World Backup Day is often seen as a simple reminder to save your data, but this year, security leaders say backup strategies must evolve into fully tested, secure, and recovery-focused resilience plans.
Here’s what organisations should take away from World Backup Day this year:
1. Backups are meaningless if recovery isn’t proven
It’s no longer enough to assume backups will work when needed. Corey Nachreiner, Chief Security Officer at WatchGuard Technologies, said, “Preparedness only matters when recovery has been proven.” Organisations must go beyond simply storing data and instead, he said, “test, protect, and prove recovery” to ensure they can restore operations quickly when it matters most.
2. Data loss is inevitable, preparedness is key
While headlines focus on sophisticated cyberattacks, many incidents come down to everyday failures. Erich Kron, Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4, warned: “Some of the most damaging incidents organisations face do not come from highly sophisticated attacks… data loss is inevitable.” Whether it’s human error, system failure or ransomware, backups are the safety net that prevents disruption from becoming disaster.
3. Stick to the fundamentals and do them properly
Best practices like the 3-2-1 rule still hold strong, but execution is where organisations fall short. Kron emphasised the importance of testing, noting: “There is no worse feeling than realising the data is gone and cannot be recovered.” Without regular restoration testing and automation, even well-designed backup strategies can fail when put under pressure.
4. Attackers are targeting your backups, too
Modern ransomware actors understand the value of backup data. As Kron explained, “Attackers often target backups first,” making it critical to protect them with controls like immutable storage, segmentation and restricted access.
5. Backup is about resilience, not just storage
For Shane Barney, CISO at Keeper Security, backups are central to business continuity. “Ensuring data can be recovered quickly and securely is central to both cybersecurity and business continuity,” he said. This means combining regular backups with geographic redundancy and secure environments to ensure organisations can recover without delay.
6. Security still matters because backups don’t protect confidentiality
Nachreiner also cautions that backups alone won’t stop data breaches. “Backups protect availability, but they do not ensure confidentiality,” he said, stressing the need for encryption and strong identity protections, particularly as ransomware increasingly involves data theft as well as disruption.
7. Recovery speed can determine business survival
Ultimately, resilience comes down to how quickly organisations can bounce back. Nachreiner noted that “the organisations that recover the fastest… already know their data is intact, easily accessible, and restorable.” Without a clear recovery plan and prioritisation of critical systems, even good backups may not be enough.
The overarching message this World Backup Day is that backing up data is just the starting point. True resilience comes from knowing, rather than hoping, that recovery will work when it’s needed most.
