In today's digital landscape, data is among the most valuable assets for organizations. Whether it's digitized Personal Identifiable Information (PII), financial data, customer information, or mission-critical applications, safeguarding digital environments through regular backups is critical. Despite the apparent simplicity of backup and restore processes, studies and real-world incidents reveal a troubling truth: many backups fail, and even more alarming, restore processes are frequently unsuccessful. The implications of these failures can be devastating, leading to operational downtime, financial losses, and reputational damage.
The Caribbean faces multifaceted digital data risks through human error, deliberate actions, natural disasters, and cyber attacks. As this article is written, the Caribbean is in the middle of hurricane season, which poses a significant risk to ICT environments.
Unfortunately, with hurricanes Irma and Maria, we have plenty of examples of severe destruction to buildings, including those housing ICT infrastructure. The risk from cyber attacks is a year-round, 24/7 problem, with Fortinet indicating that the Latin America and Caribbean region suffered 200 billion attempted attacks in 2023. According to the Financial Times, “The cost of recovering from a ransomware attack is now ten times that of the average ransom payment.”
Testing up-to-date backup and restore environments is critical for disaster/recovery strategies.
Backups are designed to mitigate risks like hardware failure, cyber-attacks, or human error, but industry data shows that a surprising number of backup systems fail to meet expectations. According to a 2022 research study by Apricorn, 26% of Backup/Disaster Recovery Strategies Fail.
An earlier 2021 Veeam report identified that “58% of Data Backups are Failing, Creating Data Protection Challenges and Limiting Digital Transformation Initiatives.”
However, the issue doesn’t stop with the backup process itself. The most critical part of any backup strategy is the ability to restore data when necessary, and many organizations face severe challenges in this area.
There are several reasons why backups fail, many of which relate to technical issues, human error, or a lack of proper backup policies:
When backup systems fail, organizations lose their safety net. Restore failures, leading to significant downtime or data loss, can be due to:
The consequences of failed backups and restores can be severe, especially for SMBs. According to a Pentera survey, 93% of enterprises admitting to a breach suffered significant consequences. In the USA, 93% of businesses that experience extended downtime close within a year.
In addition to financial losses, failed backups can lead to loss of customer trust and damage to a company's reputation. In industries handling sensitive information, these failures can lead to non-compliance with regulatory standards.
Organizations can reduce the likelihood of failed backups and restores through:
While backups are critical to any organization's data management strategy, their success is far from guaranteed. By understanding the causes of these failures and implementing best practices, organizations can reduce the risk of data loss and downtime, ensuring that their systems function as intended.
Our team of disaster recovery experts works with clients to determine recovery objectives and develop customized disaster recovery plans. Organizations can replicate their environment to another Cloud Carib site with disaster recovery sites throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.
Contact Cloud Carib today for a free consultation, and let us help you stay ahead of potential threats.