BACKUP & DISASTER RECOVERY
How to backup data strategically and affordably. By James Francis
STAVING OFF DISASTER: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY
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ile not found” – a message that sends chills down all our spines. Not being able to access digital assets, especially in a business context, represents a big problem – and it is getting worse. Companies once only had to fear disasters such as broken hard drives or employee mistakes. Today, security concerns – particularly ransomware attacks (which encrypt your files and demand a ransom) – add more reasons to stay awake at night thinking about your company data. According to IBM’s Cost Of A Data Breach report, it can cost upwards of US$4 million (R60 million) to fix a security breach, much of which goes towards cleaning up the damage and recovering lost data. Yet many organisations still don't consider backup and disaster recovery
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as an investment, says Andrew Cruise, CEO of cloud infrastructure provider Routed. “Sadly, both disaster recovery and data loss prevention are seen as grudge purchases. Many organisations feel that the money spent does not drive top-line growth and reduces bottom-line profit. Unfortunately, when systems have been compromised, organisations realise how costly the full or partial loss of workloads and data is.” Failing to secure company data could become the most expensive mistake you can make from a risk management perspective – and the risks have never been higher in today’s connected hybrid workplaces. What should you know about backup and disaster recovery?