11 quick questions to find out whether your backups would really save you, and what to fix if not.
1.Do you keep at least 3 copies of important data (the original plus two backups)?
2.Is at least one backup copy stored offsite, such as in the cloud or at another location?
3.Is at least one backup copy offline or immutable, meaning ransomware can't encrypt or delete it?
4.Have you successfully restored real data from backup in the last 6 months?
5.Are Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace data (email, OneDrive, SharePoint) backed up separately from the provider?
6.If a backup fails, does someone get alerted and act on it?
7.Do you know how long a full restore would take, and could the business live with that?
8.Do you know how much data you could lose (since the last backup), and is that acceptable?
9.Are your backups encrypted, in transit and at rest?
10.Are backup systems protected by credentials separate from your everyday admin accounts, with MFA?
11.Are servers, laptops and line-of-business applications all covered, not just the file server?