What do you do to keep your WordPress-powered website safe and operational at all times?
Let’s say you update your WordPress core and plugins/themes regularly, install only trusted plugins and themes. That’s undoubtedly good, but the question is, is it enough?
You might have implemented security practices to secure your site, but your website data could still be vulnerable. The risk of hackers stealing business data or an innocent coding mistake bringing down your site will always be rampant. This is where a proper backup comes to your rescue. A good backup solution creates a copy of your latest data and stores it safely so that it is available for a quick restore in the case of an unforeseen event.
Through this article, we shall take a look at why you need website backups, the types of backups available, and the features that every backup tool must possess.
Why Does Your Business Need a Website Backup?
As a business, you cannot afford to lose your website data even for a single day. A major data loss can happen due to various reasons, including:
Human Error
Even a seemingly innocent human error can cause your site to crash, causing you to lose data. Regular backups of your website can help your business recover quickly from such a data loss and get your operations back on track.
Website Hack
In recent years, cybercriminals have successfully executed data breaches resulting in the loss of critical business data, including customer records, payment transactions, and database records. In the event of a successful hack, your priority would be to recover this critical data and restore your website without losing any time. While there are many services to remove malware, a sound backup strategy can be a lifesaver.
Natural Disasters
Depending on the geographical location of your business infrastructure, natural disasters like floods or even cyclones can seriously damage your hosting systems resulting in loss of business data. In this case, a backup stored on storage systems located in another country or geographical location can easily be used to restore your site.
Server Crash or Failure
Data loss can also happen due to website crashes or failure of your servers. Backup systems can store your backup data on independent or cloud-based systems, which are not impacted by any server failure or crash.
Unsuccessful Updates
WordPress Updates are regularly released to improve security and avail new functionalities. This typically involves updating the main WordPress version or each of its installed plugins/themes. However, in some instances, the update process can end up breaking or crashing your business site.