What a business backup should look like (and how we test it)
Almost every company has a backup. Very few have ever restored it. That difference decides whether an incident costs an afternoon or the business.
The 3-2-1 rule in practice
Three copies of the data, on two different media, one of them off site. Easy to say, very easy to break without noticing.
- A fast local copy to restore a file or a server in minutes
- An encrypted cloud copy for fire, theft or flood
- An immutable or offline copy that ransomware cannot delete or encrypt
Why the immutable copy is not optional
Modern ransomware goes for the backups first. If the backup server is reachable with domain credentials, it disappears with everything else.
If your provider cannot explain how the backup is protected against an attacker with admin rights, it is not protected.
How much downtime you can afford
We ask two questions first: how many hours of data can you lose, and how many hours can you be unable to work. Those answers set backup frequency and restore method.
An accountancy firm at quarter end and a warehouse shipping hourly do not need the same solution or budget.
How we test it
Every month we restore a random set of files, and at least once a year we bring up a full server in an isolated environment. The result is signed off in the monthly report.
That is the only honest way to say a backup works: having restored it.
Related services
When did you last restore your backup?
We run a real restore test and tell you the state of your backup.
Request a restore test