The manufacturing industry, as a vital sector of the economy, plays a fundamental role in promoting innovation, improving productivity and fostering competitiveness. However, the digital age poses substantial challenges that this valuable industry must face.
According to Kaspersky, the 77% of manufacturers consider cybersecurity one of their top priorities. And with good reason: if left unchecked, data loss can have serious consequences, including prolonged downtime and irreparable damage to a company’s reputation.
Naturally, these results have far-reaching implications, affecting financial well-being and customer satisfaction. To effectively address these challenges and safeguard information, adopting data backup and disaster recovery (DR) practices is paramount. behold Five Ways to Keep Those Priceless Assets Safe.
Tip #1: Conduct a Business Impact and Risk Analysis
This step is crucial to understanding the potential challenges associated with data loss and downtime. Conducting a business risk and impact analysis helps companies gain valuable insights and prioritize resources in the most effective way. Quantifying the risks and evaluating the consequences allows manufacturers to develop specific strategies that best align with their business goals. In addition, the BIA serves as the basis for proactive risk mitigation. This process highlights areas that require further protection and guides the implementation of measures to minimize disruption.
Comprehensive analysis empowers manufacturers by enabling CIOs and IT teams to establish a framework for data protection and ensure that backup and disaster recovery solutions are tailored to each specific requirement.
Tip #2: Choose a reliable backup and disaster recovery solution
Once companies have assessed business needs and risks, it’s time to develop a plan that meets organizational and industry requirements, as well as the corporate budget. There are several backup options on the market, such as cloud-based, on-premises, or hybrid solutions.
IT teams must consider factors such as scalability, security, compliance, performance, availability, and ease of use when making these decisions. Additionally, they should look for features and capabilities such as encryption, deduplication, compression, automation, verification, and reporting.
Tip #3: Create a Comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan
This document describes the steps and procedures to follow in the event of a disaster. Disaster recovery plans should include roles and responsibilities, contact information, goals, strategies, procedures, and testing schedules. This strategy should also align with the business continuity plan, a broader document that covers how to maintain or resume operations after a disaster.
Attention should not be focused solely on digital threats. Environmental issues such as fire, severe weather, theft, or flooding must also be considered when creating both recovery and continuity plans.
Tip #4: Perform Regular Backups and Test Restores
This step is essential to ensure data availability and integrity in the event of a catastrophe. To establish a complete strategy, IT teams should follow the widely accepted 3-2-1 rule: keep at least three copies of company data on at least two different types of media or clouds, with one copy stored offsite. facilities (at least).
Backup schedules must meet the recovery point objective, which represents the maximum tolerable data loss if a disaster occurs. Regular testing ensures recoverability and functionality. By verifying the restore process, IT teams can identify and fix any issues or potential gaps in the backup infrastructure, ensuring the resiliency of data recovery systems. The efficiency of this process lies not only in the creation of the copies, but also in a successful and timely restore.
Tip #5: Use external resources
Protecting data can be difficult and time consuming, especially for companies that lack the expertise or resources to do it effectively. That’s why savvy managers partner with a managed service provider that offers backup and disaster recovery solutions as a service. Tier 1 vendors use solutions like Acronis Cyber Protect with anti-malware protection and patch management to ensure optimal data protection.
Protect data with confidence
Safeguarding information in the manufacturing industry is crucial today. By carrying out a comprehensive business risk and impact analysis and prioritization of recovery efforts, companies can strengthen their defenses. This process begins with selecting a reliable solution, regularly testing restores, and developing a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that ensures valuable customer and corporate data is protected and mitigates the consequences of operational downtime. .
Using external experts, such as managed service providers, can further enhance cyber protection measures. Continuous evaluation and improvement of these strategies will not only protect the manufacturer, but also ensure business continuity in the event of a real disruption.
