Data backup – 5 simple, easy-to-implement strategies

Data backup means copying data from one or more locations, at set intervals and onto different storage media, so you can restore it if it’s lost. It’s a practice that combines techniques and solutions for efficient, cost-effective backup. With the growing number of online attacks, there’s no guarantee your data will never be stolen or corrupted. That’s why it’s important to have a backup strategy, so you can fully recover in the event of a disaster.

Here are some of the best strategies to keep in mind when choosing your backup solution. These guidelines help keep your data safe and fully recoverable.

1. Use remote storage as a backup strategy

An essential part of any backup solution is keeping backup copies in a location or data center outside the company network. Storing them on the same disk or the same server as the original data can be a pointless exercise. Remote backups are a viable option if the server is compromised, and server backups kept in the cloud are crucial for real disaster recovery.

The remote copy must also be separate in terms of access: if an attacker takes over the server’s administrator account, they mustn’t be able to delete the cloud copies as well.

2. Always encrypt your data backups

Backup encryption should be at the top of your backup strategy, because it adds an extra layer of security and ensures your data stays protected until you need to recover it. On top of securing the infrastructure that holds your backups, encrypting the files is an extra step for data security. Encrypting backups while they’re stored ensures your data stays protected if someone tries to copy it without authorization.

Keep the encryption key separate from the backup, in a safe place: without it, even you can’t restore the data.

Backup as a Service: tell me more →

3. Back up regularly, following a clear strategy

If you back up only now and then, rather than regularly, setting up automatic backups at fixed intervals must be a priority. Critical data that changes constantly (databases, accounting, email) needs copies several times a day; working documents need at least one copy a day; data that rarely changes can be copied weekly. Manual backups, done whenever you remember, get forgotten in exactly the week you’d have needed them. Then make sure the backup solution fits your business needs.

The 3-2-1 backup rule: what it is and what the alternatives are

4. Decide how long to keep your copies

How long do you keep your backups? As a business owner, you need to know what data you save, what data you delete, and how you protect and encrypt it. You can limit the amount of data stored to save on storage costs: old copies that are no longer relevant can be deleted.

Don’t delete them all right away, though. Ransomware can lie hidden for weeks before it activates, and then you need an older, clean copy. Set a retention period (for example, daily copies for a month and monthly copies for a year) and meet your legal obligations: the GDPR requires you not to keep personal data longer than necessary, and some documents, such as accounting records, have archiving periods set by law.

5. Use a dedicated backup service

An online backup service will usually cost you more in the long run than an external hard drive, but it gives you peace of mind in a disaster where local backups could be completely destroyed. These services usually come with an application you install on the computer: it scans the files that need protecting, encrypts them and then sends them to the cloud server. If you’re worried that external circumstances could destroy your computer’s backups, an online cloud backup service is worth a look.

For companies, a managed backup service also adds daily checks: someone looks every day at whether the backup succeeded and steps in when it didn’t.

Backup as a Service: backup managed by RezolvIT, through MspCoreX

What else does a data backup need today?

Besides the five strategies, three things have become essential in recent years, because attackers have learned to go after backups too:

• An offline or immutable copy, which can’t be changed or deleted for a set period, not even by an administrator.
• Two-step verification on the backup console and an administration account separate from the rest of the network.
• Test restores, done regularly: a file, a mailbox, an entire server. Only then do you know how long recovery takes.

Data in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace also needs a separate backup; you’ll find the reasons in our article on backing up SaaS applications. And for companies that fall under NIS2 (in Romania, GEO 155/2024), backup management is part of the mandatory security measures.

How does RezolvIT help with data backup?

RezolvIT’s Backup as a Service backs up your data on your network and in the cloud. Since 2005, we’ve worked with companies of all sizes, in Bucharest and across Romania, and we’re ISO/IEC 27001 certified for information security. We start with a free IT audit, which also gives you the exact price. If you’d like a quote, contact us.