Server backups are essential for protecting your data and ensuring business continuity in case of disasters, cyberattacks, or human errors. However, backups themselves can also be vulnerable to corruption, theft, or loss if not properly secured. In this article, you will learn some steps you can take to secure your server backup and minimize the risks of data breaches or downtime.
The first step to secure your server backup is to choose a backup solution that meets your needs and budget. There are different types of backup solutions, such as local, cloud, or hybrid, and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, local backups offer faster recovery and more control, but they require more storage space and maintenance. Cloud backups offer scalability and accessibility, but they depend on internet connectivity and security. Hybrid backups combine both local and cloud backups, but they can be more complex and costly. You should evaluate the features, costs, and compatibility of each backup solution and select the one that suits your server environment and business objectives.
To secure server backups: 1. Offsite Storage: 2. Encryption: 3. Access Controls: 4. Regular Testing: 5. Authentication: 6. Network Segmentation: 7. Monitoring: 8. Versioning: 9. Update Software: 10. Offline Backups: 11. Physical Security: 12. Vendor Security: 13. Documentation: 14. Incident Response Plan: 15. Legal Compliance: By combining these measures, you enhance the resilience of your server backups, safeguarding critical data against potential threats and ensuring a reliable recovery mechanism.
I agree that you need to choose a solution that meets needs and budget, but I think the first step should be to determine what needs to be backed up and when. This is where you determine what backup solution you will need, then you can look at the options for backup (cloud, hybrid, etc).
The Securing of data protection backups is critical in today’s cybersecurity landscape and should be treated how you treat your production data when it comes to securing it. Therefore, it is essential for all organisations to consider various cybersecurity considerations when securing your data protection backups, including encrypting the backup data, securing the physical location of the backup data, ensuring secure transfer of the backup data, regular testing of the backup process, having a disaster recovery plan in place, and keeping the backup data up to date.
The second step to secure your server backup is to encrypt your backup data. Encryption is the process of transforming data into a code that can only be deciphered by authorized parties. Encryption protects your backup data from unauthorized access, modification, or deletion, even if the backup media or device is stolen or compromised. You should use strong encryption algorithms and keys to encrypt your backup data, and store the keys in a separate and secure location. You should also encrypt your backup data both in transit and at rest, meaning when it is being transferred or stored.
See my point in third paragraph (which should be the first). Do not encrypt any data if you did not defined first the policy to manage your cryptographic keys which must be first available at another secure location to recover your backup after an incident. In case of remote backup, make sure to have the traffic encapsulated in IPsec tunnel to avoid it being intercepted.
Encrypt your backups to protect the data. This ensures that even if the backup falls into the wrong hands, it cannot be read without the corresponding decryption key.
The third step to secure your server backup is to implement backup policies and procedures. Backup policies and procedures are the rules and guidelines that define how, when, where, and what to backup, as well as who is responsible for performing and monitoring the backups. Backup policies and procedures help you ensure consistency, efficiency, and accountability in your backup process, and avoid errors, conflicts, or gaps. You should document your backup policies and procedures, communicate them to your staff, and enforce them regularly. You should also review and update your backup policies and procedures periodically to reflect any changes in your server environment or business needs.
This part MUST be the very first one, before choosing or doing anything ! Defining the backup policy : How long do you need to keep the data saved, do you have space constraint or bandwith limitation and should use incremental ? Do you have requirement on TTR and may prefer full backup ? Where do you backup and on which scale ? Protection against mistake with shadow copy directly on the host ? Remotely on the LAN / on a remote location ? On which regular basis should each backup occurs ? How is the risk of data being stolen ? Do you need to encrypt the backup ? If yes, define another policy to ensure the safety of the cipher keys ! If not you may be unable to read your backup if a disaster occurred.
I actually agree with one of the other contributors here that this should be the absolute FIRST step in any process. Clearly defined policies and procedures should be the most important step. Working in cybersecurity, one of the things we always fall back on when there is a security incident is the policy in place. If the users or system admins conducting the backups don't know what should be backed up or how they should protect the data backed up, then when they make a mistake you can't really correct them or conduct a write up. The success and overall flow of a business really relies on good well written policies and procedures.
The fourth step to secure your server backup is to test and verify your backups. Testing and verifying your backups means checking if your backups are complete, accurate, and functional, and if they can be restored successfully in case of a disaster or failure. Testing and verifying your backups help you detect and correct any errors, corruption, or inconsistencies in your backup data, and ensure that your backups are reliable and ready for recovery. You should test and verify your backups regularly, using different scenarios and methods, such as full, incremental, or differential backups, and manual or automated testing tools.
Saying that you should test and verify backups regularly using different scenarios and methods such as full, incremental or differential is confusing. Those are backup methods. I think we should test recovery methods to confirm that the backup methods were successful.
The fifth step to secure your server backup is to monitor and audit your backups. Monitoring and auditing your backups means tracking and recording the performance, status, and activities of your backup process, as well as the usage, access, and changes of your backup data. Monitoring and auditing your backups help you identify and resolve any issues, anomalies, or threats in your backup process, and ensure that your backups comply with your backup policies and procedures, as well as any legal or regulatory requirements. You should monitor and audit your backups continuously, using different metrics and indicators, such as backup frequency, duration, size, success rate, and integrity, and report and document any findings or actions.
Have your backup solution and procedures periodically audited by third-party security experts to uncover potential vulnerabilities.
The sixth step to secure your server backup is to secure your backup infrastructure. Backup infrastructure refers to the hardware, software, network, and storage components that support your backup process. Securing your backup infrastructure means applying the best practices and standards to protect your backup components from physical or logical damage, unauthorized access, or misuse. You should secure your backup infrastructure by using firewalls, antivirus, encryption, authentication, authorization, and logging mechanisms, as well as by maintaining, updating, and patching your backup components regularly.
Whether backups are stored onsite or offsite, the physical and virtual locations should be secure. For offsite backups, consider using a reputable cloud service provider that offers strong security measures.