March 31st falls on World Backup Day – an annual reminder of the importance of protecting your data from loss and theft. Making regular backups and saving copies offline is as relevant today as ever. But in an increasingly digital and cloud-based In a world where threats are changing rapidly, there are also more aspects of backup that need attention.

Three Often Overlooked Parts of a Modern Backup Strategy

– There are parts of The IT environment which many people don't think about securing, but which is absolutely crucial for the business to function in the event of an interruption, says Klas Palmer, security expert at Barracuda Networks.

Klas Palmér highlights three often overlooked parts of a modern backup strategy:

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1. Back up identity and access systems
   Many companies use cloud-based systems to manage identities and permissions, for example Microsoft Entra ID. Here you will find all the information about which users and groups have access to which resources. Many people assume that these systems have automatic backups, but default settings in cloud services often mean that data is only saved for 30 days and some parts, such as security groups, disappear immediately if they are deleted. – If you lose the contents of Enter ID, for example through mistake, sabotage or malware, the entire business can quickly lose functional access. And recreating everything manually is both time-consuming and costly, says Palm trees.
2. Don't reset blindly
   Even if the backup is performed correctly, there may be hidden risks. Data that has been stored for a long time may contain malware that was not detected at the time of the original backup. If you restore without first scanning the files, you may accidentally allow threats into your network.
3. Test your backup before you need it
   The worst time to discover that a backup is not working is in a critical situation, for example after a ransomware attack. Therefore, it is crucial that both technology and people are prepared in time. – Even simple backup systems require that employees know how to use them. You have to feel confident in how restores data, before it becomes a crisis, concludes Klas Palmér.

See World Backup Day as a good opportunity to not only make sure your backup is in place, but that it actually works when it matters.