Over Fifty Percent of U.S. and UK Poll Respondents Have Experienced a Data Loss Due to Inadequate Backup Procedures

More than 60 percent of employees believe backing up company data is not their problem

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Oct 12, 2021, 08:57 ET

POWAY, Calif., Oct. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Apricorn, the leading manufacturer of software-free, 256-bit AES XTS hardware-encrypted USB drives, today announced new findings from a Twitter poll exploring data backup and recovery processes. More than 50 percent of respondents noted that they, or their employees, have experienced a loss of data as a result of not backing up, or a failed backup.

Despite this, more than 60 percent of respondents stated that they are not required to play a role in backing up company data. This is particularly concerning given the troves of data now moving beyond the boundaries of the corporate network, as more businesses adopt work-from-home scenarios. Respondents recognize backups as a central IT function but are clearly not sanctioned to take personal action, whether that be through tech, policy or processes.

Jon Fielding, Managing Director, EMEA Apricorn commented, "This month is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and the focus is on "Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart." Data security is not the responsibility of just one person within an organization; every employee plays a part and having individual, as well as central, backups in place is critical for maintaining a strong cyber security posture and business continuity. Data backup keeps information safe, and enables a much faster response towards complete restoration and recovery in the event of a disaster, reducing downtime and minimizing financial and reputational damage."

While backup procedures are still not at the forefront of all business cybersecurity plans, those that are backing up state that they are using the cloud (55%) as their primary location for data backups. That said, only 36 percent of respondents believe the cloud is the most failsafe place to do so. Twenty-eight percent suggested offsite data centers are a secure alternative and 24 percent noted removable storage devices as the most failsafe place to backup company data so it can be recovered after a breach/loss.

"The fact that businesses are making additional backups of their data is a huge positive, but the responses suggest that businesses are heavily reliant on cloud storage for primary and/or secondary backups," said Kurt Markley, Managing Director, Americas Apricorn. "The 3-2-1 rule should form the basis of any backup processes: keep three total copies of your data, on two different mediums, with one copy stored off-site. Maintaining physical backups even if you use cloud storage is essential in case your cloud provider experiences downtime and/or faces a breach."

However, a third of respondents admitted to not backing up data to a second off-site location. Of those that do, over 30 percent are backing up to the cloud and just over 20 percent are relying on storage devices to keep secondary backups.

"Online and offline storage should go hand in hand. Removable storage devices are complementary to the cloud, enabling the retention of some element of control over the data rather than abdicating all responsibility to a cloud storage provider. By backing up locally on hardware encrypted storage devices, and mandating employees also do this every day ensures you have recent copies of your data and makes restoring from different backup versions as easy as possible. Businesses need to make certain that should a breach occur, they have coupled their backup plan with a disaster recovery plan also," Markley concluded.

Methodology

Comprising of five question and answer options and drawing 5,415 responses, the Apricorn Twitter poll was conducted over two days during the week of September12, 2021.

About Apricorn

Apricorn provides secure storage innovations to the most prominent companies in the categories of finance, healthcare, education, and government throughout EMEA, North America and Canada. Apricorn products have become the trusted standard for a myriad of data security strategies worldwide. Founded in 1983, numerous award-winning products and patents have been developed under the Apricorn brand as well as for a number of leading computer manufacturers on an OEM basis.

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SOURCE Apricorn