Guest Post: Backup your Data and Your Relationships on World Backup Day

By Carol Clark, Vice President, Product and Solutions Marketing, Commvault

In 2011 a digital consultant named Ismail Jadun created what has become World Backup Day after he saw a Reddit post where someone wished they had been reminded to backup their data. Eleven years later and we are still trying to remind people that their data is so valuable that they should make sure they can get it back. Enterprise data varies from email to files to images and databases and everywhere in between but it is the currency that runs today’s business landscape. Throughout the years the initial concept of World Backup Day has persevered and thrived, and it is rare to find even the smallest company that does not protect their data in some way, however the world has changed a lot since 2011.  The increase in cyberattacks is well documented and is now at the top of mind for board members, business owners and everyone throughout the corporate structure.    

Cyberattacks threaten the data being used day in and day out and often even the backups of the data. Today’s IT administrators and leaders often must think of the security implications of a change before they even get to consider the technical challenges. On World Backup Day 2022 we suggest the first thing you should do is to check those backups and your processes but the second is to reach out to your information security teams and find out what precautions they are taking and share your cyber threat specific recovery plans.

  • Share and collaborate on your procedures – Learn if there are tests you can work together on to validate your recovery.
  • Highlight security capabilities in your data protection solutions so security teams can factor in that intelligence into their overall telemetry. Capabilities such as security dashboards anomaly detection, air gapped backup copies can be essential components of an overall corporate preparedness plan – and speed your time to recovery.
  • Review access control systems and who has access to critical back ups to better control the attach surface
  • Investigate the use of public clouds that allow for secure airgap driving better redundancy and peace of mind (Our Metallic™  Cloud Storage Service (MCSS) is a GREAT place to start….)
  • Collaborate on network connectivity to determine if you can speed up the recovery
  • Understand if there are compliance regulations they need to adhere to and how your team can better help prove compliance.

Reaching out to the infosec teams is not only best practice but is also a way for you to proactively expand your team’s effectiveness in the event … of well, an event. The day-to-day world of back up is no longer about files and applications. As an administrator there are concerns over encrypted files due to ransomware, data that is exfiltrated and sold and probably one of the most worrying to others is the risk of your customer data being leaked. 

The collision of data owners that is the result of modern cyberthreats adds another level of complication or recovery and by extension to the core backup strategy. Security teams are only the start for the collaboration for today’s IT infrastructure teams. New groups have arisen that will also need to be consulted from the Chief Data Officer to data analytics groups. All of these teams can provide insight into the right data to protect and when. The Chief Data Office can help drive the conversation around what data is more mission critical with the analytics to back up the conversation. These cross functional conversations will continue to add efficiencies into your data protection strategy.

Data recovery can no longer be a siloed activity. World Backup Day is a day that reminds us to backup our data but remember that the key to any data management strategy is not the backup but the recoverability and for that you need to test, test again and then when you think you have completed all your testing, do it one more time, with your new info sec friends.

Sponsor a join table top exercise, bring in lunch and learn from each other as you refine your practices and build better defenses to protect your business. World Backup Day is not the day to relax assuming your backups are good but instead take the time to be ever more diligent and backup your data along with your relationships.

Help us celebrate our customers on World Backup Day by meeting them here https://www.commvault.com/customers

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