Manufacturers are in the spotlight for 2021, but not for particularly beneficial reasons. According to the recent X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, the manufacturing industry has become the second most targeted industry when it comes to cyberattacks.

Manufacturers racked up a third of all data breach events and they were one of the industries most targeted by Sodinikibi ransomware. Because each incidence of downtime often translates into millions of dollars in lost revenue, manufacturing remains a high-profitability target for malicious actors.

That means that backup and disaster recovery for manufacturers is a critical strategy that should be an integral part of every smart cybersecurity program. In this article, we will address several ways your manufacturing organization can build a strong program, including simple, actionable tasks you can do right now to protect your digital assets.

Important Considerations for Backup and Disaster Recovery for Manufacturers

No matter which of the many manufacturing sectors your business is a part of, it’s time rethink how you invest in preventative and reactive measures that address security, insider threats, and general disruptions that impact business operations. Due to cost considerations, budget allocations, and sometimes even short-term financial cost savings, many manufacturers put off developing a strong backup and disaster recovery plan. However, if your company is affected by data theft and loss, the implications of that loss will result in a far greater financial impact than any upfront investment.

Compliance and Legal Readiness

Manufacturing organizations must protect their systems and backups in accordance with a variety of data privacy and other regulations such as SOC2, ISO 27001, and the GDPR. For legal matters, it is important to be able to support e-discovery in the event of legal actions by ensuring your data retention is aligned with corporate and legal policies.

Backup As a Service

Modern cloud solutions have made backup as a service (BaaS) a viable component of the digital transformation of many manufacturing environments. With hard-hitting benefits such as fewer distractions from mission-critical tasks, increased cybersecurity and data safety, and better productivity, BaaS can help your company achieve higher levels of business continuity and resilience in the event of a disaster.

BaaS solutions are perfect for our increasingly remote workforce, as it can bridge hybrid work situations by protecting not only on-premises equipment but also virtual assets that exist in a cloud environment. Since your workforce depends on both virtual and in-place resources, BaaS allows them to recover more quickly from breaches and failures to keep your operability intact.

What You Can Do Right Now

Not ready to work with a Managed IT partner? There are still solid ways you can protect your organization’s data from disaster, including any or all of the following:

• Determine which data is critical and must be backed up.
• Create a data backup regimen — and follow it.
• Consider online backup services such as cloud services to make regular backups easy and hassle-free.
• Not using the cloud? Keep local data backups on a specific drive using a backup software program.
• Store local backups on-site in a fireproof safe or safety deposit box at a local bank.
• Use strong passwords and encryption if using online backup services.
• Consider external hard drives or USB drives for storing backups offsite.
• Larger backups can be stored using tape storage.

The most important part of any data backup is to simply get it done regularly and store the backup in a secure area. If you can manage that, you will have some level of business continuity in the event of a disaster.

Doing Better Business Can Help You Create a Solid Backup and Recovery Plan

At Doing Better Business, we understand the difficulties inherent in managing a highly technical business under today’s onerous economic strictures. That is why we have a number of options available to our clients when it comes to backup and disaster recovery plans.

Our team of Managed IT experts can assess your infrastructure and your business needs to develop a strong backup and disaster recovery plan and then implement and maintain it for you. With knowledgeable third-party staff in place, your in-house teams can focus on more value-added tasks. Or, we can support your in-house IT or admin staff in developing a plan that you can implement.

Don’t take a chance with your assets. Contact a representative from Doing Better Business and learn how a backup and disaster recovery plan can help your manufacturing company weather data theft or loss.

Topics: Managed IT, manufacturing, disaster recovery