February’s Vital Action:
Backups That Actually Work
Backups That Actually Work
Because a backup you’ve never tested is just a hope.
Cyberattacks, ransomware, hardware failures, and human mistakes happen every day. The businesses that recover fastest all have one thing in common: working, tested backups.
This month’s vital action is making sure your backups can actually save you when it matters most.
What Should Be Backed Up?
If it matters to your business, it needs a backup.
At a minimum, back up:
Business documents & shared files
Accounting & financial data
Email & cloud data (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace)
Databases & line-of-business applications
Servers, systems, and critical configurations
If losing it would stop work, cost money, or cause
panic—back it up.
If losing it would stop work, cost money, or causeHow Often Backups Should Run?
Backups should match how often your data changes.
Best practice for most businesses—the 3-2-1 Backup Rule:
3 Copies of Data: The original production data plus at least two backup copies.
2 Different Media Types: Store backups on different, separate systems to avoid single-point failure (e.g., one on a local NAS, one on an external USB drive, or in the cloud)
1 Off-site Copy: Keep at least one backup in a geographically different, secure location, such as a different building, a secured, off-site, or a cloud service.
Manual backups are unreliable. Automation matters.
Why Testing Restores Matters
Backups aren’t useful unless they can be restored.
Many businesses discover too late that:
- Backups were incomplete
- Files were corrupted
- Restores were never tested
- Data couldn’t be recovered fast enough
Vital action:
- Test restores regularly
- Confirm files open and systems run
- Know how long recovery actually takes
A backup that can’t be restored is the same as no
backup at all.
How Backups Beat Ransomware
Ransomware wants one thing: your only copy of your data.
When you have secure, tested backups:
- You don’t have to pay the ransom
- You can restore clean data
- Downtime is minimized
- A disaster becomes a bad day—not a business-ending event
Backups turn criminals into inconveniences.
February Action Step
Ask this one question:
“If our data disappeared today, could we restore it—and how long would it take?”
If the answer isn’t clear, this month’s vital action is simple:
Review, verify, and test your backups.
https://actsmartit.com/february-backup
Build Your Human Firewall – One Smart Step at a Time
Why This Roadmap Exists
Cybersecurity doesn’t fail because businesses don’t care — it fails because it feels overwhelming.
This roadmap breaks cybersecurity into 12 vital actions, one per month. Each step is practical, achievable, and proven to reduce real‑world risk for small businesses.
Think of this as building a Human Firewall — strong people,
supported by smart technology, making safer decisions every day.
Be a Human Firewall
Technology alone can’t stop cybercrime.
A Human Firewall is built when you:
• Question unexpected logins
• Pause before entering credentials
• Expect MFA prompts — and report
unusual ones
