Backup & Recovery

Definition:

Backup and recovery refers to the strategies, technologies, and processes involved in creating copies of data (backups) and restoring that data (recovery) after a data loss event, system failure, or cyberattack. The goal is to ensure business continuity by minimizing downtime and preserving critical information.

 

Key Concepts:

  • Backup: The act of duplicating data and storing it in a secure location. Backups may be performed on-premises, in the cloud, or via hybrid methods.

  • Recovery: The process of restoring lost or corrupted data from a backup source to its original or an alternative environment.

  • Recovery Time Objective (RTO): The maximum acceptable amount of time to restore operations.

  • Recovery Point Objective (RPO): The maximum tolerable amount of data loss measured in time (e.g., last 4 hours of data).

 

Why It Matters:

Backup and recovery are foundational to data protection, disaster recovery planning, and ransomware defense. Without effective policies and technologies in place, organizations risk data loss, compliance violations, and operational downtime.

 

Related Terms:

  • Disaster Recovery

  • Business Continuity

  • Immutable Backup

  • Snapshot

  • RPO/RTO

 

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