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Author: Orla Forrest

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Disaster recovery in the age of cyber change

Internet technology network and cyber security concept .with lock icon on secure data network technology, cyber attack protection for worldwide connections.
Cillian McCarthy, chief executive and Pat Downing, account director, Vault365

Vault365 empowers organisations to protect their mission critical infrastructure and ensure business continuity.

In today’s interconnected world where cyber risks are constantly evolving, the protection of mission critical infrastructure is more important than ever. Mission critical infrastructure forms the core of how we do business and any disruption to essential systems within a business can trigger severe repercussions. The consequences of infrastructure downtime as a result of a cyber breach can be far-reaching and severe, such as financial losses through lost revenue, reduced productivity, potential regulatory penalties, and reputational damage. Furthermore, in critical sectors like healthcare and transportation, system failures pose direct public safety risks, and operational disruptions can bring essential services to a standstill.

Vault365, a leading Irish provider of managed data protection services, delivers an all-in-one backup, ransomware, and data protection solution powered by Veeam’s technology. It enables the fastest data restore in the industry for information stored both on-premise and in cloud applications, and focuses on cutting the all-important data restore and disaster recovery time to an absolute minimum with disaster recovery as-a-service (DRaaS).

Protecting your vital systems

Vault365 protects sensitive data from ransomware and other cyber threats with immutable backups. This means that these backups, once created, cannot be altered or deleted, guaranteeing data integrity and recoverability. Furthermore, Vault365 provides offsite backup capabilities, with data securely hosted at its Irish-based data centre, ensuring data protection even in the event of a catastrophic on-premises failure. It protects data wherever it resides, ensuring all critical systems are protected.

Should a cyber incident occur, rapid data recovery with DRaaS minimises downtime, enabling the restoration of critical systems and applications within minutes. This ensures the continuous operation of essential services, even during significant disruptions.

As your infrastructure evolves, Vault365 scales with your needs. It is adaptable and flexible to changing requirements or in line with busy periods, ensuring optimal protection for your data. Meanwhile, as Vault365 streamlines backup and recovery processes, this reduces the operational burden on IT teams and frees up valuable resources. In turn, this enables employees to focus on delivering other strategic initiatives for the business.

Real-world peace of mind

In an increasingly complex IT landscape, the ability to effectively defend against cyber threats needs to be at the forefront of every organisation’s mind and at the heart of every strategy. Imagine a healthcare facility that encrypts critical patient records falls victim to a ransomware attack. With Vault365, it can rapidly restore its systems from immutable backups, ensuring uninterrupted patient care. In another scenario, imagine a power grid experiences a natural disaster. Vault365’s rapid recovery capabilities enable the restoration of critical control systems, minimising the risk impact of power outages. This empowers organisations to protect their mission critical infrastructure and ensure business continuity.

Don’t wait for a crisis to test your resilience

Robust data protection is a necessity, and it’s vital that proactive processes are in place to mitigate these risks. It’s also important that these processes are tried and tested regularly as threats continue to evolve. Vault365 provides the peace of mind that your mission critical infrastructure is protected by a reliable and comprehensive solution.

Talk to our experts to find out how Vault365 can safeguard your systems and ensure your organisation’s continued success.

TO DISCUSS YOUR BACKUP OPTIONS CLICK HERE!

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News Vault365

Prioritising the right infrastructure to protect a firm’s mission-critical data

Fergal Meehan, CCO of Vault365 in an interview with Quinton O'Reilly from The Business Post

Protecting your most crucial infrastructure means understanding every area of your organisation inside and out.

Protecting your mission-critical infrastructure is crucial for an organisation. In a modern setup, any downtime or, worse, being hit by a cyber attack like DDoS or ransomware can significantly damage your processes, reputation, and bottom line.

It’s tempting to take a one-size-fits-all approach to protection, but it’s a trap that many organisations unwittingly fall into.

“Treating everything as critical is a common trap, and a very costly trap too,” said Fergal Meehan, chief commercial officer at Vault365.“It’ s about working out what your tier-one data set is that you want to focus on.

“To get to that, you require a deep understanding of your business processes.”

