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Cybersecurity data backup and disaster recovery is the practice of creating and storing multiple copies of data to ensure business continuity and rapid restoration after a data-loss event, such as a ransomware attack, hardware failure, or natural disaster. Data backup involves creating and storing copies of data, while disaster recovery is the plan and process of using those backups to restore operations and data after a disruptive event. 

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Key Components

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• Data Backup: 

  The process of creating duplicate copies of your data and storing them in a secure, separate location (either on-premises or in the cloud).  Gartner has repeatedly shown that most companies do not test all their data backups and of those that do not, a majority are not able to recover in a full disaster - meaning the enterprise will fail!

• Disaster Recovery (DR): 

  A comprehensive plan that outlines the procedures and infrastructure necessary to quickly restore critical applications and IT resources after a system failure or data loss. 

• Business Continuity: 

  The overarching goal of both processes is to ensure that an organization can continue to operate smoothly, even if faced with catastrophic events, by minimizing downtime and operational disruption. ​

 

Why It's Essential for Cybersecurity

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• Mitigates Ransomware: 

  Backups provide a way to restore your systems and data if they are encrypted or deleted by a ransomware attack, without having to pay the attackers. 

• Protects Against Cyberattacks: 

  Whether it's a major data breach, a DDoS attack, or unauthorized access, a well-defined DR plan using robust backups can limit the impact of such incidents. 

• Ensures Operational Resilience: 

  By having a functional backup and recovery strategy, organizations can protect themselves from a wide range of threats, ensuring the survival and resilience of their business operations. 

 

Key Principles & Strategies

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• 3-2-1 Backup Rule: 

  A foundational data protection strategy that recommends keeping at least three copies of your data, on two different types of media, with one copy stored off-site. 

• Cloud Disaster Recovery: 

  Utilizing cloud-based services for backups and recovery offers scalability, flexibility, and features like advanced encryption to enhance security and streamline the recovery process. 

• Cyber Recovery: 

  A specialized type of DR focused on recovering from cyberattacks, involving the secure replication and restoration of data and digital assets from a secondary location. 

• Operational Recovery:  

       Hot Site Recovery infrastructure centers or live data-replicated environments at the ready​

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Disaster Recovery Plans

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Renati provides clients with custom Disaster Recovery Plans as a component of an overall Information Security Program.

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A comprehensive DR plan should include:

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• Risk assessment: Identify potential threats, such as cyberattacks, hardware failures, power outages, and natural disasters.

• Business Impact Analysis (BIA): Determine the impact of a disruption on critical business functions. This helps define two key metrics:

  • Recovery Point Objective (RPO): The maximum amount of data a business can afford to lose. A low RPO (e.g., a few minutes) requires more frequent backups.

  • Recovery Time Objective (RTO): The maximum acceptable time for systems to be down. A short RTO requires more advanced technology, such as automated failover to redundant systems.

• Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly assign roles and responsibilities to a disaster recovery team to ensure an organized and rapid response.

• Automated Failover: For businesses with a low RTO, a cloud-based DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service) solution can provide automated failover to a redundant system in the cloud.

• Regular Testing: Conduct regular tests and drills of the disaster recovery plan to identify weaknesses and ensure everyone knows their role. This step is essential  - you do NOT want to test your restore data for the first time in a disaster scenario.

• Cloud-Based DR: Renati Cloud services are increasingly popular for DR because they eliminate the cost of maintaining traditional secondary data center. servers or LPARS / Partitions. Critical systems can be replicated to the cloud and made available quickly after a disaster.

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Where to begin?   

 

Let Renati provide you free initial Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Assessment of your current state and provide you an objective opinion, a gap analysis that will provide you with where to focus your priority projects in terms of risk mitigation and return on investment.