The imperative for data protection and recovery in the age of AI

The annual observance of World Backup Day on 31 March serves as a crucial reminder for everyone, given the surge in data breaches and cyber attacks that have been a major concern for top-level executives in 2024.

In the second half of 2023, data breaches increased by 19%, according to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). This rise in data breaches, losses and thefts, which are growing in complexity, scale and impact, underscores the critical importance of data protection at both personal and enterprise levels.

“In today’s ever-evolving landscape, data loss incidents can be more than just a minor inconvenience for individuals; for organisations, they can spell disaster,” said Keir Garrett, Regional Vice President for Cloudera Australia and New Zealand. “With more and more companies leveraging data-driven decision-making and technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), the need for highly available and easily accessible data becomes critical. However, AI models are only as good as the data they are fed; therefore, the key to trusting your AI is to first trust your data. Enterprises must ensure that they have robust data governance and recovery frameworks in place so that their datasets are trusted, accurate, consistent and protected.”

While data encryption and backup are common methods employed by enterprises for data protection, an effective safeguarding strategy requires a holistic approach that includes policies and processes to address disaster recovery and improve data’s resiliency,” she added. “This is especially relevant as many routinely ask a straightforward question: what should I do if a catastrophe hits my business and threatens to take out my data? The simple answer: make disaster recovery easier.”

Companies can better understand and plan for disaster recovery by investing in data management platforms that provide a real-time overview of data across multi-cloud and on-premises environments, according to Garrett.

“These platforms enable organisations to actively monitor for threats while accelerating their AI and digital transformation initiatives through instant access to high-quality data,” Garrett concluded.

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