From the Toronto Zoo cyberattack that leaked years of visitor credit card information to the PowerSchool data breach that has affected more than 2.14 million students, every day we hear about cyberattacks that are having devastating effects on organizations and their stakeholders.
These incidents can lead to significant data loss, financial losses, operational disruptions, reputational damage, and regulatory penalties, particularly if organizations don’t proactively have robust cybersecurity measures in place to mitigate an attack’s damage.
With World Backup Day coming up at the end of the month, this is a great time to specifically focus on honing your secure backup strategy to ensure business continuity.
Many organizations understand that backing up their data is important, but did you know that having backups alone isn’t enough? If you haven’t properly secured those backups, they can become targets, too. In this article, we’ll explore the threats your backup data faces and best practices for keeping it protected.
The Common Security Risks That Threaten Your Backup Data
Without proper safeguards, backup data can become a weak link, and your business’s operations will remain vulnerable. The risks are real and constantly evolving! Here are the most common security threats that could compromise your backup:
Unauthorized Access
When backup data isn’t properly secured, it can become an easy target for unauthorized access and lead to data theft, manipulation, or even deletion.
If bad actors exploit weaknesses in your defense to gain access to your backups, they can compromise sensitive information, bypass primary security measures, and even plant malicious code that activates when the data is restored. If you haven’t encrypted the data, they can use it for extortion, sell it on the dark web, or expose it publicly.
Ransomware Attacks
Ransomware attacks are one of the most significant threats to backup data, as cybercriminals increasingly target not just primary systems but also backups to prevent victims from restoring their data without paying a ransom.
Attackers use malware to encrypt files, making them inaccessible until an organization makes a payment. In some cases, they go a step further by exfiltrating sensitive data before encryption, threatening to leak it if you don’t meet their demands.
Insider Threats
Whether it’s a current contactor, a former employee with lingering credentials, or a third-party vendor with excessive permissions, everyone connected to your team can pose a serious risk to backup data. They may misuse, steal, or leak sensitive information—either intentionally or unintentionally.
Unlike external attacks, insider threats are particularly dangerous because they come from individuals who already have legitimate access to systems and data. A disgruntled employee might delete or manipulate backup files out of spite, while a careless staff member could accidentally expose backup data by using weak passwords or sharing access with unauthorized individuals. Without proper controls in place, even well-intentioned employees can put backup integrity at risk.
Data Corruption
Your backup won’t be useful to you if the information becomes unusable! Data can become corrupted due to many causes: hardware failures, software bugs, improper backup procedures, or even cyber threats like ransomware that deliberately alter backup files.
If your organization unknowingly stores corrupted backups, you may not realize there’s an issue until you attempt to restore it—when it’s too late! Without verified, intact backups, businesses could lose critical customer records, financial data, or proprietary information. This can lead to extended downtime, disrupted operations, and, in industries like healthcare or finance, potential regulatory penalties for failing to protect sensitive data.
Best Practices for Securing Backup Data
You don’t have to feel hopeless—there are proven steps you can take to reduce your risk and protect your business. Beyond following overall data management best practices for your entire IT infrastructure, such as continuous monitoring and regularly updating and patching your systems, you can also follow these practical strategies to help you boost your backup security:
Encryption
Take action to encrypt your backup data both when it’s being transferred and when it’s stored. Even if someone tries to access it without permission, they won’t be able to read it. You should also opt for secure storage solutions like encrypted cloud services or protected physical locations to keep everything safe.
Access control
Set up clear rules in your systems about which users can access your backup data. Role-based access control is a great tool to achieve this! It is a security system where people receive permissions based on the tasks and responsibilities associated with their role. For example, an employee in a finance role might have access to financial data, while someone in marketing might only be able to access marketing materials.
You can also implement authentication mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) to add another layer of protection.
Regular Audits
You can keep your backup data safe if you work to proactively identify potential vulnerabilities in your backup processes before they become a bigger issue. Conducting a regular audit will help you assess the efficacy of your backup system protection and make any necessary adjustments to secure your data against evolving threats.
Regularly testing your backups is essential to restoring data accurately and quickly when needed. These checks will verify your data’s integrity and confirm that the backup process works as intended.
Secure Storage Solutions
Storing backups in easily accessible or unsecured locations makes them vulnerable to threats and leaves your organization at risk.
You can avoid that outcome by leveraging secure storage tools such as encrypted cloud storage and ensuring that backup hardware—hard drives, servers, and data centers – is physically secure.
Implementing immutable backups—backups that cannot be altered or deleted—is another key step in securing your data while in storage. If bad actors ever compromise your network, you’ll feel confident knowing that your backup data will remain intact and recoverable.
Employee Training
Since human error is the leading cause of data breaches and compromised integrity, educating employees on the importance of backup security will be your most important action for safeguarding your information.
When employees understand the risks associated with unsecured backup data and how their actions can impact the organization, they can become active participants in protecting sensitive information.
Your organization will benefit from conducting regular training sessions that teach everyone on your team the best practices for handling backup data. By fostering a culture of security awareness, you empower your team to make better decisions that keep backup data safe from potential threats.
Secure your backup data with PC Corp
Your organization is operating normally when, suddenly, a ransomware attack locks you out of your systems. You check your backups and discover they’re compromised, too. Instead of a quick recovery, you face a costly setback.
This scenario isn’t just hypothetical—it happens to businesses every day. Securing your backup data is crucial—it acts as your safety net in case of disaster! No matter what comes your way—cyberattacks, hardware failures, or human error—you will have a clean, reliable copy of your data ready to restore.
When you outsource that work to the experts, you can rely on their proactive approach to effectively optimize your systems. At PC Corp, we apply a comprehensive, zero-trust cybersecurity framework to all aspects of our procurement, managed IT services, and IT projects – ensuring you have robust protections in place at every level.
Don’t wait for a crisis to expose vulnerabilities in your infrastructure!
Contact us to discuss how we can take action together to keep your business running.
