Arcserve, the world's most experienced provider of backup, recovery and immutable storage solutions for unified data resiliency against ransomware and disasters, released Retail results in its annual independent Global Survey*.
The study, which includes Brazilian executives, identified the urgent need for greater data protection in the retail sector. It reveals a lack of preparation and confidence in data backup and recovery strategies, raising concerns about the current state of measures taken to protect confidential customer and business data.
The research finds that 54% of participating retail executives have been targeted by ransomware attacks in the last 12 months, with 26% of attacks resulting in data compromise and with a quarter of executives confirming ransom payments. It was also notable that 66% of the retail executives interviewed were not very confident in their abilities to recover all the data lost in the event of a ransomware attack.
Still regarding partial data recovery, almost half of retail executives (42%) admitted to being unable to recover all data during their last significant data loss incident. Worse: 57% reported that they do not have well-documented or up-to-date disaster recovery plans, with 72% revealing that they do not have specific data resilience goals within their data and backup strategies.
For Aftab Alam, chief product officer at Arcserve, “our latest research is more than a warning, it's a call to action. Retailers must urgently review their disaster recovery plans to address today's evolving cyber threat landscape. Data resilience is not something desirable but rather a non-negotiable business requirement with clear and measurable objectives. Don't wait for a crisis to test your recovery protocols. Make this a regular practice, similar to fire drills. By taking these steps, retailers do more than protect their bottom line: they maintain the trust of their customers.”
Among the recommendations for the retail sector generated by Arcserve's research are the constant review and updating of disaster recovery plans, the definition of specific data resilience goals within data and backup strategies to minimize possible losses; and the adoption of test recovery procedures to ensure a seamless and orchestrated recovery when the need arises.
About the research carried out by Dimensional Research: 1,121 IT decision makers responded to the survey. All participants had budgetary or technical decision-making responsibility for managing and protecting data and storage solutions in a company with 100 to 2,500 employees and at least 5 TB of data. The research was carried out in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, United Kingdom, United States and Canada (North America).
