Latest news with #WorldBackupDay
Tahawul Tech
02-04-2025
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
The backup paradox – why thinking you're safe might be your biggest weakness
In the digital age, data protection is everything. For over a decade, World Backup Day has served as a reminder of the importance of safeguarding our data. However, as cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, relying solely on backups can provide a false sense of security. Robert Standing, Regional Vice President, Middle East & Africa at Rubrik, argues that this leads organizations to believe that they are protected when, in reality, they remain vulnerable. As a result, organizations are rethinking their strategies. SaaS-based attacks, in particular, have surged, prompting a shift toward cloud-based protection. Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75% of large organizations will prioritize SaaS backup—up from just 15% today—reflecting a growing recognition that traditional backup solutions alone are insufficient against modern cyber threats. Defining true cyber resilience Today, organizations must move beyond traditional backup strategies and ensure data remains secure and available, no matter what happens. I believe the key to protecting your business from the most advanced cyber threats is 'cyber resilience'. There are three important components to this: Beyond backups Cyber resilience means having the ability to not only defend against attacks but also to quickly recover and continue essential operations during and after an incident. It's not a matter of 'when' you will be attacked, but 'how often.' That's why a holistic cybersecurity strategy is critical. By identifying and protecting your most crucial business processes, detecting threats early, and implementing rapid response mechanisms, you can take steps to ensure that your organization remains operational, even in the face of a cyberattack. Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration AI plays a critical role in enhancing cybersecurity, but it also introduces new challenges. While AI-driven security systems can automate threat detection and response, cybercriminals are also leveraging AI to develop more sophisticated attacks, such as automated phishing and adaptive malware. To effectively combat these evolving threats, I believe organizations must take a 'fight fire with fire' approach—using AI not just for defense, but to anticipate, counter, and neutralize AI-driven cyberattacks in real time. This proactive strategy can strengthen overall cyber resilience, ensuring that businesses stay ahead of both human and AI-powered adversaries. Zero trust framework Another essential component of cyber resiliency is adopting a Zero Trust security model, which operates on the principle of 'never trust, always verify.' By default, Zero Trust principles assume that every user, device, and application is a potential threat, regardless of its origin. This approach can drastically reduce the risk of insider threats and ensure that only authenticated and authorized entities can access critical data and systems. Implementing a cyber resilience strategy to solve the paradox A strong cyber resilience strategy goes beyond backup and recovery—it involves continuous testing, real-time threat detection, and a proactive approach to security. Backup systems must be regularly tested and validated to ensure they are effective when needed most. This means more than just backing up data—it's about assessing the integrity of backups and recovery procedures through continuous simulations of real-world cyberattack scenarios. By doing so, you can ensure that your organization is truly prepared for the worst-case scenario. To stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, organizations must implement AI-driven monitoring systems capable of identifying threats in real-time. These systems can detect unusual patterns of behavior, pinpoint vulnerabilities, and respond to threats faster than any manual intervention. Real-time monitoring ensures that your organization can detect and mitigate threats before they cause significant damage. So, how can we solve the paradox of a false feeling of security? Looking ahead, organizations can no longer afford to treat backups as the be-all and end-all of their data protection strategy. To effectively combat the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape, it's essential to adopt a comprehensive cyber resilience strategy that includes prevention, detection, and rapid recovery. Cyber resilience isn't just a strategic advantage—it's a necessity for survival in today's threat landscape. That's why we should embrace being resilient over reliance on just backups and take proactive steps to protect what matters most: our data, our business, and our future.
