Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 80 | Page 67

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HOW SECURE ARE YOUR DATA BACKUPS SYSTEMS ?

Just because organisations have backup systems in place does not always mean their data is fully protected in the wake of a losscausing event says Dr Johannes at SANS Technology Institute .

It is no secret that backup systems are critical to preserving sensitive data files from ransomware , theft , sabotage , and accidental loss . However , it is important to remember that merely leveraging backups is not the end-all-be-all solution to a challenge riddled with complexity . Just because organisations have backup systems in place does not always mean their data is fully protected in the wake of a loss-causing event . And amid sharp rises in the volume and velocity of attacks , the consequences of poor data backups are too severe to overlook .

For example , IBM ’ s 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report found :
When exploited , backup software vulnerabilities can also compound into giving attackers direct access to live system environments .
As attackers have grown more skilled and sophisticated , they are now leveraging hard-to-detect tactics , techniques , and procedures that capitalise on backup system vulnerabilities to either steal data or disrupt recovery operations .
• Globally , the average total cost of a data breach increased by 13 % YoY to a record-high $ 4.3 million in losses .
• The average duration of identifying and containing a data breach lasted more than 275 days , equivalent to over nine months of downtime .
Remote access backups , for instance , are often reliant on password protections . Due to poor password hygiene or the absence of two-factor authentication , these backup systems can be easy targets for threat actors to utilise as attack vectors against protected systems .
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