Meehan mentions that the other flaw is seeing this as an issue for the IT team to tackle. The reality is that mission-critical infrastructure involves everyone, as data resides in all areas of the business.

Some of the questions organisations need to answer when putting their risk management and data strategy together include understanding what critical data is, how long you’ve stored it for and how it relates to data protection and processing policies.

All departments must be aligned in their goals and understanding; otherwise, risk management will be a piecemeal approach.

“It’ s a top-down approach,” he added. “If you get everyone involved in making those choices, you’ll quickly know your critical dataset.

“If you leave it to the IT department, they aren’t going to know what’s critical for one department, so it’s important to have the various policies in place to identify that.

It requires an all-in approach, get everyone in behind the wheel instead of leaving it for the IT managers to sort

Meehan also encourages organisations to view the IT department as facilitators, saying, “They’re there to put together solutions that back up your mission-critical infrastructure, but you have to tell them what they’re working with and what is mission-critical to you.

“Every vertical in the business will have a different view on this, so it’s a team effort to join these up.”

Vault365 specialises in multiple solutions for mission-critical infrastructure, including cloud backup, backup as a service (BaaS) and disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS). The organisation brings a significant experience that builds confidence among them and their clients.

“You can say back up everything, but when Vault365 comes in, there are deeper conversations about what is

important to you,” said Meehan. “We’re not talking about using this product, ticking it off, and away you go; we want to know about what you need in areas

like data protection, business continuity, and data storage.

“After talking, they realise there’s much more to backups than they realised. We do this because the last thing you want to realise is that the necessary checks and measures weren’t in place six months later.”

Meehan mentions how he noticed a shift in how organisations connect with providers like Vault365, realising that they add value beyond the products and can show them the bigger picture.

Meehan mentions the 3-2-1-1-0 golden backup rule, which states to have at least three copies of your data, with the backups stored on two different media, one of the copies stored at an offsite location, one copy stored offline and has verified backups without errors.

This comes into play when you consider DRaaS which depends on how your backups are managed and monitored, and is something that Vault365 practices. It also uses Veeam technology, which develops backup, disaster recovery and modern data-protection software for multiple workloads.

“We bring that same expectation, as I believe that’s the bit that’s been missing from a lot of backups, particularly from DRaaS,” he mentioned.

“Customers gain increased automation, the process is further simplified, and their failback processes are better understood.”

A good backup strategy involves determining what data you want to be backed up and protected, putting together your runbook, and building your business continuity plan. Without that, no technology can address those blind spots.

“The technology won’t be there if you don’t understand your actual plan,” he said. “With Vault365 expertise layered on top of those expectations, when they see it working, the customer’s confidence increases.

“That’s one of the biggest things we like to drive with Vault365 – you can go to bed at night and sleep comfortably knowing your data is protected.”

TO DISCUSS YOUR BACKUP options CLICK HERE!

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Blog Vault365

5 Essential Steps to a Bulletproof Backup Plan

As a data backup provider, we’ve seen it all. From accidental deletions to devastating ransomware attacks, we know firsthand how crucial a robust backup plan is for any business. It’s not just about having a copy of your data; it’s about ensuring business continuity in the face of unforeseen disasters.

Here are 5 essential steps to building a bulletproof backup plan, straight from the experts:

1. Identify and Prioritise Your Critical Data:

Not all data is created equal. Start by identifying your mission-critical data: customer databases, financial records, intellectual property, and essential applications. This is the data your business cannot function without.

  • From our perspective: We often see businesses trying to back up everything, which can be inefficient and costly. Focus on what truly matters. Create a data inventory and classify data based on its importance and recovery time objective (RTO). This allows for a more targeted and efficient backup strategy.

2. Implement  3-2-1-1-0 Backup Rule:

This tried-and-true rule is the cornerstone of a resilient backup strategy. It dictates:

  • 3 Copies of Your Data: Maintain three copies of your critical data.
  • 2 Different Media: Store those copies on at least two different types of storage media (e.g., local hard drives, cloud storage, tape).
  • 1 Offsite Location: Keep at least one copy of your data offsite, preferably in a secure cloud environment.
  • 1 Copy Resilient: Either through being Air Gapped, Offline or Immutable
  • 0 Backup Errors: Utilise automated backup verification
  • From our perspective: Cloud backup solutions excel at fulfilling the “offsite” requirement, providing a secure and scalable storage option. We recommend combining local backups for quick recovery with cloud backups for disaster recovery.

