By Jaques Pienaar
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November 6, 2023
"Ever had that one day when you woke up, happy for knowing you had already done all your preparations, built the most impressive presentation for that big upcoming meeting with the board, and then all of a sudden, you realize you accidentally deleted all of your work while trying to tidy up your desktop a bit?" What about accidentally clicking on that one enticing email link, and then suddenly, you realize that having to move to Mexico this time of year doesn’t seem that bad anymore. What if that phishing email lead to companywide compromise? Ransomware has encrypted your onsite backups (if there were any backups existed). I might not be able to help you for your meeting today or getting productivity and the wheels turning for your company, but by following the backup strategy principles, we might be able to keep you employed and the company running. And yes, it’s as simple as 1, 2, 3. Let me explain: The "3-2-1 backup strategy" is a widely recommended approach for ensuring the safety and availability of your data. Here's how it typically works and why it's important: Three Copies of Your Data: This part of the strategy means that you should maintain three copies of your data. This includes your original data and two backup copies. These copies can be stored on different devices or in different locations. Having three copies ensures redundancy and minimizes the risk of data loss in case of hardware failures, data corruption, or accidental deletion. Two Different Media Types: The "2" in the 3-2-1 strategy suggests that you should use at least two different types of media for your backup copies. For example, you might have one copy on an external hard drive (which is a different medium than your primary storage, usually a computer's internal drive), and another copy on a cloud-based storage service. This helps protect against risks specific to certain types of media. For instance, if one media type fails (e.g., a hard drive crashes), you still have another copy on a different type of media (e.g., cloud storage). One Off-Site Backup: The "1" in the strategy refers to having at least one off-site backup copy. An off-site backup means that one of your backup copies should be stored in a different physical location than your primary data and your on-site backup copies. This is essential for disaster recovery. If a catastrophic event, like a fire or natural disaster, were to damage your primary data and on-site backups, the off-site backup remains safe and can be used to restore your data. Should you ever feel the need to protect your data and your company's data, you are welcome to contact us, and we’ll help you stay away from that HR office.