What are the advantages of switching your data backup and recovery strategy to the cloud rather than physical?
When it comes to data backup, you have two choices – physical storage or cloud storage.
Physical storage is the process of storing digital data on physical hardware devices, such as internal hard drives on your computer, removable drives or external drives.
A cloud backup and storage service, meanwhile, encompasses the process of storing digital data in an off-site location – on servers hosted by a cloud provider – that you access via the internet.
With cloud storage, you often also have the added advantages of data backup and recovery built into the agreement with your cloud provider – crucial for HIPAA-compliant businesses.
What Are the Advantages of Cloud Data Backup and Recovery?
For HIPAA-compliant medical practices, adequate (i.e. reliable and secure) storage is essential for protecting PHI. And not only storage – in order to remain compliant, you also need to have robust backup strategy and recovery procedures in place so that should anything happen to your primary data source, you can recover it quickly and easily.
To use the exact words of the legislation, under HIPAA, all covered entities are required to “Establish and implement procedures to create and maintain retrievable exact copies of electronic protected health information,” (i.e. a data backup plan) and “Establish (and implement as needed) procedures to restore any loss of data,” (i.e. a data disaster recovery plan).
For healthcare professionals, the main advantages of data backup and recovery are clear – it ensures they remain in full compliance with HIPAA and avoid violations. But there are other benefits of robust and reliable data management too.
Small businesses are prime targets for cyberattackers. In fact, in 2019, 43% of data security breaches were aimed at small and medium businesses (SMBs) and that percentage keeps going up.
What’s perhaps even more concerning, however, is how much a successful cyberattack costs small businesses – $149,000 according to Kaspersky, $188,000 according to Symantec and $200,000 according to Hiscox. No wonder, then, that nearly two-thirds (60%) of SMBs are forced to close within six months of a successful data breach and had a data loss.
(Image source: vistage.com)
Many such cyberattacks employ ransomware against their victims. These attacks are on the rise.
In August last year, for instance, ZDNet reported that hundreds of dental practices in the U.S. were targeted with ransomware – and many had no option but to pay the extortionate ransoms attackers demanded to recover encrypted files.
Only with reliable data backup and recovery can you avoid having to pay ransom demands should your business suffer an attack.
True, any ransomware attack will be a severe inconvenience – but with your data fully backed up and recoverable, there will be no need to submit to the demands of an attacker.
Data backup and recovery also protects your business against other disasters too, such as fire, flood, theft, or natural disasters that damage your primary equipment where PHI is stored.
But this begs the question – if such a disaster were to strike your office, would onsite physical storage be enough?
Any fire or flood that destroys your primary storage will likely put pay to your backup hardware too. And the same goes for a cyberattack.
For any backup and recovery plan to be reliable enough to keep you HIPAA compliant, your backups will need to be performed regularly, meaning your backup devices will likely be plugged into your network.
Should an attacker infiltrate your network, your backup devices are just as susceptible as your primary ones.
In all scenarios and eventualities, the reality is that cloud-based data backup and recovery is the only reliable solution.
Why Cloud Data Backup and Recovery Keeps You Safe – No Matter What!
Aside from the dangers associated with cyberattacks and natural disasters, it must also be noted that physical storage is a big commitment in more ways than one.
The fact of the matter is that physical backups can be expensive to install, take up valuable office space and require ongoing maintenance.
What’s more, hardware degrades over time and will need to be replaced or upgraded every few years – more headaches and expenses.
With cloud-based backup and recovery, there are no such concerns.
When you utilize a cloud backup service from a reputed provider, all your backups are performed safely and automatically, with the whole process managed on your behalf.
The provider will take care of all the technicalities, manage and maintain the storage equipment and ensure that your data is adequately protected against all cybersecurity threats.
What’s more, since you will be storing your backups in a remote location, should any disaster – natural or cyber – afflict your office, your backups will remain safe, unharmed and fully recoverable.
Enjoy the Advantages of Data Backup and Recovery in the Cloud with Central Data Storage
Disasters can strike at any time. Physical storage is expensive to maintain. Manually performing backups is time-consuming. HIPAA compliance is essential.
UnisonBDR by Central Data Storage is your solution. We offer a fully supported, encrypted, cloud-based and HIPAA-compliant data backup and recovery solution designed specifically for SMBs in highly regulated industries.
All your backups will be performed automatically, and our 448-bit end-to-end encryption exceeds military-grade standards to ensure your electronic PHI is continuously protected from all threats, both en route and at rest in our secure private cloud.
In addition, with unlimited storage capacity, dual authentication and ransomware recovery, our solution ensures that your data is always safe, fully protected and recoverable no matter what.
Want to learn more about the benefits of data backup and recovery in the cloud through UnisonBDR? Call 1-888-907-1227 or email info@centraldatastorage.com.