3. Automate and Schedule Regular Backups:

Manual backups are prone to human error and inconsistency. Automation is key.

  • From our perspective: Automated backup solutions that run on pre-defined schedules, ensuring consistent data protection. Regular, incremental backups capture changes frequently, minimizing data loss in the event of a recovery. Schedule backups to occur during off-peak hours to minimize performance impact.

4. Test Your Restores Regularly:

A backup is only as good as its ability to be restored. Don’t wait for a disaster to discover your backups are corrupted or incomplete.

  • From our perspective: We strongly advise performing regular restore tests. This validates the integrity of your backups and ensures your team is familiar with the recovery process. Test different scenarios, such as file-level restores, application restores, and full system restores.

5. Consider Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS):

For businesses requiring rapid recovery and minimal downtime, DRaaS is a game-changer.

  • From our perspective: DRaaS provides a comprehensive solution for disaster recovery, including replication, failover, and failback capabilities. We can provide a virtualised environment in the cloud that mirrors your production environment, allowing you to quickly resume operations in the event of a disaster. This is especially important for businesses with strict RTO and recovery point objective (RPO) requirements.

In Conclusion:

A bulletproof backup plan is not a “set it and forget it” task. It requires ongoing monitoring, testing, and refinement. By following these 5 essential steps, you can significantly reduce your risk of data loss and ensure business continuity.

As your data backup provider, we’re here to help you navigate the complexities of data protection. Contact us today to discuss your specific needs and develop a customised backup plan that gives you peace of mind.

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Blog Vault365

Data Fortress: Unbreakable Backup Strategies

Losing any kind of data due to unforeseen events like cyberattacks, hardware failures, or natural disasters can have devastating consequences.  

That’s where robust backup strategies come into play. Think of them as your data fortress, an impregnable stronghold safeguarding your valuable information from any threat.

Building an Unbreakable Data Fortress:

  1. The 3-2-1 Rule: This golden rule of data backup emphasizes redundancy and ensures your data is truly protected:
    • 3 Copies: Maintain at least three copies of your critical data.
    • 2 Different Media: Store these copies on two different types of media (e.g., hard drive, cloud storage, external drive).
    • 1 Off-site Location: Keep one copy of your data in a physically separate location to protect against local disasters.
  2. Regular Backups:
    • Automated Backups: Schedule regular automated backups to ensure consistency and minimize the risk of human error.
    • Incremental Backups: Only back up files that have changed since the last backup, saving time and storage space.
  3. Cloud Storage:
    • Cloud-to-Cloud Backups: If you rely heavily on cloud services, consider using cloud-to-cloud backup solutions to protect against data loss within the cloud provider.
    • Hybrid Approach: Combine cloud storage with on-premise backups for enhanced security and flexibility.
  4. Version Control:
    • Track changes to files over time, allowing you to easily revert to previous versions if needed. This is crucial for developers and businesses that rely heavily on collaborative work.
  5. Security Measures:
    • Strong Passwords: Use strong, unique passwords for all your backup accounts.
    • Encryption: Encrypt your backups to protect sensitive data from unauthorised access.
    • Regular Security Audits: Regularly review your backup security measures and update them as needed.
  6. Disaster Recovery Planning:
    • Develop a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that outlines how you will restore your data and operations in the event of a major incident.
  7. Testing:
    • Regularly test your backup and recovery procedures to ensure they work as expected. This will help identify and address any potential issues before a real disaster strikes.

Choosing the Right Backup Solution:

The best backup strategy will depend on your specific needs and resources. Consider factors such as:

  • The volume of data: How much data do you need to back up?
  • The sensitivity of the data: How critical is this data to your business or personal life?
  • Your budget: How much are you willing to spend on backup solutions?
  • Your technical expertise: How comfortable are you with managing and maintaining backup systems?

