Getting started with backups
It is rarely the thing that gets a project approved, and often the thing that decides how it goes. A short on-ramp to backups for teams who have not touched it before.
The realistic threat for most small businesses is automated and opportunistic, not targeted. The version that survives contact with a real deadline is the simple one.
What it costs to ignore
An untested backup is a hope, not a backup. None of that requires a large budget, only a decision and someone to own it. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.
Your first week
- Find out what is already in place
- Keep a copy somewhere the main system cannot reach
- Change one thing and measure it
Know how long a restore actually takes. The reasoning matters more than the rule, because the rule has exceptions. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.
The short version
The cheapest security work is the boring kind done on a schedule. Three things worth confirming about backups before you move on:
- Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
- An untested backup is a hope, not a backup — and you know whether that is true here
- There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped
If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.