Tahawul Tech
01-04-2025
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
World Backup Day: Tech leaders universally agree that backing up data is critical, but it's not enough
World Backup Day: March 31st is World Backup Day, and cybersecurity practitioners and technology leaders are universal in their agreement, that whilst the importance of data protection cannot be underestimated, backups are not enough, and businesses need to do more to become data resilient as the attacks surface continues to change. Edwin Weijdema, Field CTO EMEA, Strategy, Cybersecurity Lead at Veeam Software: Fourteen years ago when World Backup Day was started, the aim was awareness, right? But these days, the focus should instead be on preparedness. By now, the majority of organizations (hopefully) have backup solutions in place – if any organization isn't aware of the importance of backups then they must be operating under a rock! But having backups in place and being well prepared to use them during a crisis are different things. Going forward, today should stand as a reminder to stress-test your backups and their accompanying data recovery plans. Michael Cade, Global Field CTO at Veeam Software: It's no surprise things have changed since World Backup Day was established over a decade ago. Backups used to be seen as an afterthought, a measure you put in place and picked up when needed. But today, they need a core element of wider data resilience planning. Often targets of attacks themselves, backups need to level up to match these threats. Immutable backups need to be the standard, to keep backups tamper-proof, even when under attack. Following an attack, you need to be comfortable recovering from a backup you know is secure, with a tried-and-tested plan to get your systems operational again. While backups are vital, organizations can't just rely on backups alone, a business-wide cybersecurity plan needs to be in place as a first line of defence for ransomware attacks. Like backups themselves, World Backup Day needs to level up and evolve. It sparks great conversation, but it needs to go beyond talking just backups in isolation and cover the full data resilience picture. Rick Vanover, VP of Product Strategy at Veeam Software: World Backup Day is a very important reminder that data backup is needed as part of an overall data resilience strategy. When working alongside Veeam customers, everyday I hear stories from customers about the threats of potentially bad things happening to good data. Here's my practice advice for everyone today on World Backup Day and every day: Always have a plan A, plan B and a Plan C. We don't know what could go wrong, we can only plan ahead to prevent and be prepared. To keep data resilient to the expectations of today and tomorrow, we need to have versatile options to avoid the next disaster. Whether it is – a user deleting a file, or a 'fire, flood and blood scenario,' or more likely a cyber security incident – staying resilient is ALWAYS in style. Fred Lherault, Field CTO, EMEA / Emerging Markets, Pure Storage Backing up data remains critical for data protection, but it's not enough. Implementing advanced data protection capabilities helps companies better plan for — and recover quickly from — ransomware and cyberattacks. This essentially requires a two-pronged approach: taking regular, immutable and indelible copies of data, and having the necessary infrastructure to rapidly restore from backups at speed and scale. In the event of a cyber attack, or any other event that compromises data or disrupts operations, companies can recover critical data from their immutable copies so that they can restore operations quickly — without having to succumb to the demands of cyber criminals. Proper immutability and indelibility means these copies cannot be changed in any way (such as encrypted), or as importantly, deleted by anyone, even if they manage to obtain the administrator's credentials. This makes them far more resilient and reliable in the event of a cyber attack. Next comes the ability to restore data as fast as possible, as reliable backups are limited in their effectiveness if operations cannot be restored quickly. Some of the most advanced flash-based storage solutions dramatically increase the speed of data restoration. The leading solutions boast a recovery performance of up to many hundreds of TBs per hour at scale, enabling organisations to restore systems in hours — rather than weeks, so they can get up and running again with minimal impact. Ziad Nasr, General Manager – Acronis Middle East World Backup Day is an important reminder that protecting data is not a one-time task — it's a continuous responsibility. In an age where cyber threats, hardware failures, and accidental deletions are all too common, regular and tested backups are essential to ensure your data is safe and recoverable. At Acronis, we emphasize not only the importance of creating backups but also verifying them and keeping them secure. Backups are a cornerstone of any solid cybersecurity strategy — because when data loss happens, your backup is your best defense. Rich Murr, Chief Customer Officer & Chief Information Officer at Epicor What we're seeing is that moving to the cloud is a game-changer for businesses when it comes to compliance and data security. For businesses using cloud-based ERP software, having all their data in one place simplifies compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Regular risk assessments and proactive measures are easier to manage in the cloud. Compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, and PCI DSS are often built into cloud solutions, helping businesses stay ahead of potential vulnerabilities. Most of our new business is now in the cloud, and it's clear why: it helps businesses avoid penalties and build a reputation for trust and integrity.
