Jon Fielding, Managing Director, EMEA at Apricorn, warns that with out decentralised, offline backups organisations threat each compliance failures and crippling downtime.
Backups have lengthy been part of cybersecurity methods, however with the rise in ransomware and an onslaught of information breaches, safe backup methods have discovered their manner again to the highest of the safety agenda. When applied correctly, they’re a basic and efficient pillar of cyber resilience in a world the place potential breaches and assaults can by no means be dominated out.
That is significantly necessary as organisations proceed to adapt to the realities of hybrid and distant work, with information administration changing into extra advanced and fraught with threat. Regulatory pressures, information sovereignty considerations and the continued menace of cyber assaults are forcing companies to rethink how they defend delicate data. Central to this shift is the rising significance of decentralised backup methods that align with each operational resilience and information residency necessities.
Historically, many organisations have leaned closely on cloud suppliers to handle their information backup wants. Whereas cloud options provide comfort and scalability, this over-reliance introduces vital vulnerabilities. The Authorities’s Cyber Safety Breaches Survey 2024 revealed that 71% of companies nonetheless rely solely on their cloud service suppliers for backup. This dependency is dangerous if administrative entry is compromised or if cloud infrastructure itself is breached – the implications might be devastating.
Decentralised backup methods that mix cloud storage with safe, offline native backups are more and more being recognised as finest follow. This hybrid mannequin gives a further layer of safety, significantly for delicate information held on moveable or distant endpoints. Crucially, offline backups be certain that essential information stays secure and accessible even when the first techniques are encrypted or taken offline throughout an assault.
Latest Apricorn analysis reveals how inconsistencies in backup processes proceed to reveal organisations to avoidable threat. Whereas 50% of organisations that suffered a breach had been capable of absolutely get well their information, 1 / 4 might solely partially get well, and eight% had been unable to get well any information in any respect. This underscores the necessity for sturdy and dependable backup procedures which might be repeatedly examined to make sure they’ll work as required when wanted, to offer a frontline defence towards each operational disruption and regulatory non-compliance.
With international laws and varied regional information sovereignty legal guidelines resembling Basic Knowledge Safety Regulation (GDPR) and NIS2 persevering with to evolve, companies should additionally take heed to the place information resides and the way it’s saved and retrieved. Decentralised backup techniques assist organisations stay compliant by permitting them to retain management over the geographic location of their information and be certain that it may be recovered following native legislative necessities.
One of the crucial efficient methods on this house is the 3-2-1 rule. This precept advises that organisations ought to maintain not less than three copies of their information, saved on not less than two several types of media, with not less than one copy saved offsite and offline. By implementing this rule, companies considerably cut back the chance of a single level of failure. A detachable encrypted laborious drive, for instance, affords a great offline backup resolution, remoted from networks and secure from distant assaults.
Encouragingly, extra companies are starting to automate their backup processes. Apricorn’s survey additionally discovered that 30% of IT leaders now use automated techniques to retailer information in each central and private repositories, up from 19% within the earlier yr. This pattern displays rising consciousness of the dangers related to guide backups, that are vulnerable to human error and might be simply neglected in busy or decentralised environments.
Equally, automation is being utilized extra broadly. 27% of organisations now automate backup to central repositories, and 16% to private repositories, each vital will increase on final yr’s figures. This diversification of backup strategies, together with the usage of each native and cloud storage, represents a major step ahead in securing organisational information throughout more and more distributed workforces.
There are additionally broader enterprise concerns. As insurance coverage suppliers increase the bar for cyber insurance coverage compliance, sturdy backup insurance policies have gotten a non-negotiable requirement. Based on Apricorn’s analysis, 46% of IT choice makers now see their backup technique as a essential factor of insurance coverage eligibility, up from 28% the earlier yr. Insurers more and more demand demonstrable backup and restoration protocols earlier than providing cowl, and any gaps in these techniques could end result within the denial of claims and even the refusal of protection altogether.
It’s important that organisations implement and repeatedly check a decentralised backup technique that features not solely automating processes but in addition making certain range in storage sorts and areas. By embracing a decentralised backup method, organisations can enhance their resilience, guarantee regulatory compliance, and get well swiftly from the surprising, whether or not it’s a cyber assault, system failure, or human error. The objective is to guard delicate information, wherever it resides, and preserve enterprise continuity.
