoughts of hard drives crashing, critical servers becoming unavailable, and collections of business data being permanently lost began to be a more dominant thought in IT departments around the globe. And those of us now fearful that we might lose our cell phones have made it that much more personal.
Over the years, World Backup Day has gained recognition, and, as someone who spent over 30 years as a Unix/Linux sysadmin and data security professional, I can say that very few if any IT departments wait for March 31 to review and evaluate their system and data reliability. Even so, it’s a day to recognize our efforts to ensure that critical systems are available and critical data can always be recovered in a fairly easy and reliable way.
Components of a data security plan
Many strategies have been developed over the years to complement and extend the importance of data backup. Many of these focus on redundant servers, incident and threat identification and reporting, vulnerability assessments, risk mitigation strategies, user authentication controls and least privilege (no one gets more privilege than they require) principles along with the use of firewalls, intrusion detection systems and VPNs. They also focus on server room physical security, system and site surveillance, antiviral controls and employee training to manage all of these controls. After all, data backup is only one aspect of keeping data safe and reliable. Problem containment and recovery plans along with testing and practice drills for incident scenarios have also evolved.
Don Boxley – the CEO and co-founder of DH2i, which provides smart, high-availability clustering and software-defined perimeter software to keep environments secure and “always on” – says this:
“World Backup Day is a great reminder that just having backups isn’t enough. Sure, they’re critical for recovery, but they don’t keep your business running in real-time. If something goes wrong – whether it’s a system crash, a cyberattack, or just someone making an honest mistake – you need more than a backup. You need a plan that keeps your data within reach and your business running like nothing ever happened.
Because here’s the thing … when downtime happens, waiting around for a backup to restore isn’t an option. Businesses need to stay up and running, no matter what. That means thinking beyond just storing copies of data and making sure it’s always accessible, secure, and easy to recover. At the end of the day, it’s not just about backing up – it’s about making sure you never have to hit pause in the first place.”
Wrap-up
Making sure you never have to hit pause in the first place is an on-target and thoroughly appropriate goal. Lift a glass (or a mug if you prefer) to World Backup Day, and reflect on all you’re doing (or not doing) to make it so.
Source:: Network World