5 Tips for Backing Up Your Data on World Backup Day

Today is World Backup Day where we all keep our data protected from loss or hacking by backing it up. Like so many great things, World Backup Day was born from Reddit by some concerned global citizens. They didn’t want to see their fellow citizens become fools on April Fool’s day, by potentially losing important files. You can read more about how to back up your data and some stats on the World Backup Day site. Keep reading below for some helpful tips for when you back your data up.

1. Remember to Back Up All Your Data

You may be focused on backing up your computer, but don’t forget to back up your phone and any other devices you have as well.

2. Keep True Backup Copies Offline

This will ensure you have a copy of your precious data that is safe from any attempts to breach or hack it virtually. You will still need to protect whatever device you physically store it on (which includes protecting it from theft or from spilling a pot of coffee on it) but that’s one point of failure compared to millions.

3. Encrypt Your Backups and Add MFA to Your Cloud Backups

Both add a layer of protection against hacking. Adding Multi-Factor Authentication ensures you don’t log in accidentally when you didn’t mean to, especially when using cached passwords.

Here are the encryption systems that can be built into your operating system:

• Windows: BitLocker
• Mac: FileVault
• Linux: LUKS and cryptsetup
• Open-source encryption tools are also available

4. Keep at Least 12 Months of Backups Before You Overwrite the Oldest One

You just never know.

5. Test Out and Practice Restoring Your Data From Backups

The last thing you need is to back up your data and then have no idea how to access it again. Make sure you can access your data, know how long it may take to restore it, and practice.