Why deploying infrastructure without backup is always a risky gamble

In today's digital landscape, where data is omnipresent across various platforms and devices, maintaining efficient backup processes has become increasingly critical. Yet, despite the inherent risks, a surprising number of organizations continue to deploy their infrastructure without adequate backup measures in place.

According to a poll conducted among IT professionals, only a mere 25 percent of them adhere to industry best practices concerning data backup, creating potentially dangerous data gaps in production and employee risk management. Initially enticed by the allure of cost-saving, many companies overlook the necessity of investing in backup solutions, only to face dire consequences in the long run.

Whether through misguided perceptions of cost-effectiveness or confusion between redundancy measures and true backup protocols, these decisions often lead to substantial financial losses and operational disruptions.

As cyber threats evolve, targeting backup repositories as potential vulnerabilities and safeguarding backup data becomes paramount. Additionally, organizations grapple with balancing backup performance with cost considerations, striving to attain optimal speeds without overspending on resources.
Furthermore, seamlessly integrating backup systems with existing IT infrastructure and applications presents its own set of challenges. Addressing these complexities demands a comprehensive approach, combining robust backup solutions, rigorous security measures, and strategic planning to ensure the resilience and reliability of backup systems.

Understanding the vital role that backup plays in guaranteeing security, facilitating data recovery, and maintaining business continuity is essential for businesses. Organizations must delve into the complexities of backup deployment, including identifying key associated risks, and carefully considering best practices for establishing a resilient backup strategy.

Understanding Disaster Recovery, Hardware, and Service Redundancy

Amid the growing threat landscape, it’s important that businesses continually re-evaluate their backup strategies to ensure there are no holes left unpatched. The sole reliance on hardware redundancy and service redundancy will no longer be sufficient in protecting critical infrastructure. Businesses must adopt a more comprehensive strategy.

Hardware redundancy protects your server by making it "fault-tolerant" through replication or backup components. This protection of your server makes it more resilient from hardware failure, which does protect your data but only from disk failure, leaving other data susceptible. On the other hand, service redundancy ensures business continuity by keeping services running despite hardware failure. This allows for businesses’ services to become of “high availability.”

While hardware redundancy and service redundancy offer valuable layers of protection for infrastructure, they are not foolproof solutions. Despite their ability to maintain service availability and mitigate hardware failures, they fall short in safeguarding against critical data risks. This becomes evident when considering the various threats that can compromise data integrity, such as corruption, deletion, or malicious attacks like ransomware. In the absence of a comprehensive backup strategy, organizations expose themselves to significant vulnerabilities that can have far-reaching consequences.

What if organizations deploy without backup?

Businesses operating without backup face a significant risk from hardware failures. Despite implementing hardware redundancy measures, systems remain susceptible to complete failure, leading to data loss and downtime. Studies show that hardware failure accounts for up to nearly 40 percent of all data loss incidents. The ramifications for the business can be severe, including disrupted operations, revenue loss, and damage to reputation.

The lack of backup makes systems vulnerable to external attacks, which are growing more common, complex, and devastating. Businesses that operate inside the interconnected world of the internet attract not only customers but also hostile actors looking to exploit vulnerabilities. Serious repercussions include data breaches, service outages, and significant financial losses. For example, in recent years, there have been significant large-scale assaults, such as Deadbolt, a high-profile ransomware incident that specifically targeted QNAP network-attached storage. This attack impacted multiple significant businesses, underscoring the growing vulnerability to backup systems.

Internal security risks, such as accidental or intentional data deletion and insider threats, pose a significant threat to data integrity and business operations. Without proper backup measures in place, companies are ill-equipped to recover from such incidents, risking irreparable harm to their reputation and financial stability.

Optimal Approaches to Infrastructure Backup

Given the risks associated with deploying infrastructure without adequate backup measures, it's crucial to establish a robust backup strategy. Three key considerations include:

1. Implement Comprehensive Backup Solutions

Investing in robust backup solutions is crucial for comprehensive data protection. These solutions should encompass various aspects, including regular backups of critical data, offsite storage to mitigate against physical disasters, and encryption to safeguard against external threats. Look for tools equipped with advanced features specifically designed to combat ransomware attacks.

Robust backup solutions ensure the safety and integrity of crucial data while seamlessly integrating into the cloud environment for effortless backup, storage, and recovery processes. Intuitive interfaces and cross-platform compatibility further simplify setup and management tasks. Leveraging flexible cloud architectures enables businesses to execute data backup and recovery operations from any location, ensuring uninterrupted access to critical information. Moreover, the implementation of robust encryption mechanisms guarantees the security of sensitive data throughout its lifecycle. By prioritizing these features in backup solutions, businesses can establish a resilient data protection strategy.

2. Conduct Regular Data Audits

Regularly audit your data to uncover weaknesses and verify that any vital information is properly backed up. This includes analyzing data integrity, detecting potential threats, and changing backup methods as needed.

3. Train Employees on Data Security

Educate employees on data security best practices to reduce internal security threats. This involves training in data handling, password management, and identifying potential hazards like phishing attacks.

Deploying infrastructure without backup is a risky proposition that leaves businesses vulnerable to a myriad of threats. By understanding the importance of backup and implementing comprehensive data protection strategies, companies can safeguard their operations, ensure business continuity, and protect their bottom line. Don't wait until disaster strikes -- invest in backup solutions today to secure the future of your business.

Roger Brulotte is CEO Leaseweb Canada.