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“Cold Cuts Day,” “National Anthem Day,”
“What if Cats and Dogs had Opposable Thumbs Day”…
If you’ve never heard of World Backup Day, you’d be forgiven
for thinking it’s another of the gimmicky “holidays” that seem to be
snatching up more and more space on the calendar.
(Did you know that single quirky duo, Ruth and Tom Roy, are
responsible for copyrighting more than 80 of these holidays, including Bathtub
Party Day, held annually on December 5?)
Not so, though, for World Backup Day. While, according to WorldBackUpDay.com, it was founded by a few “concerned users” on the social
media site reddit, the day’s dedication is a decidedly serious one.
March 31 was established as “a day for people to learn
about the increasing role of data in our lives and the importance of regular
backups.”
Each April Fool’s-eve, the site invites humans all over the
planet to not be fools and to back up their data. In celebration of
World Backup Day, we sat down with Webroot Product Marketing Director George
Anderson to see how users can ensure they stay cyber resilient by adhering to
good data backup practices.
For World Backup
Day, what’s the one piece of advice you’d give to a small or medium-sized
business? An everyday computer user, like a parent?
Losing data used to be
something that happened because a hard disk failed, a device was lost or stolen,
or some other unforeseen accident made a device unusable. These remain risks. But
these days, it’s just as likely your data is being held for a ransom or some
nasty infection has destroyed it for good.
Up-to-date backups are essential. Remember: it’s not if
something will happen to your data, but when. So, prepare for the
unexpected. Easily restored data backups let you be more resilient against
cyber-attacks and better able to recover customer data, financial information,
business-critical files, and precious memories. Anything irreplaceable should
be regularly backed up without a second thought, or worse, a passive “it won’t
happen to me.”
Thankfully, many of today’s
backup solutions are easy-to-use and affordable. My advice is to not become the
next data loss or ransomware victim. Simply invest a little into backup
software and rest easy knowing you’re covered.
Why is it important that World Backup Day be celebrated year-round? How can we keep the spotlight on backup and cyber resilience?
For those with backup technology in place,
World Backup Day should be a reminder of the importance digital information plays in our
daily lives, and to check up on existing backups to make sure they are being properly
made and that they can be easily restored.
Unfortunately, “set-and-forget” technologies like automated backup and recovery solutions are rarely revisited – until we need them to be 100 percent. So, checking regularly that they’re correctly configured and working properly is important.
For those not
currently backing up their data regularly, the day should bring into focus a glaring
hole in your home or business data security. Perhaps take the time to consider
the impact losing your data forever would have? Then take action.
Back up is no
longer a “nice-to-have” capability. In a world where our lives are increasingly
digital and our data is threated at lots of different angles, backup is crucial
aspect of data security.
What’s the difference between backup and cyber resilience? Should companies be putting more of an emphasis on cyber resilience?
Backup is a key component of cyber resilience, though it’s not the only one. But it does make what could be an existential event, like a total loss of business or personal data, a setback that can be recovered from.
Cyber resilience is first and foremost about
detecting, protecting and preventing attacks on your data in the first place. But
then, even if your attack detection, protection and prevention defenses fail,
your backup and recovery solutions ensure your data isn’t lost for good.
Cyber resilience is not a choice between security and backing up your data. It’s about covering both bases, so if a serious data compromise does occur, recovery is quick and painless to the business
This World Backup Day, take the pledge:
“I solemnly swear
to back up my important data and precious memories on March 31st.”
And don’t forget to make sure that both cybersecurity and
backup and recovery solutions are in place for your business or home office.
The post World Backup Day: A Seriously Good Idea appeared first on Webroot Blog.