A disaster recovery plan is a crucial addition to any businesses IT security infrastructure. Having one is the difference between getting knocked out of commission for hours or days on end after a cyber attack or power outage versus a few minutes. However, what the disaster recovery plan entails varies greatly depending on what industry you are in, where you are located, what your network runs on and if you’re working with a managed services provider.

Despite these differences, there are several evergreen features all disaster recovery plans should cover. If you’re plan doesn’t include any of these tips, then you are not prepared at all!

• Back up everything with image-based backups

Backing up your data means that should your data be lost by any reason, you have backups stored away somewhere that you can immediately access and get your business operating like nothing ever happened.

One of the main draws to working with an MSP is that they offer to store your backups, and can do it through something called image-based backups. This means that every so often, the MSP takes a “snapshot” of all of your files, or makes a copy of them, so that if you need to use them they won’t be out-of-date backups from when you first set up the service. How often the MSP makes a revised copy of your files is up to you, but obviously the more often the better.

• Encryption

Getting your data stolen is bad enough, but what makes it truly a disaster is having it be read by the wrong people. Fortunately, the second one can be totally prevented through the use of data encryption. Encryption makes it so that if an encrypted file were to fall into the wrong hands, the information in the file would appear as an unintelligible mess of letters and numbers because the hacker wouldn’t have the encryption key. The encryption key would only be available to approved users, usually the business owner and whoever they send the encrypted data to.

• Store on-premise encrypted data backups to the cloud

The cloud is the perfect mix of stability, security and savings. Taking advantage of cloud technology by working with a cloud services provider allows your IT infrastructure to be consistently updated as well as having a watchful eye looking out for any threats. Most cloud providers also have data centers of their own to store your data, which means that if your data centers were to be destroyed or rendered inoperable, your data is still safe and sound in the cloud.

• Test your disaster recovery plan often

You don’t want to find out you missed something or incorrectly explained something in your plan when you actually need it.

Testing your disaster recovery plan not only gives you a sense of how long it will take to get your business back up and running, but it also ensures that everyone knows what their role is and what to do in the event of a data breach or any other disaster. Recovering from a disaster is an all-hands-on-deck situation, and it often involves constant communication with an outside party, usually a managed service provider.

• Have someone be accountable for how the plan plays out

There needs to be someone in charge of the disaster recovery process, who needs to see it through and makes sure it goes through smoothly. What you don’t want in the event of a disaster is the entire team looking around confused going “who, me?” Responding to a data breach is scary, and it can take an unnecessarily long time to find someone willing to step up and take the lead, which is why you have to do this before disaster ever strikes!

For more information on the cloud and how it can help you prevent, and recover, from a disaster, check out the TOSS C3 website and call us anytime at 1-888-884-8677.