Common Causes of Website Data Loss
A website typically consists of different files, such as text, videos, and images, that make it functional. These files are also responsible for how elements are displayed and how users can interact with them.
There are many reasons why website loses data, and the common causes include the following:
Human Error: Errors made by humans can cause loss of data. For example, an employee unintentionally deletes data or misconfigures data repositories, which can expose data and cause it to be exploited by unauthorised entities.
Software Bugs: Bugs within the website code, failed updates, and deprecated software can cause crashes that can lead to loss of data.
Server Error: Hardware failure or system overload can also lead to loss of data.
File Migration Error: Migration can cause websites to lose data. For instance, during a database transfer, important data like tags and metadata descriptions can be lost if the transfer is not done correctly.
Cyber Attacks: Malicious attackers can take advantage of a vulnerable website by inserting malware or ransomware into the system so they can destroy files for their own self-interest.
Outdated Backup: If the backup plan is outdated, it can result in loss of data. Implementing regular backup can help with quick recovery in case of unexpected loss.
Data loss can be devastating to both business owners and clients. It can cause financial loss, reputational damage, lack of trust, and can also be inconvenient.
This is the reason why measures are put in place to prevent it, and why hosting plays a huge role in data security.
How can hosting prevent data loss on a website?
A website host stores website files and makes them accessible over the internet; they also ensure that website files are protected.
Hosting providers offers, infrastructure and tools required for websites to operate on the internet, and also offer server monitoring, secure data storage, backups, and system updates, which can help prevent data loss.
For example, Verpex provides reliable servers, technology, and tools needed for websites to run efficiently. Verpex also implements security measures like SSL support, network monitoring, malware detection and removal, and provides 24/7 customer support.
A few examples of how hosting can prevent data loss on a website include:
Reliable infrastructure: The infrastructure of the hosting provider must have reliable storage, uninterrupted power supply/backup power to prevent power interruptions, and to prevent data loss during interruptions.
Secure Storage: Having secure and reliable storage can protect data against hardware failures. For example, RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a type of storage where data is distributed into multiple drives in case there's hardware failure.
If one drive fails, the data can still be restored from the second drive. It is implemented in hosting to improve performance and reduce latency, and can be a way to prevent data loss.
Regular Backups: Backup safekeeps your data against unintended deletions, hackers, malware, software bugs, and server failure. If data is backed up and an occurrence causes data loss, as long as it is up to date, data can always be restored.
Verpex provides daily backups, and backups are stored off-site using JetBackup.
Security Tools: Some hosting packages include Firewalls, malware scanning, SSL (Secure Socket Layer) / TLS (Transport Layer Security) certificates, and data encryption to help protect websites from data loss.
SSL or TLS encrypts data sent between a client and server. This encryption prevents sensitive credentials (e.g., passwords) from being intercepted by threat actors.
DDOS Protection: Distributed Denial of Service protection helps keep websites secure from malicious attackers. A DDoS attack refers to an attack where hackers flood a website with large volumes of malicious traffic to either slow it down or shut it down.
With DDOS protection, traffic is analysed in real time, and any suspicious or malicious traffic is blocked.
Hosting Practices to Prevent Website Data Loss
Regular Backups: Regular backups ensure that even when website data is lost, deleted, or corrupted due to human error, or other occurrences, data can be restored safely and with ease.
It is considered good practice to back up data before making upgrades, updates, or migrations. Also, practicing data restoration drills can be implemented to verify if backup works, if data backup is recent, and how long restoring data would take.
Offsite Backups: Backing up data in a remote location offers additional protection in case of server failure, natural disaster, or cyber-attack.
Regular Software Updates: Regularly updating software can help prevent your website from being exposed to cyber-attacks, and ensuring software is up-to-date reduces the risk of your website being exploited by malicious actors.
SSL/TLS Encryption: SSL/TLS encrypts data being transmitted from the client and server. This encryption helps prevent data from being tampered with during transmission.
Verpex offers free SSL certificates with every web hosting plan, and these certificates are renewed automatically to help secure data transmitted between users and the website.
Disaster Recovery Plan
What if a website has been compromised and the backups are corrupted? A reliable disaster recovery plan can help restore operations as soon as possible.
Disaster recovery involves strategies, processes, and solutions that can help protect IT infrastructure from disasters such as cyber-attacks, natural disasters, hardware failures, accidental data deletion, and other fatal incidents.
Disaster recovery not only protects data but minimizes downtime when a disruption occurs, helping businesses resume operations quickly.
Components of a Disaster Recovery Plan
Examples of key components for disaster recovery include:
Recovery Time Objective: RTO determines the time it would take for a business process to be restored after a disruption, and the recovery solution that would be implemented to recover quickly.
Recovery Point Objective: RPO refers to the amount of data a business can afford to lose, and how much data loss can be prevented using data protection and recovery plans.
RPO can be configured automatically as a policy setting in backup systems and cloud services, so that when a failure occurs, there’s a recent version of data that falls within the time loss tolerance allowed, which can help with quick recovery.
Other technical measures for disaster recovery include:
Redundant Storage: Redundant storage refers to copies of data stored in two or multiple places across different servers or regions to ensure they remains available in case of system failure.
Snapshots: Snapshots are copies of data captured at a specific point in time, and are useful for data protection because they provide a quick way to restores file or databases, when data loss or corruption occurs.
Versioning: Versioning is a feature where a file is saved in a storage system or repository that keeps its historical versions as they are updated. Versioning allows users to manage and retrieve previous versions of files so that if data loss or corruption occurs, the most recent versions can be restored.
