When data safety and security is a critical concern, the odds are that you will try different “best” options recommended to you. You do your research and even task your firm’s IT department to help you lock in on the best deals of the computer cloud backup systems with the highest excellent reviews. The problem with such research is that you most likely could end up using a data backup system that is not fully hacker-proof.
You even risk losing the integrity of your data security when you use multiple data backup systems. And, typically, that is because you can hardly pinpoint the program that introduced security holes into your computer or network. But, having that most of the backup systems are tapeless, is it still possible to attain a fully safe and secure data backup and protection system? Can separating your data sources as much as possible (introducing air gaps) help here?
The Strategy
Using Advanced Encryption and Access Technologies
In one of their February 2020 reports, Tech Target instructed that it was time individuals, businesses and institutions reviewed their data backup, security, and recovery strategy against the evolving ransomware attacks. The primary aim here is to ensure that encryption and access technologies were a step ahead of those that cyberattacks are utilizing. With the current cases of ransomware reaching even backed up data, it is best to use systems that introduce multi-level data encryption in every data that they back up.
Updating Your Backup Policies
Data security will remain a critical factor as long as you will require data storage. That puts ensuring data is always, and always, safe among the top priorities for any individual, business entity, community, or institution that is working or processing your data. Whether you need to follow up with these parties to ensure they follow the conventional 3-2-1 rule in backing up your data is not the case here—you should.
Additionally, users should always ensure they keep offline copies of the data they deem most critical and save it in a different physical location from the primary data storage. Update your institution’s data security policy to emphasize offline backups. Also, use backup systems that render your backups immutable that not even you can change or delete it until a specified time.
Conclusion: Introducing Functional Air Gaps
The responsibility for data security, even in your computer cloud backups, lies squarely on you. If all you want is a system to manage less data, programming your all your backups to follow the 3-2-1 rule will be but enough for you. For large and sensitive information, using backup systems that utilize artificial intelligence is your best bet. That way, the backup system can learn your backup patterns, implement them immediately, and block any other pattern that does not match yours.
However, should your data be overly sensitive, it then would make sense to invest in a backup system that not only uses state-of-the-art security methodologies in your primary data. It also should replicate that to every other storage type, environment, operating system, and account to which it has duplicated your data.
