Key backup trends in 2025: threats and solutions for IT professionals

The backup landscape has changed radically. Gone are the days of simple hard drives and USB sticks: the market has become more complex, driven by ever more sophisticated threats. As experts, it is crucial to understand the changes and new needs in order to adopt an effective offsite backup strategy.

Evolving threats and needs

Ransomware no longer just attacks production data; it now targets the backups themselves to prevent any restoration. In the face of this threat, businesses now demand cloud backup solutions that guarantee data security and non-alteration. Particular attention is paid to immutable backup technologies, in which data, once backed up, is no longer accessible on the network.

Beyond attacks, businesses, especially very small businesses, SMBs and local authorities, have new needs:

  • Shorter recovery time: Backing up is one thing, but restore speed is paramount for resuming operations.
  • Increased security: Encryption of data at the destination has become a requirement.
  • More copies: Splitting backups across different destinations (cloud, on-premise, cloud-to-cloud) is an increasingly common practice.
  • Compliance and sovereignty: Businesses demand European providers, with certifications such as GDPR or HDS, to guard against legal risks such as the Cloud Act.

Anticipate and test: the imperatives of a proactive strategy

A backup strategy should no longer be reactive, but proactive and resilient. The "3-2-1" method is a foundation, but a more secure variant, the "3-2-1-1-0", is emerging: three copies of data, on two different media, with one offsite copy, one immutable copy, and zero errors in restore tests.

Yet despite growing awareness, several critical points are still too often overlooked:

  • Disaster recovery plans (DRP): Many businesses formalize, test or update them only very rarely, if ever.
  • Cyber insurance: It is essential, but you need to make sure the policy actually covers cyber incidents and that your declarations are validated by an independent audit.
  • The cost of downtime: Lost revenue and reputational damage are often underestimated, threatening the very survival of the organization.

It is also crucial not to confuse backup with replication. Simple synchronization via services such as OneDrive is not a backup, because deleting a file in one place deletes it everywhere. Likewise, a NAS cannot be considered a backup on its own, because it is vulnerable to crypto-viruses and physical disasters such as fire or theft.

Kiwi Backup: a partner for your backup strategy

Faced with these challenges, an offsite and cloud backup solution like Kiwi Backup offers concrete answers. Kiwi Backup provides immutable backups, with a protocol break that protects data from encryption attacks.

With broad compatibility (NAS, cloud-to-cloud for Microsoft 365/Google Workspace, and VM environments), the solution covers the full range of backup needs. By choosing a local partner, you benefit from a tailored approach to ensure the security and continuity of your business.