Maintaining Business Continuity by using a solid backup and recovery strategy

by Martin Teetz OpenText Employee

in Portfolio

Maintaining business continuity is crucial for any organization, and a solid backup and recovery strategy is a cornerstone of this process. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) are essential components that help organizations prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive incidents. These incidents can range from natural disasters to cyberattacks, and the goal is to minimize downtime and data loss.

Ransomware attacks can significantly disrupt business operations and cause reputational and financial damage.

Here are some key statistics on how business continuity is affected by ransomware attacks:

Increase in Ransomware Attacks: According to the 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, the total number of ransomware attacks surged by 13%, which is a rise equal to the last five years combined. Read our blog on why it is important to use backup and recovery software to protect from data loss.

Businesses Affected: As of 2023, over 72 percent of businesses worldwide were affected by ransomware attacks. This figure represents an increase on the previous five years and was by far the highest figure reported.

Recovery Time: In 2020, organizations took an average of 287 days to recover from a ransomware attack.

Ransom Amount: The average ransom demand increased by 47% in the beginning of 2020, amounting to an average of $338,669 per attack.

Data Recovery: On average, organizations that paid the ransom got back just 65% of the encrypted files, leaving over one-third of their data inaccessible. 29% of respondents reported that 50% or less of their files were restored, and only 8% got all their data back.

These statistics highlight the significant impact of ransomware attacks on business continuity. It's crucial for businesses to have a robust cybersecurity strategy in place to mitigate these risks.

A comprehensive BCDR strategy includes both proactive and reactive measures. Proactive measures involve business continuity plans (BCPs) that maintain operations during and immediately after a disaster. Reactive measures involve disaster recovery plans (DRPs) that focus on restoring IT systems and data access after an incident.

Key elements of a successful BCDR strategy.

Business Impact Analysis (BIA): This helps organizations understand the potential impact of an interruption to critical business operations and sets the foundation for the entire BCDR plan.
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO): RTO is the targeted duration of time within which a business process must be restored after a disaster to avoid unacceptable consequences. RPO is the maximum tolerable period in which data might be lost due to a disaster.
Backup Frequency and Retention: Deciding how often data is backed up and how long it is retained is critical, based on the nature of the data and regulatory requirements.
Backup Types: Full, incremental, or differential backups can be used depending on the volume of data and how frequently it changes.
Backup Locations: Data should be stored in multiple locations, which could be on-site, off-site, in the cloud, or a combination to ensure redundancy and availability.
Disaster Recovery: A solid DR plan ensures quick reaction to disasters and includes procedures for data restoration and communication protocols.
Regular Testing and Validation: Regularly testing backups and disaster recovery processes ensures that they will function correctly when needed.
Security Measures: Implementing encryption, access controls, and monitoring to protect backup data from unauthorized access or theft.
Ongoing Management and Monitoring: Continuous management and monitoring of the backup and recovery processes ensure they remain effective and adapt to any changes in the business environment
Integration of Cybersecurity: Incorporating cybersecurity measures, such as intrusion detection and response, into the BCDR plan is vital for protecting against cyber threats. Read our blog on why it is a good idea to complement backup and recovery software with ransomware detection.

A robust backup and recovery strategy is integral to business continuity. It requires careful planning, implementation, and regular review to ensure that an organization can withstand and quickly recover from disruptive events. By considering the components mentioned above and tailoring them to the specific needs of the business, organizations can develop a resilient BCDR strategy that safeguards their operations and data.

OpenText has a comprehensive and secure enterprise Backup and Recovery tool that supports you with all the features to fulfill all the requirements above.

OpenText Data Protector here is what it can do for you:

Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO): Data Protector's built-in capabilities enable businesses to recover quickly, from granular file restores to automated bare metal recovery. This helps meet both RTO and RPO requirements.
Backup Frequency and Retention: Data Protector offers many backup options and advanced deduplication, which can improve performance and storage efficiency.
Backup Types: Data Protector supports backup of multiple operating systems, storage platforms, hypervisors, and business applications. It supports full backups, incremental backups and more.
Backup Locations: Data Protector supports backup to disk, tape, and cloud, both locally and remotely. This ensures redundancy and availability of data across multiple locations.
Disaster Recovery: Data Protector has built-in disaster recovery capabilities that enable businesses to restore operations quickly and efficiently.
Regular Testing and Validation: The comprehensive reporting provided by Data Protector allows administrators to effectively monitor their backup environment.
Security Measures: Data Protector provides enhanced security such as Role Based Access Control, immutability, and true air gap backups. It also ensures data and control communication security.
Ongoing Management and Monitoring: Data Protector provides integrated reporting, which includes detailed and management reports, schedule status, audits, and compliance. This allows for continuous management and monitoring of the backup and recovery processes.
Integration of Cybersecurity: Data Protector offers ransomware protection capabilities, giving you high protection from cyber-attacks. Data Protector also integrates with OpenText WebRoot for advanced ransomware protection.