3-2-1: A Simple Rule for Complex Data Protection

When companies lose data, the ripple effect reaches all the way to the bottom line. For a gargantuan company like Amazon, data loss and its associated downtime could cost more than $65 million per minute.

For small and medium businesses, downtime can be equally painful. In a joint study, Acronis and IDC found that 80 percent of SMBs estimate that data recovery costs $20,000 per hour. The remaining 20 percent put that figure at more than $100,000 per hour. 

Beyond these initial data recovery costs, companies incur additional costs from lost goodwill and legal fines even after their data is restored. In fact, according to a recent study from IBM into the “hidden costs” of data breaches, having one million compromised records costs an average of nearly $40 million. Additionally, these large-scale breaches take 100 days longer than smaller breaches to detect and contain.

Data backup is more complex than ever for IT managers today, as companies strive to protect physical, virtual, and cloud environments. “These incidents prove that today, more than ever, all companies need a comprehensive cyber protection plan, so that at least one copy of data will always survive,” Berman says. He recommends that companies follow the 3-2-1 rule: Make three copies of every piece of important data, store that data in two different formats, and keep one copy offsite. Here’s a further breakdown.

• Three copies ensure that no single event will wipe out all your data.
• Two formats likely include an internal drive plus external media (disk, tape, network, cloud, etc.)
• One copy offsite protects your data against physical disasters like theft, fire, or flooding.

Data loss isn’t a question of if it will happen, but rather when it will happen. The faster that companies implement the 3-2-1 rule and establish a plan, the better equipped they’ll be to prevent an incident from escalating to a disaster. 

Image via Can Stock Photo