Hackers are constantly evolving and adapting their methodologies for targeting businesses, including their ransomware threats. As a result, ransomware attacks have remained a persistent thorn in the side of organizations, and combating them is more crucial than ever.
In fact, in 2022, the average cost of a ransomware attack in the United States alone was $9.44 million.
Data backups can help your company prevent one of these costly ransomware attacks from causing irreparable damage, and are one of the best ways to combat ransomware threats. Below, we’ll cover all you need to know about them.
Why You Need To Prioritize Data Backups
It’s important to first understand that it’s impossible to protect against every cyber threat. However, protecting your data and assets can be achieved with a proactive approach, rather than a reactive one.
This is good news, as using data backups and cloud data backup best practices are two proactive methods you can implement in your company’s operations. Backing up your data in a separate location adds a crucial layer of protection, granting you more security and peace of mind.
Advantages of Data Backup and Recovery for Ransomware Threats
Added Data Security
One of the most obvious advantages of data backup and recovery is the security of your data.
While the original version of your data might be more susceptible to ransomware threats, having a backup somewhere else removes one motive for the attack. If you’re still able to access the data, the hacker can’t hold the data for ransom and must resort to other tactics to get you to pay, such as blackmail.
Reduced Downtime
The average cost of network downtime for online operations is $5,600 per minute.
With a data backup, whether a full backup or replication, you can mitigate, if not entirely eliminate, downtime. If you are a victim of a ransomware attack, you can seamlessly get back up and running again with your backup rather than spending potentially months trying to recover. What could take years to recover financially can be avoided with data backups.
Compliance
In many industries—including healthcare, manufacturing, and financial—there are stringent regulations for how long to keep particular kinds of data.
With data backup solutions, it’s much easier to comply with these regulations, no matter your industry, making it one less detail for you to constantly focus on. Backup programs help protect important data, such as documents and files. Failure to do so can result in lawsuits and charges if client information is compromised, especially if it contains personal and payment information.
Ransomware Threat Solutions for Data Backups To Consider
Backup as a Service
Backup as a Service (BaaS) is a popular data backup solution because it gives more security control and autonomy to large-scale enterprises and managed service providers (MSPs).
With an elite Backup as a Service provider, you can streamline your data backups and better protect your data against ransomware threats.
Disaster Recovery as a Service
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) can help when you don’t wish to fully back up your data, but just replicate it and recover more quickly.
DRaaS providers can help you find a solution that’s scalable and flexible to your exact data backup needs while still helping you prepare to combat ransomware threats.
Discover More About Ransomware Remediation and Recovery
Backing up your data is not just a best practice for mitigating cybersecurity threats, it’s also a practice that gives your organization—and clients—the peace of mind you deserve.
However, finding the right solution for your ransomware threat protection needs is just the first step toward maximizing your cybersecurity needs. As hackers develop their methodologies, it’s just as important for you to know what to do in the aftermath of ransomware attacks.
That’s why we created the only checklist you need to tick every box during the recovery phase of a cyber attack.
Learn everything you need to know to further improve your cybersecurity with our free Ransomware Recovery Checklist today.
