Understanding the Importance of Website Backups

June 23, 2020 / Backup

Being an owner of a critical business website, losing out critical data can be quite devastating for your business. You can safeguard your site against various online cybersecurity threats and even have a strong password policy. However, this doesn’t make any sense if you don’t inculcate the practice of taking regular backups of your website from a trusted provider.

Businesses are the digital face of any business irrespective of its size. Websites can play a significant role in promoting your brand, getting clients, and even serving as a source of income through eCommerce channels. If you fail to have a backup of your site, you lose out critical website content that you have created, in a single instance!

To reap long-term online benefits, businesses are looking to make investments in various security-related offerings like- DDoS protection, website vulnerability scanner, SSL certificates and backups. Backups often serve as an additional security layer that all businesses require for a rapid recovery in case of data loss.

Website Backup- What Is It?

Simply, a website backup refers to a replica of all the data present on the website. Usually, what is included in the backup storage depends on the backup provider. In general, practice, having more data included in the backup is considered to be a safe option. This method proves to be extremely beneficial if your website is being hosted by a CMS such as WordPress, wherein there is a need to backup every element on your site such as content, media, and databases.

Ideal Backup Time?

Website owners must consider taking backups regularly and this can be either weekly or daily. The cycle of backups is directly dependent on how frequently you are updating your website with new content.

Working of Website Backup Services

Various online backup providers help in easing out the task of website backups. Every website has several elements and a variety of files that are essential for loading the site in the right manner. In case you miss the chance of a critical file, then it results in your website not loading properly.

With a trusted and reputed backup service provider, you don’t need to worry about all of this. The service provider does take the backup of every essential website element and file. All these backups are essential and you can quickly restore your site in case there is such a situation.

Once you have determined your online software and configured it on your site, all that needs to be done is to choose the desired website and frequency of backups. The online application runs in the background, creating backups of your site data as per your wish. Online backups ease the burden of the user by providing them with a safe and secure backup version in case the user needs it for restoring his site to a previous version.

Why Website Backup Services Are Needed

Needless to say, having a remote website backup helps in preventing the loss of any crucial data present on the website. In case of a cyberattack taking place on the site, then having remote backups can be extremely helpful in securing essential website elements.

Besides cyberattacks, having website backups can also be helpful in the following situations as well-

  • Human Errors

For any company, humans represent the weakest link in terms of cybersecurity and other security lapses. A single wrong action of a user can result in the permanent loss of crucial website data. Files can be lost if the user accidentally deletes a file or even inserts a malicious or incorrect MySQL command. In these cases, the website data gets permanently altered.

  • Software Updates

Every website owner must follow a healthy cyber-hygiene. Various experts believe that website owners must always have the latest CMS like WordPress, in case the website is hosted on a CMS. The latest versions of CMS-hosted site ensures that it remains utterly secure from all kinds of cyberattacks and online threats. Website owners must remain cautious that software updates can possibly lead to disintegrating key dependencies, resulting in permanent website downtime.

  • Failure in Hardware

Failure in hardware such as a hard drive getting damaged results in losing out remote and offsite backups. As a website owner, you should also avoid storing backups on a web server as it can prove to be risky as you might lose out website data.

  • Malware Attacks

A malware attack can result in hampering the website’s performance. Some malware attacks can cause permanent and irreversible damage to the website. Without having a proper website backup, it can result in a user losing out his crucial files that can’t be restored in the future.

Following are some of examples of malware attacks that can damage your website in the absence of a robust backup solution-

  1. Website Defacement Attacks:  In this form of cyberattack, cybercriminals alter the content present on the user’s website with their messages. These messages can be in the form of digital graffiti resulting in damage to the user’s business reputation.
  2. Ransomware Attacks: Ransomware attacks are the most common form of cyberattack that damages a business owner’s website. In this form of attack, cybercriminals block the website owner’s access to his data and, in return, demand money for restoring access. Even if the website owner pays the ransom amount, there are still chances that the data might be permanently damaged or be beyond the restoration limits.

Conclusion

For every website owner, he must include a website backup strategy as a core business strategy. Having remote backups from a trusted provider can help in the quick restoration of the website in case of any unforeseen disaster-like events. With website backups timely done, the website owner can be at peace of mind state, knowing that his website and other files can be restored without incurring any website downtime issues, resulting in no damage to reputation.

If you have a website and looking for a trusted backup service provider for your website files, reach out to Team bodHOST TODAY!

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