With businesses and organizations becoming more reliant on technology than ever, it's no surprise backups are being employed at higher and higher levels to protect important or sensitive data. In fact, in most of the environments we walk into today, the client states they already have at least some form of backup deployed. This is a stark contrast from even a few years ago when it was more likely than not the client had nothing at all protecting their data.
While this is a great step forward, there is a new issue presenting itself today: bad backups. Bad backups can range anywhere from simply not containing all of the information they should, to being corrupt and completely unusable in the event of a disaster. Fortunately, there is a straight-forward solution to this problem: testing!
Understanding the Purpose of Backups
First things first: Lets review what the whole point of backups are. In essence, backups are copies of important data or files that are created to ensure their availability in case of data loss or system failure. The purpose of which is to protect valuable information and provide a means of recovering it in the event of a disaster.
By creating backups, you can safeguard your files, documents, applications, and other critical data from unexpected events such as hardware failures, software errors, malware attacks, or natural disasters.
So, now that we've got that out of the way...
Risks of Not Testing Backups
Failing to test your backups can lead to various risks and consequences. Here are some of the risks associated with not testing backups:
Incomplete or corrupted backups: Without regular testing, you may not be aware that your backups are incomplete or corrupted. This can result in the inability to restore your data accurately when needed.
False sense of security: Assuming your backups are reliable without testing them tends to lead to a false sense of security. The consequences of this can be devastating when a disaster occurs and you realize too late, that your backups are unusable.
Data loss and downtime: Taking the above point into account, not having a tested, reliable backup would logically lead to downtime in the event of a disaster, as well as other potential issues with things like payroll, customer communication or relations, and more.
Now, doesn't it make sense that you would want to make absolutely sure your backup is going to work if and when you need it? You wouldn't sign up for a car insurance policy that may or may not pay out if you get into a wreck right? So why take that type of risk with the single-most important part of your business: your data?
Benefits of Testing Backups
Regularly testing your backups offers several benefits:
Verification of backup integrity: This first one is obvious, testing helps you confirm that your backups are complete, accurate, and free from corruption. This ensures that your data can be restored successfully when needed.
Recovery practice and identification of issues: In the event of a disaster, the last thing you want to be doing is trying to figure out how to restore the data from your backup and figuring out issues during or post-restore, which leads to additional downtime. By testing your backup on a regular basis, you can note and work through issues without being on the hot seat, and put an actual plan in place with a step-by-step for if and when a real disaster strikes. It also helps you feel more comfortable with the actual restore process, leading to a lot less stress during an actual event.
Compliance requirements: Testing backups is often necessary to meet regulatory or industry compliance requirements. By ensuring the effectiveness of your backups through testing, you can fulfill these obligations and avoid potential penalties. Many cyber-insurance companies and policies are beginning to require testing of backups (sometimes even requiring proof of restore-ability) in order to approve a claim or even continue coverage.
Overall, testing backups provides assurance that your data is protected and recoverable, giving you peace of mind and minimizing the impact of potential data loss.
Best Practices for Testing Backups
To maximize the effectiveness of backup testing, consider the following best practices:
Define a testing schedule: Establish a regular testing schedule to ensure backups are tested consistently. This could be monthly, quarterly, or even yearly. You can also perform different testing at different frequencies based on the criticality of the data involved.
Test different scenarios: Test backups in a variety of scenarios to simulate real-life situations. This includes testing full system restores, individual file recoveries, and recovery on different hardware or software configurations.
Document and review test results: Keep records of backup test results, including any issues or errors encountered. Regularly review these results to identify patterns or recurring problems that need to be addressed or at least noted during real-life restores.
Regularly update backup procedures: As technology and systems evolve, update your backup procedures accordingly. This includes incorporating new tools or techniques that enhance the backup and recovery process.
Tools and Techniques for Backup Testing
There are various tools and techniques available to facilitate backup testing. Many of these will depend on the type of backup you're using while others are a bit more agnostic. Some common ones include:
Backup validation software: These tools analyze and verify the integrity of backup files, ensuring they are complete and error-free. Most of the time these tools are included with your backup system of choice but aren't always utilized. Check your backup system documentation to find what types of validation tools are available and how to use them.
Sandbox environments: A sandbox is effectively a completely different environment, outside of your production one. This can be either physical hardware or a completely virtual environment. Creating this sandbox allows you to test the restoration process without affecting your production systems. In some cases, you can utilize a cloud-based recovery environment to eliminate the need for extra hardware and provide flexibility in testing different configurations.
Automated recovery testing: We live in a world of automation, and backup recovery is no stranger to the industry. Many modern backup and recovery systems offer automated ways to check the integrity of backups. Do note however that, even if you use automated checking on a regular basis, you should spin up a recovery on your own every so often to ensure it isn't missing anything.
Peer reviews and audits: Regularly involve external parties, such as auditors or security experts, to perform independent reviews and audits of your backup processes. While these processes usually aren't cheap, the additional validation they provide as well as ensuring compliance with industry standards, is often worth it.
A Backup Checkup
The good news is that we're seeing more and more companies and organizations taking backup of critical data seriously. Unfortunately, we're often finding that many of these same organizations haven't done any testing and simply "set and forget" whatever backup system they're using. This can have dire consequences as we've shown today.
Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to check on your backup systems. By leveraging these tools and techniques, you can enhance the efficiency and reliability of your backup testing, ultimately leading to improved data protection and peace of mind.
Need help testing your backup? One of the few places left that don't have a continuity plan in place? We're here to help. Click on the button below to start the conversation and have us help with your business continuity needs and more.