Building a data fortress is an ongoing process. It requires continuous monitoring, maintenance, and adaptation to evolving threats. By implementing these strategies and staying vigilant, you can ensure the safety and security of your valuable data, giving you peace of mind and the resilience to overcome any challenges that may arise.

To choose the best data backup option for you, click here to get in touch!

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Vault365 Video Series

How reliable is Vault365’s back up solution?

Welcome to our sixth Vlog in our Backup Solutions series!

In this Vlog we are looking at the reliability of Vault365’s Backup solution.

TO DISCUSS YOUR BACKUP options CLICK HERE!

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Blog Vault365

Data Backup Mistakes to Avoid: A Guide to Protecting Your Digital Assets

Technology Security Access and Data Privacy Login Protection Concept, Business Woman is Typing Key Secure Password Accessing on Technology Security With Laptop. Digital Data Network Web Connection

Data backup is a crucial aspect of digital asset protection, yet many individuals and businesses still make common mistakes that can lead to significant data loss. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of the most frequent data backup errors and provide tips on how to avoid them.

  1. Incomplete Backups:

One of the most common mistakes is creating incomplete backups. Ensure that your backup process captures all essential data, including files, documents, images, videos, and system settings. Regularly review your backup schedule and procedures to verify that everything is being backed up correctly.

  1. Insufficient Storage:

As your data volume grows, your backup storage needs will also increase. Ensure that your backup solution has enough capacity to accommodate your current and future data requirements. Consider cloud-based backup options or expanding your local storage if necessary.

  1. Single-Location Backups:

Storing all your backups in a single location, such as on-premises, exposes them to risks like fire, theft, or natural disasters. At a minimum implement a 3-2-1 backup strategy: keep three copies of your data, store two copies locally, and store one copy off-site. This approach helps protect your data from potential data loss scenarios.

  1. Outdated Backups:

Regularly updating your backups is essential to protect against data loss due to accidental deletions, software failures, or malware attacks. Establish a backup schedule that aligns with your data usage patterns and ensures that your backups are up-to-date.

  1. Lack of Testing:

Regularly testing your backup process is crucial to verify its effectiveness. Perform periodic restore tests to ensure that you can successfully recover your data in case of a disaster. This helps identify and address any issues with your backup solution before a critical event occurs.

  1. Overreliance on Cloud Backup:

While cloud backup offers convenience and scalability, it’s essential to have a comprehensive backup strategy that includes both cloud and local storage. Relying solely on cloud backup can expose your data to potential vulnerabilities, such as internet outages or service disruptions.

  1. Neglecting Version Control:

Version control is essential for tracking changes to your files over time. Consider using version control systems or backup solutions that automatically create multiple versions of your files, allowing you to revert to previous states if needed.

By avoiding these common data backup mistakes and implementing best practices, you can significantly reduce the risk of data loss and protect your valuable digital assets. Regular review, testing, and ongoing maintenance of your backup solution are essential to ensure its effectiveness.

 

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News Vault365

Cracking the UK market set to ‘rapidly accelerate’ Vault365 revenues

Vault365, a Dublin-based back-up and disaster recovery (DR) business, expects to grow its annual recurring revenue to €10 million over the next five years. 

Vault365 is a spin-out of Paradyn, an IT support business, and was founded in 2022 by Cillian McCarthy, Paul Casey, Rob Norton & Pat Downing. 

The business has seven staff and expects to record annual recurring revenue of €1 million this year. 

“We build best practice back-up and DR solutions for enterprise customers. It’s a local solution that ensures they can recover their data in the event of a cyber incident. It also ensures the data they recover is what they backed up to begin with,” McCarthy told the Business Post.

The business uses what’s known as the 3-2-1-1-0 rule. This involves retaining at least three copies of the data involved, storing it in two different ways, ensuring at least one copy is offsite, also ensuring that at least one copy is offline, and to have zero errors in the back-ups. 

The idea for the business grew out of the work the co-founders experienced with Paradyn. 

“Through Paradyn, we saw the need for a specialised company dealing with back-up and DR strategy. We did a lot of benchmarking with customers and found people had back-ups that weren’t fit for purpose. They weren’t sure that, in the event of a cyber incident, their data would still be there for them,” McCarthy said. 

