Backing up is a chore that most of us prefer not to think about until we have to, and then we wish we’d given it the priority and attention that it deserves, but of course by then it’s usually too late and we’ve lost really important records. Ah, the benefit of hindsight...

Here are a few tips that might make it easier

• If you aren’t currently backing up your PC and you’re using Office 365 (which most of us probably are) install the OneDrive app and copy your files into it. If it’s not already installed (it will display in the system tray at the bottom of your screen if it is), click on the Windows icon on the bottom left hand side of your screen and head for the “All Apps” option. Scroll down to the OneDrive icon and install it.
• OneDrive will back up the files you copy into it, placing them in the cloud, however be warned that you won’t be protected from Ransomware attacks using this method.
• Don’t depend on cloud-based backups alone; have local back-ups too. These can be removable hard drives. Pen drives/memory sticks can also be used for backing-up small files, but these have been known to fail too. The best option is at least one removable hard drive and backing-up the entire drive, however more than one is best and cycle through them.
• Keep your back-ups in a separate location from your computer. If your office burns down or some other disaster occurs, chances are that both your PC and your back-up will be affected equally seriously if they’re together when it happens.
• Keep off-line back-ups. If you are ever unfortunate enough to be infected by Ransomware, check that you have strong back-ups before declining to pay a ransom to have your data decrypted. You’ll need to have really good back-ups to restore your data from. There’s a very expensive lesson to be learned from the City of Atlanta’s experience. They spent $US2.6 million to recover from a $US52,000 Ransomware scam, not to mention all the lost productivity and hours spent trying to get their inadequate back-ups to work. This wasted time was estimated to cost them around $US18 million.

If you’d like to know more about what happened to Atlanta City check out the following links

Atlanta Spent $2.6M to Recover From a $52,000 Ransomware Scare

Atlanta didn’t pay 6 Bitcoin cyber attack ransom, officials confirm

And for more information on Ransomware and how to prevent attacks, check out this page.