WELCOME TO:BACKUP & DISASTER

RECOVERYFOR

BUSINESS OWNERS & DIRECTORS

Backup

backup/ˈbakʌp/noun

• In information technology, a backup, or the process of backing up, refers to the copying and archiving of computer data so it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event

Data repository models

Any backup strategy starts with a concept of a data repository. The backup data needs to be stored, and should be organised.

Different approaches have different advantages. Part of the model is the backup rotation scheme.

How to store your backups

UnstructuredAn unstructured repository may be CDs, DVDs or USB drives. This is the most simple form but has the lowest success rate for data recovery.

IncrementalAn incremental-style repository aims to make it more feasible to store backups from more points in time by organising the data into increments of change.

DifferentialEach differential backup saves the data that has changed since the last full backup.

ContinuousInstead of scheduling periodic backups, the system continuously logs changes on the host system.

Storage MediaIn order of reliability, the types of storage media for your backups are:

• Optical Disks

• Tapes

• USB Disk

• Disk to Disk

• Offsite Backup

• Cloud

Testing your backup

When was the last time you tested your backup?

All too often testing is the missing step in the Backup Strategy.

Companies make substantial investments and spend a lot of time backing up their data only to find the backups won't work when something goes wrong with their data storage.

According to "The Symantec Disaster Recovery Research " report, 48% of the disaster recovery tests run by companies fail.

Testing – what to do

Step 1. Test your backups regularly

Step 2. Test realistically

Step 3. Test systematically

Step 4. Test everything.

Director’s responsibility

Gartner Group says that 43% of companies were immediately put out of business by a “major loss” of computer records, and another 51% permanently closed their doors within two years.

As a Business Owner or Director not only do you have a moral obligation to your staff, you also have a legal obligation under your Duty of Care.

Many companies give the role of changing, storing or transporting their data backup to someone with no knowledge of the procedure they are carrying out.

Imagine if that data went missing and you could no longer access it. How would you do business? How long – hours or days – could you survive without your data?

The data that is stored in your system is often worth millions of pounds, if this was physical cash would you take more steps to protect it?

Disaster RecoveryThe terms Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) are often misused and misunderstood when discussing the growing need to protect data and IT systems.  As security breaches become more commonplace it is important to understand the difference between the two. 

Having a Backup strategy is not the same as having a DR strategy. In basic terms a Backup is having a copy of your data, whilst DR is the strategy to recover your essential IT environment in the event that it is compromised.

The UglyA large company in Yorkshire trusted that their IT Support company was backing up their system. Recently they fell victim to Cryptovirus and spent two weeks trying to recover their critical data and server. The last viable backup they had was from May, meaning they lost five months’ worth of data.

The cost to this company in lost revenue was £30k-£40k.

This doesn’t take into account the time to manually input data they could only recover from paper records, and worse the emotional impact on the staff who were unsure about the future of the company and therefore their jobs.

This company trusted that the people they employed to look after their backup were doing this correctly, but had not tested it themselves. The result of this was that when they truly needed their backup it failed.

How expensive is BUDR?

When looking at Backup and DR it is important that a cost versus value analysis is carried out.

If we break it down by turnover versus cost of BUDR, based on 254 working days per year, we can calculate the cost versus value as:

£1m annual turnover = £3,937 per day or £82,677 per month.

Average cost of BUDR = £23.80 per day or £500 per month

With an annual turnover of £1 million, this is 0.7% of the monthly turnover cost to secure your business’ data.

How expensive is BUDR?

ANNUAL TURNOVER

DAILY REVENUE(254 WORKING DAYS)

MONTHLY REVENUE(21 WORKING DAYS)

£1 million £3,937 £82,677£3 million £11,811 £248,031£5 million £19,685 £413,385£10 million £39,370 £826,770

The average cost of BUDR is just 0.13% of a 5 million turnover company.

When hit by a major catastrophe most companies experience 10-15 days of lost business. With the above figures and based on £1 million annual turnover, the loss incurred would pay for advanced cloud backup for 7.5 years.

Secure your businessPractical steps to improve your data security:

Cyber Scams:• Do your staff know how to spot potential cyber scams such as fake invoices, the ‘bogus

boss’ scam or emails containing Cryptolocker? • Would your staff know what to do if hit by a cyber scam?

Backup:• Do you know how your company backs up its data?• When was the last time you tested your backup?• Do you know how long your business could survive without its data?• Do you understand the reputational damage your business could sustain from a data

loss?

Disaster Recovery:• Identify the key systems the business cannot function without• Decide how long the business can function with each of the key systems offline• Decide how much data the business can afford to lose (if any)• Decide how a DR system would take over (manual/automatic)

Summary

• If your business is important to you, it is worth protecting it with a Backup & Disaster Recovery strategy that you can be confident works

• Educate your staff of the latest cyber scams and types of Ransomware attacks (ask AAG for posters for your office)

• Test your current backup

• Review your disaster recovery plan

• Implement a Responsibilities chart

• Book an independent consultation with AAG to assist with the above.

sales@aagsystems.co.uk www.facebook.com/aagsystems 0114 399 0995