All LinkedIn Articles are posted by Victor J. Quinones, Jr., CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder at Virtual-Q. Original article posted here.
Technology is constantly evolving—and so are cyber threats. As systems become more advanced, disaster recovery becomes more important.
How can you improve your IT infrastructure to accommodate ever-changing cyber threats? Developing a solid disaster recovery plan is the first step.
Why Should You Have a Disaster Recovery Plan?
Disaster recovery plans protect your company from the following:
Ransomware
Ransomware is malicious software designed by hackers to block your access to your data until you pay a certain amount of money. In 2021, 37% of all businesses and organizations were hit with ransomware.
Recovering from these attacks costs $1.85 million on average—but with a disaster recovery plan, your data is always backed up and restorable, so you don’t need to pay ransom to get your data back. These plans save your business money in the event of a ransomware attack.
Natural Disasters
Nearly 94% of businesses that lose their data because of a natural disaster don’t survive, with 43% of them never reopening and 51% of them closing within two years. With a disaster recovery plan, your data is safe in the event of a natural disaster, so your business can successfully reopen.
Accidental or Intentional Data Corruption
Human error accounts for 88% of all data corruption and breaches. No matter how small or large your company is, employee mistakes are bound to happen—and you need to prepare for them.
With a quality disaster recovery plan, your business can bounce back from accidental or intentional data corruption because your information is backed up.
Why Should You Have a Disaster Recovery Plan?
Testing your recovery plan for protection is the next step—and arguably the most important. Disaster recovery isn’t a set-it-and-forget it process. It needs to be regularly tested by an IT professional.
If you’re not testing your backup plan, you aren’t aware of your network’s weaknesses.
There are several reasons to test your data recovery plan, including:
Checking Its Effectiveness
When an IT expert checks the effectiveness of your backup plan, they run through potential risk scenarios to ensure the plan will stop the threat. This helps your IT technician recognize potential problems so they can better protect your network and ensure your plan is sound and complete.
Preparing Your Team for Cyberattacks
By testing your disaster recovery plan, your team better understands their roles in the event of a data breach.
Think of it as a fire drill in school. The teachers, principals, and students each play certain roles during the drill. Teachers lock their doors and protect their students. Principals double-check that teachers complete their job.
Conducting drills with your recovery plan serves a similar purpose. Certain people can practice handling certain tasks based on their assigned roles, ensuring a unified response to the threat. It’s vital that everyone on your team knows what to do in case of a cyberattack.
Discover Cyberthreats Before They Affect Your Business
With a recovery plan in place, you’ll catch cyber threats before they become a problem for your company. You can’t afford to discover issues after a disaster occurs if you want your business to stay successful.
Where Can I Get Help With Disaster Recovery Testing?
If you need help developing quality backup plan testing, Virtual-Q is the place for you.
We have over 15 years of experience defending businesses from cyber attacks, and we equip your company with superior, tested disaster recovery plans.
Last year, cybercrime cost U.S. businesses nearly $6 trillion. Save your money and protect your data by contacting our IT experts today.
