Technology has significantly and undeniably changed the world. It opened up opportunities for many professionals and businesses alike. Although the age of the internet comes with countless benefits, it also comes with some threats. Data has always been a valuable asset to companies. Businesses try to protect their corporate data, files, and information. However, how can you tell if your security is enough? Now, this question sparks the interest in network backup security.
Cybercriminals are more sophisticated nowadays. They no longer just send badly written phishing emails while hoping that a poor unfortunate soul will fall for it. They now conduct victim research on networks. They find the vulnerability in the corporate network, locate the important data, and target backups. Leaving the company with no choice but to give into paying the ransom.
Importance of Network Backup Security Resiliency
Some companies apply their basic security measures and regular backup strategy then call it a day– while their confidence in their network security tool is admirable, the basics are not enough when your company’s reputation is on the line.
You need security and backup strategy that can help you quickly recover from a cyber-attack. As mentioned previously, cybercriminals are more sophisticated nowadays, so you also need to smart up and find ways to improve your security and backup measures.
How to Make Your Network Backup Security Cyber-Resilient
A cyber-resilient network backup security requires you to focus on fortifying backup environments against cyber-attacks and leveraging technologies that focus on speed of recovery from said attacks.
Here are some things that you can do to achieve cyber-resilient network backup security:
Back up all your important corporate data to independently managed systems.
You need to create a backup for all the applications and data that support your business processes, including management services and data stored in the public cloud.
Backing them up does not mean just creating a new copy on the cloud. It means creating a backup in a separate location. It should be independent of the source systems and cloud environment under protection.
Go the extra mile and have a separate team manage the backup to draw a clear line between the duties between primary and backup systems.
Keep your backup for at least 60 days.
Data retention can possibly save you from latent cyber-attacks. Keeping your backup copies for at least 60 days allows you to recover from latent cyber-attacks. This type of attack aims to target your data after your backup copies expire.
By keeping your backup longer, you are forcing the cybercriminals to stay within your network longer than they are comfortable with– which makes it harder for them to remain unnoticed.
Keep your password safe.
It is not a good idea to store the passwords of backup systems in the same password vault as the systems they protect. You also should not store passwords of backup systems online.
Your password rotation should be shorter than the shortest backup retention. It may be stating the obvious, but keeping your password safe can prevent the success of a latent cyber-attack.
Implement multi-step or multi-factor authentication.
Adding a multi-factor authentication into your security measures will prevent insiders from overriding policy and wiping backup systems. It also adds a layer of security to gain access to privileged destructive commands.
Multi-factor authentication can prevent a single individual from executing mass data destruction commands on the network.
Audit your network regularly.
You need to audit and analyze all the actions carried out on your corporate backup systems to ensure that there is no unusual behavior within the system.
Do not be complacent just because you have a backup.
A regular backup is not a free pass for you to be lenient and complacent about your network security. Having a backup does not guarantee a quick recovery.
For instance, there are cases when the backup is incomplete or corrupted. You need to test and validate backup data. You need to ensure that all your backup data is working in case of a cyber-attack.
Bottomline
Achieving cyber resilience does not mean simply adding security measures that can “possibly” detect malware and ransomware and hope for the best. You need to have a comprehensive strategy and solid security and backup process in place to make sure that all your data and applications are safe.
Using the right tools and applying the right steps can prevent cyber-attacks before they happen. But it is also important to be prepared in case a cybercriminal makes it through your security measures.
A cyber-resilient network backup security strategy enables you to rely on backups to fulfill their intended purpose even in the face of sophisticated cyber-attacks.