More than three-quarters of UK senior IT professionals admit that their organisation has lost data due to system failure, human error or a cyberattack in the past year, according to latest research from data recovery firm Assurestor.

In a survey of over 250 senior IT professionals among UK organisations, including CTOs and CIOs, Assurestor found a concerning ‘Titanic mindset’ towards business resilience, which it claims is putting  data, and entire businesses with it, at risk.

According to the data, 78% of respondents said they had suffered data loss at least once in the past 12 months, only a little over half (54%) were confident they could recover data and mitigate downtime in a future disaster. 

While one in four were not confident in recovery solutions that include tape backup and cloud backup, backup-as-a-service (BaaS) and disaster recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS) prompted the highest levels of confidence at 63% and 56% respectively.

Just 5% of IT professionals said they tested monthly, which Assurestor claims to be the ‘Gold Standard’ for recoverability, while one in five (20%) admitted to testing once a year or less.

Of those that do test more regularly, 60% said they only check their data is fully recoverable and usable once every six months.

When it comes to the top challenges in disaster recovery planning, 39% of respondents point to a lack of skills and in-house expertise, 29% said they lacked investment or budget, and 28% criticised a lack of senior support.

The data suggests that firms should take data recovery a lot more seriously.

The biggest issues for organisations after suffering irrecoverable data loss following a disaster is financial loss (35%), customer service implications (30%) and operational downtime (28%), with 16% admitting it would likely force the closure of the business. 

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“Absolute reliability in your systems and data recovery is non-negotiable. If there is even an iota of doubt, it’s an open door for challenges,” said Stephen Young, executive director at Assurestor. 

“The fact that only just over half of respondents think their data is recoverable is a concern; this figure should be much nearer to 100%. What we are seeing is what we call a ‘Titanic mindset’ when it comes to data recovery. Organisations are thinking they’re unsinkable – until they’re not.”

A report published this summer suggested that UK businesses encountered a new cyber-attack online every 44 seconds in the second quarter of 2024, and with only 4% of businesses saying they are able to recover all of their data following attacks, irrecoverable data loss is fast becoming a real concern for every business with an online presence.