How to do data backup? There are many risks that pose a threat to your computer. Unfortunately, many of them are more sophisticated and can lead to significant data loss. There are also a variety of accidents that can occur on your computer (or part of your computer). The question is not whether or not a particular computer problem will occur, but when it will occur. It is very important to know how to get the best data backup and keep your valuable data safe.
What are the main reasons for data loss?
They range from malware attacks to hardware failures, accidental file deletions, and recent ransomware attacks. Malware attacks not only irreparably encrypt files stored on local hard drives in your computer in a very short time but also spread quickly across your network and give you everything you have at your disposal. It is especially inconvenient because it can be encrypted.
For all these reasons, regular backup of your data is more important than ever.
Backup is one of the basic activities that everyone should take seriously and should never be avoided. Once you have made copies of your data, you will be able to access them. Otherwise, in the event of an accident, the affected people will have no choice but to lose the most important thing on their computer: valuable data.
How to keep data safe from ransomware attacks?
Ransomware attacks will result in the encryption of all data available at the time of the attack. The data on the external drive attached to the computer will be encrypted, as will the data on the NAS (network assisted storage) accessible over the local network.
As for data on cloud services, they will be encrypted if they rely on real-time synchronization. However, the advantage of such services is that they usually store several previous versions of files, in which case older versions of files can still be found.
If the data is stored on a medium that cannot be easily accessed (offline media) or which does not allow rewriting, then ransomware can do no harm. Anyone trying to get to your data in this case will be unsuccessful. The operating system can always be reinstalled relatively painlessly, and data can be restored from some of the available backups.
The 3-2-1 Data Backup Strategy – the most effitient data backup
There are many strategies and principles behind regular backups. Among them, the most popular strategy is often called the 321 data backup strategy.
This strategy assumes that you always have a total of three copies of all your data. The two should be stored locally on different media or devices, while one should be physically stored in a separate, offsite location (primarily in the cloud). It should be emphasized that data stored on cloud services must also be backed up according to the same principle.
Wondering why the 321 backup strategies are considered one of the best? Even if complete computer security cannot be achieved, enough measures can be taken to at least get close enough to this unattainable goal. The 321 backup strategy leads to the greatest number of scenarios where, despite the sudden interruption of data availability, data can still be obtained.
For example, if your computer crashes, one of your three copies will still be available.
For this strategy to work, it is necessary to ensure that all three replicas are updated at the same rate, preferably at the same time. In addition, for maximum security, it is recommended that you periodically store copies of your most important data on a medium that cannot be deleted.
Data Backup Strategy 321 is possibly the best practice recommended by IT professionals. It is considered suitable for small businesses and home computer users.
How to keep data unencrypted?
Ransomware may also fail to encrypt files located on external drives, NAS on the local network, and other available storage locations.
This method is quite simple.
The backup user account must be used for backups, and only that account has read and write permissions to the backup disk. The standard user account used for regular work on the computer should only have read permission to backups, as this prevents unwanted processes from modifying the data in any way.
Because malicious processes run in the context of the currently logged-in user account, and if that account doesn’t have write permissions, unwanted processes won’t be able to modify the data.
Conclusion
Backing up files regularly is an activity that shouldn’t be overlooked. This is the only way to ensure that no data loss occurs in the event of a computer malfunction or attack by malware. No special software is needed to create backups, although there are some even free tools that will do the job just fine. The same goes for dedicated cloud backup storage services.
Admittedly, it has never been easier or cheaper to follow a fallback strategy. If you haven’t already done so, now is a good time to back up any data you don’t want to lose.