The Difference Between Cloud Backups and A Disaster Recovery Plan

By Ryan Klund - Business Development Associate

Both Backups and a Disaster Recovery (DR) plan should be part of your business’ risk mitigation strategy.

Each of these tools play a pivotal role in protecting data and systems. However, it is important to clarify the difference between Cloud Backups and a Disaster Recovery Solution.

Cloud Backups

Cloud Backups are done nightly, are meant to protect data from accidental deletion and assist with one-off file or system restores.  Backups are an important part of a data protection strategy.

Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery (DR) is focused on implementing a system that will streamline the process of restoring data and systems, should the need arise. A Disaster Recovery Solution should be used alongside your organization’s Cloud Backups.

Here are some scenarios where a Disaster Recovery Plan should be used along with Cloud Backups

1. A large-scale server hardware failure.

   1. Assuming the server infrastructure is under warranty, it may take a few days to source replacement hardware, get it provisioned and installed and begin the restore process.  Additionally, the amount of data continues to increase, which can cause the restore process to take several days as well.

2. A ransomware / crypto infection.

   1. In 2020, malicious entities are attacking small and medium size businesses at record paces.  Utilizing phishing attacks and other techniques, the malicious actors gain access to server systems, disable, and delete backups if possible, and then encrypt all company data and systems. 
   2. The entities will then request payment which can be upwards of several hundred thousand dollars.  If an organization chooses not to pay, this will mean we need to restore from backup without a disaster recovery solution.
   3. While the servers may be recovered and ready to use, workstations may need to be evaluated. Given the size of the organization’s data, the entire recovery process could take several days to complete.

Modern Disaster Recovery solutions allow organizations the ability to set the acceptable Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).  This is the amount of time to get back up and running and when the last time the data was backed up. (Here’s a video to describe the difference between RTO and RPO.

If you’re interested in learning more about Cloud Backups or a Disaster Recovery Plan with SWICKtech, Contact us for a free quote.