Golden Copy: The Key to Fortifying Your Backup Strategy

With the persistent omnipresence of ransomware and hacking, organizations cannot avoid the harsh reality that their enterprise data may be vulnerable. Carl D’Halluin, CTO, Datadobi, shares how you can invest in a golden copy to boost your backup strategy.

Today, the climb back to full recovery following a data attack can be daunting without the right data backup strategy.  Any interruption in business continuity costs an organization time and money. How much depends on how quickly a company can recover from the interruption. 

Statistics show that in 2021, every 11 seconds, a company was hit by a ransomware attack. The global ransomware attack costs are estimated to be about $20 billion and are expected to rise to $265 billion worldwide by 2031. 

With no time for a false sense of security, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are demanding—and rightfully so—more comprehensive, fool-proof protection of their precious file data against cyber-attacks. In 451 Research’s recent Voice of the Enterprise report, nearly a third of respondents claimed that security issues such as viruses and ransomware played a part in their recent outages. Yet only 26% were highly confident that their current backup tools would facilitate a successful recovery. 

The report goes on to discuss how backups and third, or “golden,” copies that facilitate clean data restorations are the last line of defense when ransomware seizes control of an organization’s network and cuts off access to data. 

See More: Three Ways to Stick to Your Data Resolutions in 2022

All Good Things Come in Threes 

Before the onslaught of ransomware, two separate data copies seemed to be enough to protect against disaster, and many organizations continue to operate with only two. Likewise, organizations may continue to use the traditional methods of backup, which include the more simple, manual process of removable media. The downside to this method is that it could physically fail or be subject to human backup errors in addition to the time or data lost between data backups. 

Other organizations may choose the more complex and expensive route of maintaining a completely remote data center. Not so long ago, offsite data copy options for network-attached storage (NAS) storage platforms were limited to vendor-specific, in-family replication, and/or proprietary archiving solutions. Unfortunately, the world is a very different place now, as are the backup tools and options available to meet ransomware attacks head-on.

Today’s enterprise CIO should be choosing to conform to the best practice of keeping a golden copy of business-critical data in the event of an attack on their organization’s production and primary and secondary disaster recovery systems. 

As long as the third copy is air-gapped, in a bunker site or the cloud, it gives the organization a reliable, rapid recovery option in case all other protection means have failed. 

Looking for the “Golden” Lining 

Enterprises with large volumes of business-critical information must decide to aggressively pursue data protection solutions that can meet the highest business continuity requirements if they hope to protect against ransomware attacks.  

Organizations shouldn’t have to accept any downtime or data loss if implementing the right data protection and disaster recovery methods. Finding the right solution to secure your organization’s golden copy of business-critical data can be fast and relatively cost-effective.  

Here’s what to look for in a data protection solution provider that can make all the difference in an organization’s data protection strategy: 

• • Ransomware-proof file versioning
  • Quick and easy granular recovery to any NAS or object storage platform
  • Built-in ability to recreate NAS shares and exports with ACLs upon restore
  • Fast, flexible setup wizards
  • User-friendly dashboard for live monitoring, tracking, and reporting
  • Scheduling and load balancing for maximum flexibility
  • Easy and fast deployment, scalable to any size environment
  • Distributed optimized network performance and large-scale multi-site syncing
  • Consider a software-only solution for the best price, flexibility and avoid large infrastructure
  • Premium 24/7 support, training, online knowledge base and comprehensive support portal

See More: Data Protection and Backup: Top 4 Cloud Native Solutions Enterprises Can’t Ignore

Backup That Has Your Back

People often ask, “How much is your peace of mind worth?”  There isn’t a more apropos question to be asked of the CIO charged with protecting the lifeblood of their organization. 

The good news is, there are some excellent world-class backup solutions on the market capable of stopping the effects of ransomware and malicious attacks in their tracks. Pick a company with a proven track record and reputation with integrity and 100% accountability in data backup and protection. 

In today’s heterogeneous large-scale storage environments, a golden copy ensures seamless recovery from whatever disaster comes your way.  

Do your research, ask the hard questions, and check a company’s longevity and success rate before deciding who your golden partner will be when it comes to protecting your enterprise against the world’s number one cyberthreat—ransomware.

What fortification do you have against ransomware? Share with us on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!