3-2-1 Backup Strategy - What it means & how to achieve it

Backup administrators are often tasked with creating a reliable backup of organizational workload and data. There are several backup best practices that the data managers must follow to keep their backups safe and secure.

They need to have a well-defined backup strategy like 3-2-1 Backup Strategy, along with that they must have a backup and disaster recovery plan.

The most modern solution for an off-site copy of data is having cloud data storage and disaster recovery solutions. Backup for disaster recovery is necessary for business continuity.

Here is the explanation of the 3-2-1 backup strategy:

Three copies of the important data

This strategy focuses on data redundancy which is important for disaster recovery and business continuity planning as well as data security compliance. The data managers or administrators must make at least three copies of data that are the first step in this strategy. The copies have to be current and must include an original copy along with two more copies.

Two different durable storage media

The second step here is storage and the two copies have to be stored on two different media. Making sure that the storage media used are durable if the data has to increase in future then the media have to be scalable as well. The data types also matter a lot; with tiered storage, this can be easily tackled with.

One copy of data off premises

One of the copy has to be off-premises to make sure that on-premises disasters do not affect the third copy. Cloud is perfect modern DR site because of its agility, durability, security and recovery time as well.

Once again the solutions in place for should complement the risk-free 3-2-1 strategy. Organizations should use cloud-agnostic backup, storage and gateway solutions like stonefly gateway that can be configured to support multiple public clouds. So you can have multiple cloud backups as well. Microsoft cloud backup can be used for data backups.

Conclusion

To minimize the risk of losing data many organizations introduce data redundancy. The 3-2-1 backup rule is the best practice IT administrators follow this makes the backup more reliable.

Using durable storage solutions has to be another priority for organizations. For cloud backup and archiving, organizations can use storage gateways that support hybrid and multi-cloud environments. This complements the 3-2-1 backup strategy for cloud data storage and backup.

A data breach leaks personal data of citizens of Ecuador

Ecuador recently has been hit by a major database breach and personal information of citizens has been leaked. It includes names, national ID card numbers, date of birth, home address and financial records. This is sensitive information and it going to the wrong hands can be very damaging for each citizen.

The database contained around 20.8 million people, which includes current as well as deceased citizens. This caused worry and panic for the citizens as their private information was not secure anymore. They must have disaster recovery backups to recover these problems. 

The breach was initially discovered by security researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar. A server, called Elasticsearch was discovered and was owned by a private company called Novaestrat.

Many notable individuals were also affected, including the President of Ecuador which forced the country to act immediately and smartly.

Apart from Novaestrat, the information was gathered through the country’s civil registry. The researchers were not able to reach the former registrar after several tries and were forced to reach out to the Ecuador CERT team (Computer Emergency Response Team). Upon receiving the news, they immediately shut down the database till further notice.

It is unclear whether they were able to recover the citizen’s data or not but if they had a proper backup and disaster recovery plan they would have easily recovered their data without having to worry about it getting lost.

How can a backup help?

With threats and breaches so common these days it is essential to have a backup plan in place. This acts as an insurance for your data and helps in recovery if anything is to happen to it.

There are many vendors who offer cloud backup disaster recovery services and offer exceptional features in reasonable rates. With a high competition, it is really easy to find a suitable vendor which suits you and your data best.

The main advantage of having a cloud backup is the ability to restore all your data in the event of a cyber-attack or breach. This way users can recover their files and gain access to them remotely. Depending on your vendor, you can opt for encryption and other security features such as ransomware or breach detection. This way you would know beforehand if there is a breach attempt and will deal with it before it actually happens. StoneFly offers such solutions in the most efficient and affordable way.

Conclusion

Data breaches and cyber-attacks are very common and it is best to be prepared for them beforehand, instead of waiting for an attack or breach to happen. Having a cloud backup enables users to back up their data and be worry free about cyber-attacks.