“Out of that we built Vault365 to bring people on a journey to get the best practice data protection in place. We used the 3-2-1-1-0 rule to bring the customers along that path.”

The decision to split Vault365 into it’s own company came about because of the different nature of the offering. Paradyn offers service provision whereas Vault365 is a product-oriented business, selling through channel partners. 

“We have three partners in Ireland and two in the UK to resell the product. The growth has been much better than we expected. We’re having high level discussions with government sector organisations and enterprise customers,” McCarthy said.

“We only started the business 18 months ago and we’ve moved the business to a point where we expect €1 million in annual recurring revenue and we’ve taken on three new staff this year alone.”

McCarthy has firm plans on where he wants to bring the company. He said Vault365 is confident of particularly strong growth in the UK market, which should rapidly accelerate revenue.

“In the next 12 months we hope to double revenue. Over the next five years, we aim to get to €10 million annual recurring revenue. The plan is to add two more staff by the end of the year. Over the next five years, we expect 20 to 25 people working in the business.”

 

Click here to discuss your Backup Options!
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Blog Vault365

Cloud Backup vs. On-Premise Backup: Which is Right for You?

Data loss is a nightmare for any business. It can lead to financial losses, reputational damage, and operational disruptions. That’s why having a robust backup strategy is crucial. But with two primary options – cloud backup and on-premise backup – choosing the right one can be daunting. Let’s break down the pros and cons of each to help you make an informed decision.

Cloud Backup: The Virtual Safeguard

What is it? Cloud backup stores your data on remote servers managed by a third-party provider. Your files are accessible from any internet-connected device.

Pros:

  • Accessibility: Access your data from anywhere with an internet connection.
  • Scalability: Easily increase storage capacity as your data grows.
  • Cost-effective: No upfront hardware costs, often pay-as-you-go pricing.
  • Disaster recovery: Protects against physical damage, theft, and natural disasters.
  • Security: Many cloud providers offer robust security measures.

Cons:

  • Internet dependency: Reliance on a stable internet connection.
  • Data privacy concerns: Some might have concerns about data being stored off-site.
  • Potential vendor lock-in: Switching providers can be complex.

On-Premise Backup: The Traditional Approach

What is it? On-premise backup involves storing your data on physical hardware located within your organisation.

Pros:

  • Complete control: You have full ownership and control over your data.
  • No internet dependency: Access your data even without an internet connection.
  • Potential cost savings: Can be cheaper in the long run if you already have the hardware.

Cons:

  • High upfront costs: Requires purchasing and maintaining hardware.
  • Limited scalability: Expanding storage capacity can be expensive and time-consuming.
  • Vulnerability to physical threats: Data is at risk from fire, theft, or natural disasters.
  • Management overhead: Requires dedicated IT resources for maintenance.

Which is Right for You?

The best choice depends on several factors:

  • Data volume and sensitivity: If you handle large amounts of highly sensitive data, on-premise might be more suitable due to control and security concerns.
  • Budget: Cloud backup is often more cost-effective upfront, but on-premise can be cheaper in the long run.
  • IT resources: On-premise backup requires dedicated IT staff for management.
  • Disaster recovery needs: Cloud backup offers better protection against physical disasters.
  • Accessibility requirements: Cloud backup provides greater accessibility.

Hybrid Approach: Many organisations find a hybrid approach combining both cloud and on-premise backup to be the most effective. This offers the benefits of both worlds, providing redundancy and protection against various threats.

Ultimately, the best backup solution is the one that meets your specific needs and provides peace of mind.

Click here to discuss your Backup Options!
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Vault365 Video Series

Vault365 Offsite Backup

Welcome to our fifth Vlog in our Backup Solutions series!

In this Vlog we are looking at the importance & benefits of Vault365’s Offsite Backup.

TO DISCUSS YOUR BACKUP options CLICK HERE!

