Twitter poll finds lack of back-up processes

More than 60% of employees believe backing up company data is not their problem, according to a Twitter poll by Apricorn (www.apricorn.com), the leading manufacturer of software-free, 256-bit AES XTS hardware-encrypted USB drives.

This is particularly concerning given the troves of data now moving beyond the boundaries of the corporate network, as more businesses adopt home working scenarios.  Respondents recognize backups as a central IT function but are clearly not sanctioned to take personal action, whether that be through tech, policy or processes.

In addition, over 50% of US and UK poll respondents say they have experienced a loss of data as a result of not backing up, or a failed backup.

“This month is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and the focus is on ‘Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.’  Data security is not the responsibility of just one person within an organization; every employee plays a part and having individual, as well as central, backups in place is critical for maintaining a strong cyber security posture and business continuity,” comments Jon Fielding, Managing Director, EMEA, Apricorn.  “Data backup keeps information safe and enables a much faster response towards complete restoration and recovery in the event of a disaster, reducing downtime and minimising financial and reputational damage.”

Whilst backup procedures are still not at the forefront of all business cybersecurity plans, those that are backing up state that they are using the cloud (55%) as their primary location for data backups.  That said, only 36% of respondents believe the cloud (36%) is the most failsafe place to do so.  Nearly 30% (28%) suggest offsite data centres are a secure alternative and 24% note removable storage devices as the most failsafe place to backup company data so it can be recovered after a breach/loss.

“The fact that businesses are making additional backups of their data is a huge positive, but the responses suggest that businesses are heavily reliant on cloud storage for primary and/or secondary backups.  The 3-2-1 rule should form the basis of any backup processes: keep three total copies of your data, on two different mediums, with one copy stored off-site.  Maintaining physical backups even if you use cloud storage is essential in case your cloud provider experiences downtime and/or faces a breach,” adds Fielding.

However, a third of respondents admitted to not backing up data to a second off-site location.  Of those that do, over 30% are backing up to the cloud and just over 20% are relying on storage devices to keep secondary backups.

“Online and offline storage should go hand in hand.  Removable storage devices are complementary to the cloud, enabling the retention of some element of control over the data rather than abdicating all responsibility to a cloud storage provider.  By backing up locally on hardware encrypted storage devices, and mandating employees also do this every day ensures you have recent copies of your data and makes restoring from different backup versions as easy as possible.  Businesses need to make certain that should a breach occur, they have coupled their backup plan with a disaster recovery plan also,” concluded Fielding.

Apricorn provides secure storage innovations to the most prominent companies in the categories of finance, healthcare, education, and government throughout EMEA, North America and Canada.