Data backup and protection have become imperative with the rapid expansion of digital information and increasing dependence on technology. Organizations and individuals recognize the need for comprehensive backup strategies to safeguard valuable data against various risks, such as hardware failures, natural disasters, cyberattacks, and human errors.
The focal point of most contemporary data protection plans revolves around the 3-2-1 backup rule. This rule is widely accepted in the IT industry and various other sectors. Information security experts, government agencies, and cybersecurity entities worldwide recommend the 3-2-1 backup method.
The principle of 3-2-1 originated from an American photographer, Peter Krogh, when writing a book on digital asset management in the early 1990s. Today, it has gradually become a standard and a widely applied principle for service providers and enterprises when implementing data backup.
The 3-2-1 principle ensures data is safely backed up and recoverable for use when needed:
- 3 copies of data: Retain the primary production data and two backup copies. Maintaining three copies of data is the minimum requirement to ensure data can be recovered in any failure.
- 2 different media: Store the primary data and backup copies on at least two different storage media, including internal or external hard drives, NAS, tapes, and other media.
- 1 copy offsite: It’s not advisable to keep all backup copies in one place as they could be completely wiped out in a natural disaster or an emergency building like a fire. Hence, it’s recommended to store one or more backup copies in a distant location, such as a different city or country, or in external physical storage or cloud.
Additionally, in the context of rapidly increasing cyber threats in quantity and complexity, Veeam – a leading company in backup, recovery, and data management solutions, suggests a new approach with the 3-2-1-1-0 rule.
Where:
- 1 offline copy
- 0 errors in backup copies
HI GIO Cloud’s BaaS (developed by FPT & IIJ), a strategic GOLD-level partner of Veeam in Vietnam, aims to ensure enterprises’ data assets. We confidently apply the golden 3-2-1 rule to our backup products and aim towards the 3-2-1-1-0 principle to prevent and cope with increasing risks.
