Why is it important to back up your data?

Data backup is a vital component of security for businesses of all sizes. It’s important to back up your data, storing copies of essential records, whether they be internal information like operational and financial documents, or customer records and project data.  

Backing up your data is a step towards protecting against cyber attacks, hardware and software malfunction, human error and even in some cases, natural disasters. 

In this blog, we’ll take you through what it means to back up your data, the ways of carrying out a data backup and why it is important to back up your data. 

What is a data backup?

Data backup is the process of creating a copy of your data, stored in a separate place. A good data backup requires regular copies to be made – as time progresses, there is a growing possibility that new data may be lost. 

We advise that regular backups are made daily, weekly or, through the cloud, in real-time. Real-time data backup guarantees that most recent data is preserved. 

Ways of backing up your data

There are a few options when considering ways of backing up your data. Most of us will be familiar with options that are used every day, including physical hardware backup such as a removable USB stick or a hard drive, or on the internet through cloud storage.

For businesses handling huge amounts of data, with all the security considerations that come with it, there is the route of using an online backup service provider, that will automatically back your data up into the cloud for you.

A common backup strategy is the 3-2-1 backup strategy, where two backups are stored on two different types of storage, while one copy is sent off site.

Why should you backup your data?

Simply, should anything go wrong, a backup of your data ensures that a business and a specific user can restore its systems. In the event of any data loss or corruption, a data backup allows you to restore back to an earlier point in time, recovering anything that may have just been lost.

As threats to data evolve and types of those threats increase, it’s becoming more and more important to back up your data.

Here are some of the threats that having a data backup could protect against.

Protection against malware and cyber attacks

Malware is a type of cyber attack, short for ‘malicious software’, but not all cyber attacks include malware. In essence, it’s any software intentionally designed to cause damage to a network, computer or server. Malware is typically designed to steal or disrupt data, often in the form of a virus, trojan, ransomware or spyware; all harmful types of malicious software that can be fatal to your computer or IT infrastructure and a threat to your data.

A cyber attack is any attempt, made by a group or an individual, to cause a deliberate breach of online information of another person or organisation. Cyber attacks aren’t limited to malware – they can also harvest data through phishing emails, social engineering or Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.

Successful malware and other cyber attacks can give criminals access to your data, disrupting it or stealing it. Should business data be hampered, it can lead to disrupted supply chains, damaged reputation with customers and the market, legal trouble, financial loss or, in some extreme circumstances, complete liquidation of a business.

In summary, such attacks pose a great threat to data, reinforcing why it’s important to carry out frequent and thorough data backups and have the right protection in place.

Hardware failure or damage

Should your hardware fail or get damaged, it poses a threat to data. Hardware failures, such as ageing components, manufacturing defects or overheating, can all lead to data being lost. If key hardware components such as a hard drive fail, data could be lost forever. Vital project or customer information on a failed hardware system may no longer be accessible.

Hardware damage from physical impacts also poses a threat. If a computer is broken due to being dropped or hit, the data on it may no longer be accessible. Exposure to harsh environments can also cause hardware damage; should water or dust get into the system, it may malfunction. Hardware can also get stolen, meaning all data stored on it is also stolen, often forever. All this can have an incredibly damaging impact on businesses.

Human error

Human error is arguably the biggest reason for the importance of all aspects of security, not just data backup. In fact, according to a 2024 Report by Verizon, 68 percent of breaches involved a human element. Accidental deletion of important files or file overwrites, users neglecting software updates, weak password management, improper data handling, falling for phishing scams, the human-caused damages to hardware like a dropped laptop, even forgetting to save work leading to data loss; they’re all a common occurrence in businesses.

All of these human-error related occurrences can lead to permanent loss of data, whether that be previous versions of documents or confidential customer records – and, if that data isn’t backed up correctly, it can be damaged or lost for good.

Backup your important data with Thinc

In performing a data backup, users and businesses can be covered should data ever be at risk of being corrupted or lost. It’s a crucial exercise to perform, for data sovereignty and security against cyber attacks.

Regular backups ensure that data can be restored properly, with minimal disruption or downtime. In the event of disaster, whether that be a fire, a vicious malware virus or hardware being stolen, having backups allows businesses to act quickly and restore anything lost.

To find out more, you can get in touch through the contact button below.