Kroll Ontrack Survey: Users Lose Data Despite Backup

Most businesses and consumers now routinely make complete and comprehensive backups of their data (75%), according to the latest customer survey by Kroll Ontrack LLC, provider of data recovery and ediscovery.

The survey results highlight growing popularity of cloud-based backups with around twice as many users (about 33%) as last year (16%) reporting they make backups online. However, despite growing use of digital solutions tape backup is also experiencing a surge in popularity: 17% of businesses and consumers backup their data on tape, up from about 8% in 2016.

Yet despite growing use of various backup solutions, around one third of the 1,000 surveyed customers in North America, Europe and Australia reported experiencing data loss. The majority of companies who experienced data loss did have a backup solution in place at the time of the incident.

A quarter of respondents also reported that their backup failed to work properly. Of the users who experienced data loss and had access to a backup, 67% said they were able to restore almost all their data, while another 13% were able to restore up to three quarters. 12% reported that the backup was corrupted and just under 3% were able to restore only a small proportion of their data.

One explanation for losing data despite having a backup solution in place could be the physical storage and process used. For example, important data can easily be lost if relevant devices are unintentionally omitted from backup procedures. To ensure there is no oversight, users should ensure relevant mobile media such as phones or notebooks are connected to a backup server.

Of users reporting that they have no backup solution in place, only around 7% believe their data is secure without a backup. When asked why they chose to forego a backup solution, around 14% of respondents worldwide said the quest for the right backup solution and the expense of managing the solution once installed, entailed too much work.

The study also showed that three-quarters of all backups are performed unencrypted. Compared to the UK, where nearly half of survey respondents encrypt their backups, respondents in the U.S. (around 34%) perform relatively poorly.

In the U.S., 42% of respondents said they backup daily, compared to 44% of survey respondents based in countries other than the U.S. More than 18% of respondents backup their data once per week, and almost 16% once per month. Only around 4% said they backup data once annually.

When asked about how frequently respondents test backups to make sure they’re properly set-up, 24% of respondents admit to never testing backups; the same percentage of respondents said they test backups at least once per week. 30% test backups once per month and just under 14% once per year.

The company offers following basic guidelines to businesses and consumers on how to achieve positive backup results:

• Set up a backup schedule that covers all relevant devices and media

• Verify that backups function correctly and that they run in accordance with the determined schedule

• Regularly check backup systems to identify any errors

• Test backups on a regular basis to validate that data is complete and intact