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ENSURING DATA PROTECTION AND BUSINESS CONTINUITY: THE IMPORTANCE OF BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY

By Olga Papadimitriou – Sales Administrator

Data serves as the lifeblood of businesses, making data backup and disaster recovery essential components of any robust IT strategy. The significance of these practices cannot be overstated, especially when considering the alarming statistics surrounding data loss and cyber threats. This article explores what backup and disaster recovery entail, the challenges they present, and how businesses can navigate these issues with the help of reliable solutions like Synology, offered through partnerships with companies like IBSCY.

Understanding Backup and Disaster Recovery

Data backup involves creating duplicates of essential data, ensuring that a copy is available in case of unforeseen incidents. Recent statistics emphasize the importance of this practice. For instance, Gartner reports that downtime can cost enterprises approximately $5,600 per minute, while Cybercrime Magazine reveals that approximately 60% of small businesses had to close their doors within six months after falling victim to cyberattacks. These numbers underscore the need for a robust data backup strategy as part of a comprehensive disaster recovery plan.

Challenges in Data Backup

Several challenges complicate data backup:

1. Data Silos: The proliferation of technologies leads to data fragmentation across various environments, making it challenging to maintain data governance and regulatory compliance.
2. Corrupted or Missing Backups: A reliable backup solution is essential to ensure that data can be effectively restored in the event of loss or damage.
3. Malware Targeting Backups: Sophisticated malware is now targeting backup data, necessitating multi-layer defense and multiple backups.
4. Slow Backup and Recovery: Some solutions may take considerable time to complete backup or recovery processes due to various factors, including network speed and backup type.
5. Hidden Costs: Understanding the total cost of backup solutions, including licensing, maintenance, management, and storage costs, is crucial when comparing vendor pricing.

Synology's Contribution to Enterprise Backup

Synology's Active Backup Suite, available as a free add-on for Synology NAS, provides organizations with a centralized, license-free, and reliable backup solution for physical, virtual, and cloud environments. Key features of this suite include incremental backup, data deduplication, Btrfs file self-healing, virtual machine backups verification, flexible recovery, and cross-hypervisor instant restore. Notable organizations like Shiseido Taiwan, The University of Washington, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have successfully implemented Synology Active Backup Suite, highlighting its effectiveness in safeguarding critical data.

Backup Methods

Three primary data backup methods exist:

1. Full Backup: Creates a complete copy of all data on a system or device, often used as a baseline for other backups.
2. Incremental Backup: Backs up changes made since the last backup, regardless of type. While efficient, it may require rebuilding from multiple backups during data restoration.
3. Differential Backup: Backs up changes since the last full backup, making data restoration faster than incremental backups but slower than full backups.

Factors to Consider in Enterprise Backup Strategy

When crafting an enterprise backup strategy, consider the following factors:

1. RTO and RPO: Determine acceptable recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO) while considering the criticality of various data sets.
2. Storage Efficiency: Look for solutions with data deduplication technology to reduce storage costs.
3. Security: Choose solutions with robust security features like data encryption and access control.
4. Support and Maintenance: Ensure comprehensive support, including updates, patches, and technical assistance.
5. Automation: Configure backup processes to automate scheduling and updates.
6. Testing: Regularly test backups to ensure their effectiveness.
7. 3-2-1 Backup Strategy: Follow this strategy for redundancy and data availability.

IBSCY and Synology Partnership

IBSCY, in collaboration with Synology, offers a Synology-to-Synology cloud backup service called Syn2Syn backup. This service caters to personal and corporate users with Synology devices, providing easy and reliable data backup. IBSCY adheres to the 3-2-1 data protection strategy, ensuring multiple copies of data, both locally and remotely, for comprehensive data security. Additionally, they offer cloud storage functionality, enabling data accessibility from any device.

In an era marked by data-driven operations and persistent cyber threats, backup and disaster recovery are non-negotiable components of a robust IT strategy. IBSCY in partnership with Synology, offers a reliable solution to address these challenges. By adopting best practices, including a 3-2-1 backup strategy and careful consideration of key factors, businesses can safeguard their data, maintain business continuity, and thrive in the face of adversity.