Tahawul Tech
31-03-2025
- Tahawul Tech
Protect what matters most: Your digital life deserves a backup plan
World Backup Day on March 31 is a reminder that your data only has a future if you protect it today – and there are plenty of fast, durable and energy-efficient storage solutions available to you What are your most irreplaceable possessions? Photo albums? Legal documents? Family heirlooms? For most people, the answer used to lie somewhere in the physical world. But today, many of our most valuable possessions don't exist in a drawer or a safe. They're digital. And unlike a box of photos or old love letters, these digital treasures can vanish in an instant. That's what makes World Backup Day on March 31st more than a feel-good, tech-focused holiday. It's a call to action. Because as more of our lives shift online – from memories and creative projects to critical work files and financial records – helping ensure those assets are safe has become as essential as protecting your finances. We're generating more data than ever before From snapping photos and consuming media to working on collaborative documents, one thing is clear – we're creating more data than ever before. By 2025, the world is projected to generate 181 zettabytes of data annually. To put that in perspective, if each smartphone could hold 1 terabyte (1000GB) of data, you'd need over 181 billion smartphones to store it all – enough to give every person on Earth 22 phones! Yet for all this data creation, our habits of protecting it too often remain fairly careless. A staggering 41% of people have never backed up their data. Surprising? Perhaps not. After all, data loss can often feel like someone else's problem until it happens to you. It might come as damaged hardware, a forgotten password, or a ransomware attack attempt (something which took place every 11 seconds according to 2022 estimates, with a successful one every 40 seconds). When ransomware does strike, the fallout can range from mildly inconvenient to utterly catastrophic. Losing months of work, family photos, or financial records isn't just frustrating, it can feel like losing a part of yourself. The power of a backup plan This is where backup solutions come into play – not as a luxury but as a fundamental safety net for modern life. Storing your data safely and securely doesn't just offer peace of mind; it ensures that a hardware hiccup doesn't throw your entire life – or work – into chaos. And here's the good news: backing up your data isn't as difficult or technical as it sounds. The evolution of storage technology, particularly Flash solutions like NVMe SSDs, has made the process smarter, faster, and far more accessible. Flash storage is the go-to choice for reliable data backup, offering the speed and durability required in modern life. NVMe™ (non-volatile memory express) SSDs known for their blazing speeds, have your backup strategy not just quicker but effortless, taking the chore out of it. For home users, SSDs like the SanDisk® Desk Drive offer a perfect balance of speed and capacity. With speeds up to four times faster than a traditional desktop HDD and capacity of up to 8TB, they're suitable for everything from family photos to entire system backups. Imagine backing up terabytes of photos, videos, and work files in minutes instead of hours. Or accessing your data as soon as you need it, without having to watch that dreaded spinning wheel on your screen. SSDs also offer incredible flexibility, catering to a wide variety of needs, whether you're backing up a Windows® PC, a macOS® device, or even your iOS® or Android® smartphone with tailored solutions like the SanDisk® Phone Drive designed to instantly backup your mobile device. Gamers can seamlessly archive their favourite titles with products like the WD_BLACKTM branded series without deleting games to make space, while creative professionals can rely on SSDs for fast, reliable backups of high-resolution projects. Even better? Flash storage is more energy-efficient, making it an eco-friendlier choice for people and businesses mindful of their carbon footprint. A smarter backup strategy Backing up your data isn't just about tossing everything onto a drive once a year and calling it a day. It's about having a strategy in place that ensures maximum protection with minimal effort. Experts recommend following the 3-2-1 rule for data protection: Keep three copies of your data. of your data. Store them on two different types of media (say, an SSD and a cloud solution). (say, an SSD and a cloud solution). Keep one copy offsite to guard against disasters like fires, theft or flooding. For example, you could keep one backup on a high-speed external SSD like the SanDisk® Extreme Portable SSD and another in a secure cloud service. And with tools like Acronis® True Image – which comes as standard with SanDisk® SSD devices – you can automate the entire backup process, helping ensure your data stays safe without you lifting a finger. While personal data loss stories often hit close to home, businesses face even higher stakes. A company's lifeblood isn't just its employees or products; it's the massive amounts of data it generates, from client information to operational records. Flash-based, enterprise-grade storage technologies, like the SanDisk® DC SN861 NVMe™ SSD, have become important tools here too. Companies now rely on enterprise SSDs for hyper-fast disaster recovery systems, ensuring minimal downtime no matter what comes their way. To take stock, World Backup Day isn't just a reminder to back up your files. Life is unpredictable, as we've seen over the past few years more than ever. We can't prevent every mishap, but we can prepare for them. This March 31st, think about the family photos that deserve to outlive you and your devices, the work records you can't afford to lose, or even the digital playlist that is the soundtrack of your life's highlight moments. Then ask yourself, 'Am I prepared for the unexpected?' PS: Don't put it off another year. Start today – your future self will thank you.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Actiphy Urges Businesses to Strengthen Backup Strategies on World Backup Day 2025
