Global cybersecurity is at the crossroads of major challenges and threats, the scale of which is already being felt by researchers. According to AAG IT, the number of cyberattacks increased by 125% in 2021 and continues to grow every year. Businesses notice this and are constantly increasing their cybersecurity spending.
According to data of Cybersecurity Ventures, in 2004 the global cybersecurity market was only $3.5 billion. However, in the next two years, this amount is expected to grow to $1.75 trillion. Among the victims of cyberattacks are both large companies like eBay and microbusinesses with hundreds of customers. What signal do we get from these statistics? It’s very simple: cybercriminals are increasing their activity and posing a threat to all companies without exception.
For Ukrainian businesses, the situation is even more threatening. In addition to criminals seeking to enrich themselves, Ukraine is constantly under attack from the enemy. Cyberattacks are part of a full-scale war that Russia has unleashed in our country, and for which it has been preparing long before 2022. On the eve of the invasion, in the first 10 months of 2021, 280,000 attacks were recorded in Ukraine. Most of them targeted the government and critical sites, such as banking systems. However, businesses were also partially affected;
In this article, we’ll explain why no one should neglect cybersecurity and why data backup is a simple and reliable way to keep your information safe.
Cyberattacks are no accident
Business leaders don’t like to spend money on low-profile projects and rarely invest in areas that don’t bring benefits here and now. It’s an eloquent fact: in 2020, 49% of entrepreneurs in Ukraine kept records in spreadsheet services, although there were already a number of high-quality CRM systems on the market to suit every taste. People believed that the transition to CRM was too complicated and would not benefit their company;
This underestimation is also present in the field of cybersecurity today. Company executives sometimes voice a dangerous opinion: “We’re a small company, why would hackers want information about my customers?” It seems that many entrepreneurs really do not understand the motives of criminals, so let’s take a closer look at them;
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- Money. Most cybercriminals are focused on making money. They may use cyberattacks to extort ransom, steal financial information, steal confidential intellectual property, or to assess a company’s financial resources.
- Theft of personal information. Cybercriminals can attack a business to steal personal information about customers or employees, which can then be used for fraud, espionage, or identification.
- Hacking for fun. Some cybercriminals may launch cyberattacks simply for fun or to test their skills without any specific purpose or benefit.
- Political motives and war. Hackers from the Russian Federation can attack Ukrainian companies to damage the country’s economy.
It is difficult for cybercriminals to attack companies that are well protected. It’s easier to find a weak spot and hit it. This makes all hacker attacks not accidental. That is, if a business does not care about cybersecurity, it increases its chances of falling under one of the attacks.
What is data backup and why is it needed?
One of the easiest ways to keep your data safe is to back it up. Backing up your data is the process of making copies of important data and storing them on another medium or in another location. This makes it possible to restore this data in case of loss or damage.
The most modern and convenient way to store backups today is in the cloud. 65% of companiessaythat they use the cloud as their primary data storage for backups.
Depending on the service, backups can look different. There are services that automatically create a copy every 24 hours, encrypt it, and send it to the cloud. Often, such services copy only new data or information that has changed. This speeds up the process and makes it invisible to the business;
There are several reasons why businesses need data backup:
- Cyberterrorism. Criminals won’t be able to blackmail you for access to your data if you have a copy. Even if someone manages to erase all the information and demands a ransom for its return, you can quickly restore everything and continue working;
- Human factor. There are situations when employees accidentally delete some important database, after which it cannot be restored. Depending on the importance of this information, the damage can be either minor or catastrophic;
In 2021, a police officer in Dallas accidentally deleted an important 23 terabyte archive. It contained files, photos, evidence, and other documents for about 17,500 cases in the district attorney’s office. Guess if the Dallas police had a backup copy of this data? Of course not;
The problems arose due to an accidental coincidence: an employee was careless about his work, somehow gained access to a large amount of important data, and the police did not take care of the backup. That is, even without hackers or cybercriminals, force majeure can occur in a fairly secure organization with severe consequences.
How to choose a data backup service
When choosing a data backup service, there are several key aspects to consider. First of all, you should clearly define your needs: what data you need to back up and how often you need to back it up. It’s also important to consider the amount of data you plan to store, as some services may have storage capacity limits or calculate the cost based on the amount of data.
In addition, you should pay attention to security measures such as data encryption during transmission and storage, as well as the availability of authentication mechanisms. When choosing a service, you should evaluate the usability of the user interface and the ability to restore data from backups in case of data loss or damage. Equally important is the scalability of the service, its reliability, and the quality of support it provides to its users.
For example, in UCloud, backup provides full coverage: backup of disks, partitions, files and folders, and virtual machines. The copies are stored in a reliable UCloud data center in Germany. The cost of copying one terabyte will cost the company only $10 per month;
Brief conclusion
Backup is the creation of a backup copy of important business data. Unfortunately, many companies still neglect the security of their information and store everything in one place. In this case, they become a weak target for cyber terrorists who can steal information and demand a ransom for it.
Even if the hackers pass by your company, problems can arise from within. The human factor should not be ignored: accidental deletions or Russian shelling put your data at risk. Cloud backup is a simple, reliable, and inexpensive way to keep your data safe and ensure your company’s stable operation;
Daniil Belov, Director of Business Development at UCloud