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Customer Success Story Vault365

Customer Success Story: Galway County Council

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The Challenge:

Galway County Council partnered with Paradyn, Vault365’s Irish partner, to assess their existing backup solution. The goal was to ensure alignment with industry standards and meet the council’s data recovery objectives. The review identified a critical issue: the current solution only provided two data copies (including the infrastructure copy) and one additional data copy. This fell short of best practices, specifically the 3-2-1-1-0 backup rule, leaving the council’s data vulnerable.

The Solution:

Vault365, in collaboration with Paradyn, designed and proposed a modern data protection solution that adheres to the 3-2-1-1-0 industry standard. This robust solution significantly strengthens Galway County Council’s backup environment. It utilises multiple storage repositories for increased resilience, offers flexible recovery options, and leverages different repository file systems for an added layer of security against ransomware attacks and their spread. Furthermore, Vault365 implemented immutability using off-site BaaS (Backup as a Service) with the object lock feature. This safeguards data against ransomware and facilitates disaster recovery. Additionally, Vault365 provides real-time active analytics for continuous monitoring and anomaly detection.

Conclusion:

By implementing the 3-2-1-1-0 backup rule and incorporating immutable data storage in the cloud, Galway County Council has achieved significant peace of mind. They can now be confident that their data is not only securely protected but also readily recoverable. Additionally, backup and restore jobs are now significantly faster. The council also benefits from the reassurance that their off-site backups are continuously monitored and managed by Vault365’s expert team.

“Vault365’s BaaS Solution has provided Galway County Council with a secure and reliable Backup Solution offering us resilience and speed of recovery. The immutable backups and the offsite storage provide us with the peace of mind that our data is secure and continuously monitored. Paradyn’s extensive knowledge and support were essential to this project’s overall success.” – Chris Averill – IS Project leader, Galway County Council

Click here to discuss your Backup & Recovery Options!
Categories
Blog Vault365

The Data Disaster You Didn’t See Coming: Why Backups Are Your Business’ Secret Weapon

Let’s face it, disasters come in all shapes and sizes. From the ever-present cyberthreats to the more traditional power outages and hardware failures, your business data is constantly under siege. One wrong move, and you could be staring down a costly downtime that cripples operations and shatters customer trust.

But what if there was a way to mitigate those risks and ensure your business bounces back from anything? Enter the world of backups and disaster recovery (DR) solutions – your secret weapon in the fight for data security and business continuity.

Think of backups as your data’s superhero cape. It shields your valuable information from unexpected attacks, accidental deletions, and even natural disasters. A robust backup plan ensures you have a recent copy of your data readily available, allowing for a quick and painless restoration process.

But backups alone aren’t enough. That’s where DR comes in. DR takes your preparedness a step further, outlining a comprehensive strategy for restoring your entire IT infrastructure in the event of a major disruption. It’s like having a detailed battle plan to get your business back up and running in no time.

Here’s why a combined backup and DR strategy is a game-changer for your business:

  • Reduced Downtime: Every minute your business is offline translates to lost revenue and productivity. Backups and DR minimize downtime, allowing you to get back to business faster.
  • Enhanced Security: Cybercrime is on the rise. Backups offer a crucial safety net against ransomware attacks, ensuring you have a clean copy of your data to restore.
  • Improved Peace of Mind: Knowing your data is secure allows you to focus on what matters most – running your business.
  • Compliance Saviour: Many industries have strict data compliance regulations. Backups and DR ensure you meet those regulations and avoid hefty fines.

Don’t wait for disaster to strike. Take a proactive approach to data security with a comprehensive backup and DR solution. At Vault365, we offer a range of customisable plans to fit your specific business needs. We’ll help you identify your vulnerabilities, craft a watertight strategy, and implement solutions that keep your data safe and your business running smoothly.

Click here to discuss your Backup Options!
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Vault365 Video Series

Benefits of Vault365 BaaS

Backup files and data on internet with cloud storage technology that sync all online devices and computers with network connection, protection against loss, business person touch screen icon concept (Backup files and data on internet with cloud storag

Welcome to our fifth Vlog in our Backup Solutions series!

In this Vlog we are looking at the benefits of Vault365’s BaaS over traditional backup solutions!

TO DISCUSS YOUR BACKUP options CLICK HERE!

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