Data Loss Disasters Come in Many Forms

Data loss disasters come in many forms, ranging from full-scale natural calamities to cyberattacks and even simple human errors. Disasters can bring businesses to a grinding halt. Apart from financial and reputational damage, failing to protect valuable data can also result in expensive lawsuits.

That’s why businesses, regardless of size, must have a backup and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan. By implementing a foolproof BCDR, you can quickly get your business back up and running should disaster strike. It will also help you comply with governmental and industry regulatory frameworks.

In this post, we’ll break down the different types of data loss disasters and outline the key BCDR components that can help you make it through a disruptive event with flying colors.

The many forms data loss can take

Let’s analyze the various types of data loss disasters that can hurt your business:

Natural disasters
This covers everything from storms, hurricanes, floods, fires, tsunamis and volcano eruptions. In most cases, you can expect infrastructural damages, power failure and mechanical failures, which could then lead to data loss.

Hardware and software failure
Software and hardware disruption can cause data loss if you don’t have BCDR measures in place. These disruptions could be due to bugs, glitches, configuration errors, programmatic errors, component failures, or simply because the device is at its end of life or the software is outdated.

Unforeseen circumstances
Data loss can happen due to random, unexpected scenarios. For instance, a portable hard disk held by an employee could get stolen, your server room may have a water leak because of a plumbing issue, or there could even be a pest infestation in one of your data centers.

Human factor
Human errors are a leading cause of data loss incidents. These errors range from accidental file deletions, overwriting of existing files and naming convention errors to forgetting to save or back up data or spilling liquid on a storage device.

Cyberthreats
Your business may fall prey to malware, ransomware and virus attacks, which could leave your data and backups corrupt and irrecoverable. Additionally, data loss could be caused by malicious insiders with unauthorized access, which often goes under the radar.

Key components of BCDR

Here are a few crucial things to keep in mind as you build a robust BCDR strategy:

Risk assessment
Identify potential risks and threats that would impact business operations. Measure and quantify the risks to tackle them.

Business impact analysis (BIA)
Assess the potential consequences of a disruptive event on critical business functions and prioritize them in the recovery plan.

Continuity planning
Implement procedures to resume critical business operations during disruption, with minimal downtime.

Disaster recovery planning
Plan a well-defined business resumption plan to recover critical IT functions and data following a disruptive incident.

Testing and maintenance
Periodically test your disaster recovery and backup plans to ensure they can be recovered in a disaster. If they fail, you can work on the enhancement.

Wondering where to begin?

Developing and implementing a BCDR plan on your own can be daunting. However, we can help you build the right BCDR strategy for your business profile. Download our How to Plan and Prepare for Data Loss Disasters checklist, and then contact us to get started!