The importance of an offline and separate storage media for backup and disaster recovery

As ransomware attacks persist and increase, and as more and more companies who weren’t prepared pay the ransom, it’s important to make sure you’re ready! One of the biggest mistakes is not having an offline and separated backup from your main backup strategy. Typically for generic scenarios, we recommend the 3-2-1 Backup rule.

What is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule?

The 3-2-1 Backup rule consists of a backup and/or disaster recovery solution whereas 3 copies of data are kept at minimum, 2 copies are on different types of backup medium (storage media), and 1 copy is separated and offline from the backup solution (completely disconnected at any given time).

This means you have multiple copies, on different types of storage media, and one copy further than an arms length.

A common mistake…

We often get called in or see organizations that haven’t implemented this rule, and when infected by ransomware, their backups are rendered useless. Since they don’t have a separated and offline copy of their backup data, they aren’t able to restore at all, and must pay the ransom. Paying the ransom funds the malicious parties and encourages them to further develop their ransomware attack methods, putting more organizations at risk.

How do we resolve this?

It’s easy to get setup with a backup and disaster recovery solution that uses the 3-2-1 backup rule. It doesn’t matter of you’re a small business with a small budget, or a large enterprise. There are numerous technologies available within your budget that will enable you to have a leading practice backup solution that protects your organization.

Contact us today for more information!