Ransomware, Natural Disasters, and System Failures Pose Constant Threats—Actiphy's Secure, Reliable Solutions Ensure Business Continuity WILDOMAR, Calif., March 31, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--World Backup Day 2025 serves as a critical reminder of the urgency of robust data protection strategies. With ransomware attacks escalating, natural disasters increasing in frequency, and system failures causing significant financial losses, businesses and individuals must prioritize reliable backup and disaster recovery plans. Actiphy, a global leader in backup and disaster recovery solutions, is committed to providing secure, innovative, and easy-to-manage backup solutions that safeguard mission-critical data. The Growing Threat Landscape: Why Backups Are More Important Than Ever Ransomware attacks continue to be a growing concern, with reports showing a significant increase in frequency and sophistication. According to industry sources, ransomware groups have become more active, and the financial toll on organizations has escalated. Natural disasters—hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes—continue to disrupt operations worldwide. Additionally, hardware failures and human errors remain the leading causes of data loss. Organizations face irreversible data loss, compliance risks, and operational downtime without a comprehensive backup strategy that includes offsite protection. "Data loss is not a matter of if, but when," said NOMURA Hiroshi, CTO at Actiphy. "Organizations must proactively protect their digital assets with reliable and secure backup solutions. Actiphy is dedicated to empowering businesses with cutting-edge technology that ensures seamless recovery in any scenario." Why Choose Actiphy? Secure, No-Known Vulnerabilities, and Feature-Rich Solutions Actiphy's flagship solution, ActiveImage Protector, is designed to provide businesses with unmatched security and reliability. Unlike many competitors, Actiphy has no known vulnerabilities, ensuring that companies do not expose their critical backups to security risks. Key features include: Isolated Backups: Prevent access to backup data, protecting against ransomware threats. Offsite and Cloud Replication: Store backups securely in multiple locations to ensure recovery even in catastrophic scenarios. High-Speed Recovery: Minimize downtime with rapid system restoration, ensuring business continuity. Incremental Backup and Deduplication: Reduce storage costs while optimizing efficiency. Actiphy Storage Server: High-performance, scalable backup storage that can be used on-site or off-site. It ensures data integrity and fast recovery. Support for Physical and Virtual Environments: Protects both physical machines and virtual infrastructures, including Hyper-V and VMware, with seamless backup and recovery options. Instant Boot for Virtual and Cloud Environments: Instantly boot backup images as virtual machines into your Hyper-V, VMware, or cloud infrastructure for near-zero downtime and rapid access during recovery events. Simplified Remote Management with ActiveVisor Managing multiple backups across various locations can be challenging, but ActiveVisor, Actiphy's centralized remote management interface, makes it seamless. IT administrators, VARs, and MSPs can monitor, schedule, and manage backups remotely, ensuring all systems remain protected. Don't Wait for a Disaster—Backup Today On this World Backup Day, Actiphy urges businesses to evaluate their backup and disaster recovery strategies. A reliable backup plan is the ultimate defense against cyberattacks, natural disasters, and unforeseen system failures. Watch how Actiphy protects your data in real-time To learn more about these and other products and how Actiphy can help protect your data, visit About Actiphy Actiphy is a leading provider of comprehensive backup, disaster recovery, and system deployment solutions. With a strong commitment to security and innovation, Actiphy offers many solutions that help businesses protect their critical data worldwide, ensuring they are robust, scalable, and easy to manage. View source version on Contacts Actiphy North AmericaCarol Cornell+1 909-332-3773global-sales@ Actiphy Japan (Headquarters)Tomoko Hasegawa+81 3-5256-0870global-sales@ Actiphy EMEADaniela Price+41 22 589 67 85EMEA-sales@ Sign in to access your portfolio
TECHx
31-03-2025
- TECHx
World Backup Day: Why Backups Fail and What to Do About It
World Backup Day: Why Backups Fail and What to Do About It Backups are supposed to be your safety net, but they fail more often than you think. This World Backup Day , it's time to stop trusting backups blindly and start making them work when it really matters. From ransomware threats to recovery delays, here's why backups fail and how to stay prepared. Backups are supposed to be the ultimate safety net, a last line of defense against data loss caused by cyberattacks, accidental deletions, or hardware failures. But here's the uncomfortable truth: backups fail. More often than you'd expect. And when they do, the consequences can be catastrophic. The problem isn't that businesses don't back up their data, most do. The problem is that they assume those backups will work when disaster strikes. According to Veeam's 2023 Data Protection Trends Report, nearly 21% of all enterprise recovery attempts fail due to corrupted or incomplete backupsv. The message is clear: just having backups isn't enough anymore. Edwin Weijdema, Field CTO EMEA at Veeam Software, sums it up perfectly: 'Fourteen years ago when World Backup Day was started, the aim was awareness. But these days, the focus should instead be on preparedness. Having backups in place and being well prepared to use