In today's digital landscape, data is among the most valuable assets for organizations. Whether it's digitized Personal Identifiable Information (PII), financial data, customer information, or mission-critical applications, safeguarding digital environments through regular backups is critical. Despite the apparent simplicity of backup and restore processes, studies and real-world incidents reveal a troubling truth: many backups fail, and even more alarming, restore processes are frequently unsuccessful. The implications of these failures can be devastating, leading to operational downtime, financial losses, and reputational damage.The Caribbean faces multifaceted digital data risks through human error, deliberate actions, natural disasters, and cyber attacks. As this article is written, the Caribbean is in the middle of hurricane season, which poses a significant risk to ICT environments.Unfortunately, with hurricanes Irma and Maria, we have plenty of examples of severe destruction to buildings, including those housing ICT infrastructure. The risk from cyber attacks is a year-round, 24/7 problem, with Fortinet indicating that the Latin America and Caribbeanregion suffered 200 billion attempted attacks in 2023. According to the Financial Times, “The cost of recovering from a ransomware attack is now ten times that of the average ransom payment.” Testing up-to-date backup and restore environments is critical for disaster/recovery strategies.
