Backups: 4 habits that keep you from losing everything

A failure, a theft, ransomware: the data on a laptop or a server can vanish at once. Four habits limit the damage. They come from Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, France's national support service for victims of cybercrime. The video is in French; its narration is translated below.

What you can lose, and how

Contracts, accounts, photos, years of work. Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr lists loss, theft, failure, hacking and the destruction of devices. The harshest case is ransomware: software that encrypts your files and demands a ransom.

The 4 habits

1. Several backups, on different media. An external drive and an online service, for example. One medium is one point of failure.
2. One copy elsewhere, away from the original. A fire or a flood takes the computer and the drive sitting next to it.
3. Disconnected after use. A backup left connected to the computer or the network can be encrypted or destroyed by ransomware along with the original.
4. Tested now and then. A backup can fail silently. Restore a file to check it works.

Professionals often sum these up as the "3-2-1" rule: three copies, on two media, one of them off site.

Common mistakes

• Mistaking sync for backup. A synced folder copies everything, including a file deleted by mistake or encrypted by ransomware. You also need a copy that does not change.
• Leaving the drive plugged in. Convenient, and exactly what ransomware hopes for.
• Never restoring. People find out a backup is empty the day they need it.
• Forgetting what is not on the computer: email, online tools, phones.

At work: who does what

• A named owner, and a written schedule.
• A list of what is backed up: files, but also email, online tools, accounting.
• An offline copy, even if everything else lives in the cloud.
• A dated restore test, at least a few times a year.

A 54-second video raises awareness; it does not replace a disaster recovery plan.

One topic, five versions

This video also works as a demo: the same topic was generated with five different settings. They sit side by side in the Settings section of the home page.

Pace, motion, imagery, music, subtitles, languages and format are set per video; colour and voice come from the workspace's brand kit.

How this video was made with EducPilot

• Source: Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr's page on managing backups. Each habit points to the sentence of that page that recommends it.
• The plan: a hook ("Your computer dies tonight"), the stakes, the four habits, a connected versus disconnected comparison, a recap, a closing question.

The narration, translated

Your computer dies tonight. What do you lose? Your contracts, your photos, years of work. A failure, a theft, a hack: everything can disappear at once.

The defence comes down to four habits. One: several backups, on different media. Two: a copy elsewhere, away from the original. Three: disconnect it after use. Four: test it, now and then.

Left connected, ransomware can destroy your backup. Disconnected, it stays out of reach.

Remember: several media, a copy elsewhere, disconnected, tested. When did you last test your backup?

Sources

• Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, Pourquoi et comment bien gérer ses sauvegardes ? (in French).
• Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, Rançongiciel : que faire si votre organisation est victime d’une attaque ? (in French).