The case of the unfortunate backup

Have you ever wondered what would happen if your business lost all its data and couldn't restore it from an offsite backup? Well, that's exactly what happened to Cheery Cherry Valley ??, a (fictional) cake shop ?? located in the #teesvalley #northeast UK that had a thriving online presence and a loyal customer base. In this edition of Damo's Digest, I will share their story and how they learned the hard way the importance of testing their disaster recovery and business continuity plan.

How It All Went Wrong ??

Cheery Cherry Valley ?? had been using a cloud-based service to back up their data, including their website, inventory, orders, customer information, and accounting records. They assumed that their data was safe and secure in the cloud, and that they could easily restore it in case of any emergency. They never bothered to test their backup or recovery process, or to verify that their backup service was reliable and compliant with their needs.

One day, disaster struck. A hacker managed to breach their website and delete all their data, leaving behind a ransom note demanding a hefty sum of money for its return. The Cheery Cherry Valley ?? owner (Cherry Potter?) panicked and contacted their backup service provider, hoping to restore their data from the offsite backup. However, to their horror, they discovered that their backup service had failed to back up their data for the past six months due to a technical glitch. The only backup they had was outdated and useless.

The Consequences of Losing Data ??

Cherry Potter? realized that they had lost everything: their website, their online orders, their customer database, their inventory records, their accounting records, and more.

They had no way of knowing who had ordered what, who had paid what, who had received what, or who owed what.

They had no way of contacting their customers or suppliers, or of fulfilling their existing orders.

They had no way of proving their income or expenses to the tax man or their creditors.

They had no way of rebuilding their online presence or reputation.

The cake shop owner faced a nightmare scenario: losing customers, losing revenue, losing trust, losing reputation, losing legal compliance, losing financial stability, and potentially losing their business altogether.

The Lessons Learned ??

The cake shop owner learned some valuable lessons from this unfortunate incident:

Test your backup and recovery process regularly.

Don't assume that your backup service is working properly or that your data is safe in the cloud. Verify that your backup is complete, accurate, and up-to-date, and that you can restore it quickly and easily in case of any emergency.

Understand your RTO and RPO.

RTO (recovery time objective) is the maximum amount of time that your business can tolerate being offline or unavailable after a disaster. RPO (recovery point objective) is the maximum amount of data that your business can afford to lose after a disaster. These metrics help you determine how frequently you need to back up your data and how quickly you need to restore it.

Understand your key business systems.

Identify which systems are critical for your business operations and which ones are less important. Prioritize your backup and recovery efforts based on the impact and urgency of each system. For example, for the cake shop owner, restoring their website and customer database was more important than restoring their accounting records.

Have a disaster recovery and business continuity plan.

A disaster recovery plan outlines how you will restore your data and systems after a disaster. A business continuity plan outlines how you will continue your business operations during and after a disaster. Both plans should include clear roles and responsibilities, communication channels, contingency measures, and recovery procedures.

Don't let your business become another case of the unfortunate backup.

Speak to me today to see how I can help you sleep better at night knowing that your backups are safe, suitable, and most importantly work when you need them.

Damien Harrison - Director of Operations (bondgate.co.uk)