“We have cloud backup” sounds calm until you try to restore last month’s invoices on Wednesday at 09:00. This text is about one question: tomorrow, after a failure or encryption, are you still running the business?
Not product names. Number of places, keys, and one test.
3-2-1 in plain language
Remember three numbers:
- 3 — three copies of important data (what you work on + two others).
- 2 — on two different kinds of media / places (e.g. office disk and cloud, or another disk with someone trusted).
- 1 — one copy out of easy reach of the same fire / the same admin account (offline, different login, different location).
If every “copy” is the same OneDrive signed in on the same laptop — that is sync, not a survival plan. More on copy boundaries under ransomware: ransomware-resistant backup (more technical).
One concrete action: a restore test
Not “write a retention policy”. Do this:
- Pick one important thing: invoice folder, shop database, mailbox, project.
- Set a point in time: “state from a week ago”.
- Restore it to a separate place (not overwriting production).
- Check: does it open? Does the content match? How long did it take?
- Write the result down or use the backup restore test worksheet.
If steps 3–4 cannot be done without guessing passwords and half a day of searching — you do not have a backup. You have hope.
Owner questions (honestly)
- Who knows the password to the copy? Only one person?
- Would ransomware on the bookkeeper’s PC also wipe the “cloud”?
- When did you really restore something last, not “the backup job ran”?
Next step
Testing one folder often shows the gap. When the estate is larger (servers, shop, M365 mail) — describe it in the IT form or start from where to start. Reply usually within 1 business day; phone temporarily unavailable.