World Backup Day special – III
March 31 2022: As the software and technology industry celebrates World Backup Day  today, here is what you, as an individual,  needs to know:
WHAT IS A BACKUP? A backup is a copy of all your important files — for example, your family photos, home videos, documents and emails. Instead of storing it all in one place (like your computer or smartphone), you keep a copy of everything somewhere safe.
BUT WHY SHOULD I BACKUP? Losing your files is way more common than you’d think.One small accident or failure could destroy all the important stuff you care about.
SO HOW DO I PROTECT MY DATA? We’re already well on our way, but now it’s time to actually take action. Get started today with one of the solutions below to better protect your data!
CREATE AT LEAST ONE BACKUP ON #WORLDBACKUPDAY!
ONLINE BACKUP SERVICES
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE BACKUP
COMPUTER BACKUP
BACKUP SMARTPHONE
CREATING A NAS BACKUP
OTHER BACKUP METHODS         Find the details  about these backup options here
Industry voices
And here are some industry expert voices:
Ripu Bajwa, Director and General Manager, Data Protection Solutions, Dell Technologies India:  In today’s era of accelerated change and digital transformation, businesses in every sector need to do more with less. With businesses in India running workloads in a hybrid environment, it is critical to securely store data in multiple spaces like databases, file servers, and network-attached storage (NAS). While considering a solution that gives businesses the flexibility to access, upload, protect and analyze data, an asset that will have the advantage of long-term retention, reporting and insight into cloud storage use, will serve Indian organizations better.
Data use and storage have undergone dynamic changes. According to the Dell Technologies APEX Backup Services study, 65% of IT decision-makers lack confidence that they will recover all systems or data to meet SLOs following a data loss. An as-a-Service model can be a redefining solution for businesses across where an enterprise solution provider manages their data needs while they focus on business growth. 25% of IT decision-makers indicate that database or data management workloads are a good fit for the as-a-Service model.
This World Backup Day should be a welcome opportunity for businesses to reconsider their storage solutions and upgrade to safer cloud environments secured by cutting-edge data protection amenities, which will support their digital transformation journey.”
Kumar Vembu, CEO and Founder of Gofrugal:  Data is the new oil, said a sane soul. The only difference is that oil would run out in a few years. Data, on the other hand, keeps getting accumulated exponentially. With more than 50% of the world's population using smart-phones and digital devices, with new ones adding day by day, there are massive amounts of data created.=
We walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe data. We are constantly leaving behind digital footprints. More so, when we engage with online platforms and are engrossed with digital channels. What most of us fail to notice, far less comprehend, is the lurking dangers and sneaking threats that we invite unintentionally. We hardly realize the growing platforms using AI + data to understand our choices and apprehend our preferences, and use our own personal information to create personalized experiences
It's time we all woke up to the realities and compulsions of data protection at large. It's not just about data backup and restore methods, but it's also about freeing businesses from digital slavery. It is the capacity to decide what data should be stored, how it should be used or not used, and to make sure it doesn't make us enslaved by hardware and enchained by software
It's not just individuals who are unaware and unprotected. Over, 90% of small and medium size retail and distribution businesses are not aware of the impact of data protection. According to a global survey by a cybersecurity firm, 57% of organisations suffered unexpected downtime last year because of data loss. The findings also revealed that while 91% of individuals backup data and devices, 68% still lose data because of hardware or software failures, out-of-date backup, power fluctuations, theft or accidental deletion. The backup methods are not regular and sometimes even a day's or week's day is lost because of manual methods
Sandeep Bhambure, Vice President, Veeam Software – India & SAARC: It is evident that the dependency of businesses on data, and the amount of data generated by them is consistently growing. This is creating new challenges for organizations of all sizes, making them even more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
According to Veeam Data Protection Report 2022, 84% of Indian organizations suffered ransomware attacks, making cyber-attacks one of the single biggest causes of downtime for the second consecutive year. The report also found that Indian organizations were unable to recover 36% of their lost data on average and 90% of organizations were unable to recover at least some of the data they had lost. Hence, it is essential that businesses have a comprehensive data backup plan in place to be fully prepared at the time of a data breach. That’s not all! Only backing up may not protect your data from ransomware - it is equally important to ensure that the backup is well protected and securely stored. Organizations need to ensure their data protection capabilities keep pace with the demands of their business, to close the gap between how much data they can afford to lose after an outage versus how frequently data is backed up.
The good news is that we're seeing CXOs acknowledge the urgent need for Modern Data Protection. And investing in such technologies goes beyond providing peace of mind, ensuring business continuity and maintaining customer confidence.”
Balaji Rao, Country Manager - India & SAARC, Mandiant: In the recent past, organizations across the globe have experienced cyber security attacks that impacted their businesses through loss of revenue and brand reputation. To mitigate these risks, companies must develop disaster recovery and backup plans that will help them re-establish business promptly in the event of an attack. Last year, Mandiant released its M-Trends report that highlighted some of the processes that companies must keep in mind for effective backup and restoration as follows:
-Clear delineation of responsibility for managing and verifying data and application backups.
-Alignment of backup and restoration processes with business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
-Online and offline data backup retention policies, including initiation, frequency, verification and testing (for both on-premises and cloud-based data).
-Backup infrastructure that was segmented within the environment and only accessible using dedicated accounts for interfacing with and managing backup platforms and storageAccording to the recent Mandiant predictions report, it was observed that the APJ region will witness an increase in breaches made public by attackers. Businesses have to re-imagine their network security and prioritize their critical data, application, and services. Security incidents require diligent preparation, rapid action and critical asset protection. The Mandiant Advantage Platform offers automated defence against active breaches, intel monitoring, alert investigation and prioritization and response and remediation. This helps organizations get back to business after a security incident and secure their valuable data. Mandiant frontline expertise helps organizations transform their cyber defence capabilities to mitigate threats and reduce business risk before, during and after an incident.