Backups are important: Will you take the World Backup Day pledge?

Personal data is lost every day. Sometimes your phone is stolen. Perhaps ransomware encrypted all of your files. Maybe your hard drive crashed. Or it's possible you just accidentally deleted an important file. Regardless of what caused the data loss, you're going to wish you had a backup!

World Backup Day was created as a way to remind people of the importance of backups and to have them publicly pledge that they will start taking backups of their data. The site brings up a lot of stats, such as the fact that 113 phones are lost or stolen every 60 seconds or that one in ten computers are infected with a virus each month, a number that's probably higher today than when the graphic was made. Unfortunately, most people don't think about their data until it's too late.

Many people store data in the cloud, which is great, but if that's the only copy of your data, you're still putting yourself at risk. If your account is compromised by a phishing attack, someone can delete everything (in addition to posting it online, which could be embarrassing). If the company goes out of business, how will you get your files back? Or if malware impacts the hosting company, your data could be gone forever.

Therefore, it's critical to always have at least two copies of your data and preferably have them separate from each other so that if, for example, someone breaks into your phone, they won't be able to delete your files and your backup at the same time. You should also think about making sure your second copy is in a completely separate location so a natural disaster can't compromise your digital life.

There are plenty of options, from a personal NAS server to cloud backup services, with the best solutions usually employing a mixture thereof. If you would like to share your backup strategy in the comments, you might be able to help someone else avoid a disaster in the future.

There are two types of people in the world: Those who have lost data and those who will lose data. Which one are you?

Source and Image: World Backup Day