Why World Backup Day Is Not Just Another Gimmicky ‘Holiday’

“Cold Cuts Day,” “National Anthem Day,” “What if Cats and Dogs had Opposable Thumbs Day”…

If you’ve never heard of World Backup Day, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s another of the gimmicky “holidays” that seem to be snatching up more and more space on the calendar. (Did you know that single quirky duo Ruth and Tom Roy are responsible for copyrighting more than 80 of these holidays, including Bathtub Party Day, held annually on Dec. 5?)

This isn’t the case for World Backup Day. While, according to WorldBackUpDay.com, it was founded by a few “concerned users” on the social media site reddit, the day’s dedication is a decidedly serious one. March 31 was established as “a day for people to learn about the increasing role of data in our lives and the importance of regular backups.”

Each April Fool’s Eve, the site invites humans all over the planet to not be fools and to back up their data. In celebration of World Backup Day, we sat down with Webroot Product Marketing Director George Anderson to see how users can ensure they stay cyber resilient by adhering to good data backup practices.

For World Backup Day, what’s the one piece of advice you’d give to a small or midsize business? Or to an everyday computer user, like a parent?

Anderson: Losing data used to be something that happened because a hard disk failed, a device was lost or stolen, or some other unforeseen accident made a device unusable. These remain risks. But these days, it’s just as likely your data is being held for a ransom or some nasty infection has destroyed it for good.

Up-to-date backups are essential. Remember: It’s not if something will happen to your data, but when. So, prepare for the unexpected. Easily restored data backups let you be more resilient against cyber attacks and better able to recover customer data, financial information, business-critical files and precious memories. Anything irreplaceable should be regularly backed up without a second thought or, worse, a passive “it won’t happen to me.”

Thankfully, many of today’s backup solutions are easy to use and affordable. My advice is to not become the next data loss or ransomware victim. Simply invest a little into backup software and rest easy knowing you’re covered.

Why is it important that World Backup Day be celebrated year-round? How can we keep the spotlight on backup and cyber resilience?

Anderson: For those with backup technology in place, World Backup Day should be a reminder of the importance digital information plays in our daily lives, and to check up on existing backups to make sure they are being properly made and that they can be easily restored.

Unfortunately, “set-and-forget” technologies like automated backup and recovery solutions are rarely revisited–until we need them to be 100%. So, checking regularly that they’re correctly configured and working properly is important.

For those not currently backing up their data regularly, the day should bring into focus a glaring hole in your home or business data security. Perhaps take the time to consider the impact losing your data forever would have? Then take action.

Backup is no longer a “nice-to-have” capability. In a world where our lives are increasingly digital and our data is threated at lots of different angles, backup is crucial aspect of data security.

What’s the difference between backup and cyber resilience? Should companies be putting more of an emphasis on cyber resilience?

Anderson: Backup is a key component of cyber resilience, though it’s not the only one. But it does make what could be an existential event, like a total loss of business or personal data, a setback that can be recovered from.

Cyber resilience is first and foremost about detecting, protecting and preventing attacks on your data in the first place. But then, even if your attack detection, protection and prevention defenses fail, your backup and recovery solutions ensure your data isn’t lost for good.

Cyber resilience is not a choice between security and backing up your data. It’s about covering both bases, so if a serious data compromise does occur, recovery is quick and painless to the business

This World Backup Day, take the pledge: “I solemnly swear to back up my important data and precious memories on March 31st.”

And don’t forget to make sure that both cybersecurity and backup and recovery solutions are in place for your business or home office.

George Anderson is Director, Product Marketing. George has spent the past 20 years in the IT Security industry in roles for Computacenter (Europe’s leading systems integrator) and as a global product marketing lead for Clearswift (a data loss prevention, email and web security vendor). For the past nine years George has been with Webroot, where he is currently responsible for product marketing for the business security division–Endpoint and DNS Protection and Webroot Security Awareness Training.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.