Today’s blog post focuses on the importance of backing up your data. We look into the reasons why your data needs to be backed up, physical and cloud storage options available and simple steps to ensure your information is stored securely.

Why back up?

Data loss is an unfortunate (but preventable) reality of the digital world, and many of us are likely to have experienced the frustration of losing irretrievable personal and/or business-related information. Sometimes it may be due to unexpected hardware failure; sometimes accidents; or sometimes malware or “ransome-ware” attacks, where a person’s data is encrypted until they pay a criminal to unlock it. Whatever the sitaution, it is important that we all understand the need to protect our digital assets by regularly backing up our data.

The team at the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) recommend using a combination of physical and cloud-based storage solutions for your .au business. They also suggest looking into the built-in services your operating system provides (such as Time Machine for Mac), as well as the ability to automatically schedule backups ( as available in Windows 10).

Physical and cloud backups

There are 2 types of physical storage devices, Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Solid State Drive (SSD). The key difference between the two is that a HDD uses a spinning disk to store data, whereas an SSD is a newer (and more expensive) alternative that stores data on instantly accessible memory chips, making it less prone to failure. 

It is recommended by the ACSC to have multiple backups in place and as well as physical backups, you should consider storing another copy of your files in the cloud. A guide to the best cloud backup services of 2020 is available in this post from TechRadar, which includes benefits of services such as Onedrive, BackBlaze and Dropbox.

Keeping your data safe

For advice on steps to follow once you have a backup solution in place, Chief Operating Officer at Afilias, Ram Mohan has shared some ideas on how to keep your data safe:

• Make a Full Backup (eg of your entire hard drive)
• Make a Backup of your full Backup 
• Keep one backup handy (eg on an external drive)
• Keep the other full backup in the cloud 
• Every week, make a new set of backups (this way, you’ll avoid losing more than 1 week’s work).

Backing up your files can save you and your business from a lot of grief if you do, for whatever reason lose access to your data. It is important to take some time to reconsider how your data is stored, and ensure a comprehensive backup strategy is in place.

Have a question, some feedback or an idea for a future blog post? Email us at blog@afilias.com.au