Data Backup Digest

You know all the big holidays. Christmas, Easter, Valentines… the classics! But do you know about the most important one of all? That’s right: World Backup Day.

Okay, you’re forgiven if that’s a new one. World Backup Day falls on 31st March and is an annual holiday conceived by a group of internet users who posed the question of how you would cope if you lost all your data.

As such, World Backup Day is designed to get people thinking about and integrating their backup plans. You can lose your data at any point. Even if you think it won’t happen to you, even if you think your hard drive is healthy, even if you think your laptop won’t get stolen – you’re wrong. Data loss can be accidental, malicious, or as a result of system failure and it’s bound to hit you at some point.

That’s why you need to get ahead of the game and start backing up your data. World Backup Day is a timely reminder of that, but you should be following the advice all year round.

Remember, you might not even hold all of your data personally. Think about things you have uploaded to social media or trusted to the hands of cloud storage companies. These companies could close their services down at any point, without warning, and your data will go with it. Unless you’re an enterprise customer, it’s unlikely that you have any protection against that.

Look in the news and it won’t be long before you come across the latest data breach or security scare. Ransomware attacks are on the rise, where malicious people or groups lock companies out of their data and demand money before they release it. Keeping your data safe is even more important now.

Follow the advice of World Backup Day’s website and adhere to the 3-2-1 backup rule. This means that you should have three copies of your data (the original and two backups), two of those should be on different media (like the cloud and an external drive), and one of those should be off-site (like in a secure storage facility).

Different media is important because each type has their own pros and cons. For example, mechanical hard drives come in large capacities but are prone to physical failure, while flash drives are more stable but come at a cost. Off-site is important because it protects you against theft or natural disaster; if a fire struck, it would take out all the data, original and backups.

Backup is just one part of being cyber safe. You should safeguard every aspect of your digital life, which means using strong passwords, encrypting your data, and being careful what services you sign up for.

When you do have your backup solution ready and sorted, use World Backup Day as a reminder to check its configuration. Is it still backing up all the data you need it to? Are all the drives working correctly? Is there anyone else you can inspire to backup?