While nobody wants to run their business while expecting the worst, you should always explore your risks and formulate a plan for when disaster strikes.
Typically, most people think of natural occurrences when the word disaster comes up. However, in the connected world, we live in today, not all calamities are natural. Take data, for example. Data has become extremely important for businesses. However, at times, businesses suffer from data loss, whether from a breach or a careless mistake. Either way, this can be devastating.
Whichever source this loss comes from, having a disaster recovery plan is a vital risk mitigation measure. What exactly is a disaster recovery strategy, and what are some of the strategies forward-looking businesses put in place to prevent data loss?
Disaster Recovery Plan
A disaster recovery plan is also abbreviated as DR or DRP. Essentially, a DPR is a set of procedures and tools enterprises can use to recover after a significant disruption to their IT resources. Depending on existing assets and recovery goals, an organization can specify the tools to actualize its recovery.
When it comes to disaster planning, the term ‘disaster’ refers to a broad array of events that can hinder you from accessing your apps, systems, and data.
Data loss can come from different sources. These include power outages, DDoS attacks, corruption of your data storage platforms, natural occurrences that cut off server connections, and anything else that interrupts IT workflows.
A disaster recovery plan can be very effective in mitigating certain cyber threats. Its goal is to get through the data disaster and restore normal operations as quickly as possible.
1. Back-Ups
Preventing a loss works so much better than trying to clean up the damage after a breach has occurred. This is the purpose of back-ups.
Before you do this, there are two stages to go through.
The first is assessing your IT assets. Before you can think about how to get things back to normalcy after a breach, you must understand what is normal for your business. A huge part of this is having a sound understanding of the assets present in your network’s infrastructure.
With this, you need to build an inventory of each resource and the data it holds. This can help you consolidate a list of what to include in the back-up.
The second step of this process is determining what is ‘mission-critical. Businesses today collect loads of data over time. Some of this is more important than others, while some of it is redundant. Copying and backing up everything you have can take up too much space, take longer to do and at times, even cost more.
A data audit will help you classify what you have and prioritize it. This way, you can have different levels of data and create ideal scheduling plans. Some data is so vital to operations that you require weekly back-ups for it. Others not so much.
2. Disaster Recovery and DRaaS
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is a computing service model that allows an organization to back up its IT infrastructure and data on a third-party cloud computing platform. This also provides a DR system, and all these take place over a SaaS solution. The end goal is to regain functionality after data loss and regain access to company files.
‘As a service’ model means a company relies on a service provider to put the systems in place and handle all data management and recovery processes after the fact.
In the case of a breach that results in data loss, a business can operate using the backed-up files from the service provider’s servers. This guarantees business continuity.
As this happens, the SP will then work behind the scenes to restore your data and then migrate you back to your internal data storage systems.
3. Back-up Diversification
While you are advised to test your back-ups constantly, one back-up is not advisable. The rule of thumb is 3-2-1.
This means you should have three back-ups of everything; this is fundamental. Furthermore, you should store these back-ups on two different platforms. Say, for example, have a copy on a hard drive and another on the cloud.
Lastly, you should have an off-site back-up. This is instrumental should anything happen to your business premises that might be damaging to your systems.
An example of how this can be useful is in the event of a ransomware attack. Take a scenario where your business suffers an attack and all data on your primary storage gets encrypted.
Having a remote back-up means you can sanitize the corrupted files, reformat and restore your data. While this can be time-consuming, it’s a much better option than losing years of data. In addition, this method offers a more solid guarantee because hackers won’t necessarily hand over control even after ransom payment.
This gives you an overall comprehensive data protection plan.
4. Encrypt Data
There is a common misconception that all data on a back-up tape is encrypted. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
To prevent data loss, invest in a back-up service or system that encrypts all data automatically. This will ensure that if your data is inaccessible should it fall into the wrong hands.
The benefits of this strategy are two-fold.
Encrypting your data means you do not have to yield to ransom demands because the information is useless to hackers. The back-up itself also means you can restore your data after a breach, minimizing business interruption.
5. Address Data Security
Mobile devices make work easier by allowing better communication and collaboration and the flexibility to work outside the office. Unfortunately, they can also leave your data vulnerable.
One thing you can do to protect your business is to ensure that you can wipe all your devices if they are lost. This is done through a remote device management system or hardware that encrypts data.
Augment this with employee cyber security training and encourage quick reporting of gadget loss or any suspicious activity your staff might notice while using company IT assets.
The sooner you learn about a gadget loss, the quicker you can wipe data remotely.
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