them during a crisis are different things. Today should be a reminder to stress-test your backups and their accompanying data recovery plans.' Why Backups Fail, And What's Changing One of the biggest culprits behind backup failures is blind trust in automation. Many organizations assume that because their backup software reports a 'successful' job, everything is fine. But without regular testing, they're operating on faith, not facts. Human error also plays a major role, misconfigurations, skipped directories, or improper retention policies can silently break your backups. And even if you get the technical part right, there's the growing threat of ransomware. Attackers no longer stop at encrypting primary data, they go straight for your backups. According to Alain Penel, Vice President of Middle East, Turkey and CIS at Fortinet: 'Backups are a prime target for ransomware actors. Simply having backups is not enough; you need to protect them as cyber criminals adopt more sophisticated methods. Organizations must make foundational changes to the frequency, location, and security of their backups to effectively deal with evolving ransomware risks.' Immutable backups, which cannot be modified or deleted, even by an administrator, are now essential. This ensures your data is safe, even if your entire system is compromised. Michael Cade, Global Field CTO at Veeam Software, emphasizes this point: 'Backups need to level up to match these threats. Immutable backups need to be the standard, keeping them tamper-proof, even when under attack. And while backups are vital, organizations can't just rely on them alone. A business-wide cybersecurity plan needs to be in place as a first line of defense.' It's Not Just About Backups, It's About Fast Recovery Even if your backups survive an attack, speed of recovery matters. If restoring from backups takes days (or weeks), the damage may already be done. Fred Lherault, Field CTO at Pure Storage, highlights how advanced solutions are tackling this challenge: 'Reliable backups are limited in their effectiveness if operations cannot be restored quickly. Some of the most advanced flash-based storage solutions dramatically increase recovery speeds, up to hundreds of terabytes per hour, enabling organizations to get up and running again in hours rather than weeks.' When disaster strikes, slow recovery can force companies to make desperate decisions, like paying a ransom. Yihao Lim, Lead Threat Intelligence Advisor at Google Cloud Security, shares a real-world example: 'In 2018, a US hospital paid a four-bitcoin ransom due to lengthy restoration time from backups to their encrypted assets. The time needed for backups was not compatible with the hospital's almost real-time need to access health records, emails, or other internal applications.' To avoid this, Lim advises organizations to simulate real-world attacks: 'Organizations should conduct simulated attack scenarios to test and measure the time taken to restore critical systems, ensuring they can resume operations quickly when disaster strikes.' Why Testing and Layered Defense Matter Backing up data isn't a one-time task, it's a continuous responsibility. Ziad Nasr, General Manager of Acronis Middle East, puts it bluntly: 'World Backup Day is an important reminder that protecting data is not a one-time task, it's a continuous responsibility. Regular and tested backups are essential to ensure your data is safe and recoverable.' The reality is, even the best technology won't save you without proper processes in place. Ram Narayanan, Country Manager – Middle East at Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., advocates for a layered approach to protection: 'Ransomware has evolved, it's not just going after primary systems anymore; backups are firmly in the crosshairs. Businesses need to ensure their backups are frequent, immutable, and tested regularly. A layered approach that combines smart policies, strong cyber hygiene, and real-time threat prevention can make all the difference.' Narayanan stresses that technical measures alone won't cut it, building employee awareness is just as critical. Always Have a Plan B (and C) Even with the best technology and processes, things can still go wrong. Rick Vanover, VP of Product Strategy at Veeam Software, offers this practical advice: 'Always have a plan A, plan B, and a plan C. We don't know what could go wrong, we can only plan ahead to prevent and be prepared. Whether it's a user deleting a file, a 'fire, flood, and blood' scenario, or a cyberattack, staying resilient is ALWAYS in style.' Future-Proofing Your Backups The old 'set it and forget it' mentality for backups no longer works. As Michael Cade says, World Backup Day itself needs to evolve: 'Like backups themselves, World Backup Day needs to level up and evolve. It sparks great conversation, but it needs to go beyond talking just backups in isolation and cover the full data resilience picture.' In today's volatile digital landscape, businesses need to think beyond traditional backups. Checklists and automated reports are not enough. You need resilience, the ability to not only back up but to bounce back quickly. Key Takeaways to Keep Your Backups from Failing Test your backups regularly – Never assume a backup is safe until you've verified you can restore critical data. Adopt the 3-2-1 rule – Keep three copies of your data on two different media, with one copy offsite and ideally air-gapped. Embrace immutability – Ensure backups cannot be changed or deleted, no matter who gains access. Simulate real-world attacks – Regularly run disaster recovery drills to measure how fast you can restore operations. Secure your backup environment – Use multi-factor authentication, encrypt backups in transit and at rest, and restrict admin access. As Rick Vanover says, resilience never goes out of style, and when it comes to backups, it's the only way to ensure your business survives the unexpected.
