PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CAMPUS

One of the strengths of Indiana is that we bring together a variety of perspectives from the plethora of areas that touch the field of cyber, especially through the colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education throughout our state. Hence the name, “Perspectives from the Campus”, we invite experts – immersed in the pursuit of educating their students – to offer their knowledge for finding solutions in cybersecurity that benefit all Hoosiers.

In the latest installment of this series, David Dungan, who serves as the executive director at the Center for Security Services and Cyber Defense at Anderson University, joins in the celebration of World Backup Day and shares his perspective on the importance of backing up our data, whether it’s on our mobile devices or laptops, and reminds us that it’s easy to do (even when we’re at our busiest).

By David Dungan

This Sunday, March 31st is World Backup Day.

It’s one of those special, not-so-official (yet fun) “days” that we’re able to commemorate by doing something that’s actually has a purpose and helps all of us.

Originated in 2011 by a Reddit group to highlight the importance of establishing a virtual sustainability policy and protecting data through the creation of safe backups, it’s become a practice that we need to follow every day. And, that is true, whether you are a small business owner dealing with customers PII (personally identifiable information) or a non-tech, savvy individual with a personal computer

In this incredibly data driven world we live in; it is essential to secure the data which defines our lives. As the amount of essential data increases, the attack surface for virtual threat actors increases proportionally. Both users and companies need strong data backups, despite making use of different kinds of data. Having redundant copies of data also protects against human error in computing, hardware failure, virus attacks, power failures, and natural disasters.

In the current day business climate, data drives nearly every action taken in the workplace to help a firm operate efficiently and effectively. Despite our relatively new dependance on data, businesses around the globe don’t always go to the necessary lengths to protect the data driving so much of the business world. While committing resources to having a redundant copy of data does not itself yield a profit for the business, the lack of it can cost the company exponentially more in a potential cybersecurity attack.

An unwanted attack can result in an unsuspecting business becoming part of the $12.5 billion dollars lost as a result of cybercrime in 2023.

While businesses undoubtedly have much to risk in terms of data loss, individual citizens are also susceptible to risks that are (often) easily solved by backups. For example, an individual could lose their personal device and not be able to recover important data such as photographs and contacts; items that could be easily restored with a backup created in the cloud or by using an external hard drive.

While it is challenging to fathom the notion that any individual, much less any company, could fall victim to data loss; the wide amount of threat vectors combined with the large potential risk posed by the lack of data highlights the incredible need to have a reserve copy of data for both businesses and individuals alike. If proactive measures are taken to create data backups via cloud storage, external hard drives, or through other means, users are able to mitigate the potentially devastating effects of data loss and ensure the continuity of our lives.

And that right there is a reason to celebrate!