“Do you know where your children are?” was a question used as a public service announcement for parents on American television from the late 1960s through the late 1980s.

If you are responsible for data security in your organization, the paraphrased title of this article may resonate with you. The truth is that we live in an age where data security must be an undeniable core component of any organization. Cyber threats to the business and enterprise landscape require IT professionals to leverage sound solutions and practices to protect critical company assets. As threats continue to increase, the potential for a breach is ever-present, yet highly preventable with adherence to best practices. And to that end, the availability of data backups should get the same level of importance, if not higher, as data security.

What is the best solution for business data backup?

Backup solutions (in any form) are an extension of any sound data security program. Is this true for your organization? If not, then why not? The integrity of a data backup solution must not be minimized or relegated to second-tier importance for an organization. It can be argued that the integrity of a backup solution is even more important than protecting the data itself. A breach or disaster can wipe away years of intellectual property and millions of dollars of investment. But the inability to recover data in the event of a breach or some catastrophic event can result in an unrecoverable loss.

From the days of floppy disk backups to tape, to disk subsystems, to appliance-based solutions, remote storage of backup media has always been a fundamental piece of sound backup solutions. While most will agree that remote storage of backup meets best practice requirements, many organizations still fail to take this step due to complacency, overconfidence in legacy solutions, or a lack of commitment to financial considerations for remote storage options. A “shoulda” hindsight position after a data loss event could be devastating to an organization.

In addition to remote storage, the security of a backup solution must be considered. A great backup solution that falls victim to ransomware is not a great solution. But how do you know if your backup is subject to the threat of cyberattack from a breach? Are your backups managed by Active Directory authentication? If so, your backups are subject to compromise by any breach that exploits an administrative level account. That is just one consideration of many required for building a resilient solution to protect irreplaceable data assets.

Is the cloud a good business backup solution?

Current technology and best practices demand a secured solution that employs cloud-based storage whether it is primary storage or replicated from a backup appliance. This practice ensures that backups are available as required for ad hoc data restoration, auditing of backups, and worse case restoration due to loss. Solutions that utilize image virtualization allowing complete servers to be spun up and hosted on an appliance or in the cloud provide a preferred and effective solution.

LBMC Technology Solutions partners with Datto, Inc. to provide effective, scalable, and affordable solutions for small business to enterprise-level organizations. Our team of engineers will work with your IT department or on your behalf to implement a solution that will allow you to know with confidence that your data is protected. It’s 2020, do you know where your backups are? If you don’t know, now is a great time to get that question answered.