Why are backups becoming more necessary?

Cloud storage secure? Not necessarily!
This is why backups are becoming more and more necessary!

People often say that Google Drive or OneDrive is a great backup with secure storage for your files.

But nothing could be farther from the truth! They are synchronization tools, not backup solutions. By synchronization we mean; these tools are meant to store files in the cloud so you can access them anytime, anywhere with any device you are working on. The files are meant to be "taken with you," but not backed up. The files are meant to always be up-to-date, but if you delete files from the cloud via your mobile, then the the file immediately from your computer and all other devices as well.

Security against vindictive employees or human error:

You need a backup to ensure that your organization is protected from human error by employees. Accidentally deleting or moving an entire folder can have a huge impact. But imagine if an employee does this intentionally? An employee who deletes all files from the cloud automatically causes all colleagues to lose access to those files as well!

Secure your organization against conscious or unconscious mistakes by creating a cloud backup. That backup should be inaccessible to employees and should be just as secure as your "normal" files. Make sure that it is stored externally, inaccessible to malicious employees and inaccessible to hackers. In the cloud or else; extremely secure on a local backup drive.

Security against ransomware:

Actually, ransomware is also a kind of human error; in fact, often a ransomware virus is installed (unintentionally and unknowingly) by humans. But remember; ransomware encrypts all the files you have access to. So even the files in your OneDrive or in your Google Drive if those files are synchronized on your PC.

But that's not all; consider an employee's account that gets hacked, damaging files in the cloud (in shared folders or in sharepoint folders). Or a plugin or app with unintentionally too many permissions to your important files. It can all happen, and cloud services are not meant to bail you out of such a situation.

Security against closing your account:

If you violate Microsoft's terms and conditions, you risk having your account blocked. But even if you don't violate the terms, there is a risk that Microsoft will block your account! This happened with hundreds of Dutch accounts. (source).

And the most annoying thing is that you don't even get an explanation as to why your account is blocked. If you try to find out why your account is blocked, you run into a wall. They refer you to the terms and conditions and simply tell you that your account cannot be reactivated and they don't give details as to why.

Consequence is that you can no longer access your photos or emails!

The Importance of a Good Backup:

Hopefully we were able to explain to you more about why making good backups are so important.

A good backup is more than saving a copy of your files. It's about recovery time, about having a duplicate copy of your files, about having a storage location that is inaccessible to viruses and malware. The biggest misconception is that a copy of your files on an external drive is good enough. Or that a Cloud storage location (such as OneDrive or Google Drive) takes over the function of a backup.

Looking for a good backup?