E-Business
The Benefits of Backup as a Service (BaaS)
Backup as a Service (BaaS) is a solution that allows you to keep copies of your data in the cloud and call them back when you need to use them. It’s storage, but one that’s done on the cloud.
It’s also potentially unlimited, but you only pay for the storage space that you use. And this is just one of the many attractive things about it.
This article takes you through some of the advantages of this technology, and how you could benefit from having it.
Why Backup as a Service?
We are generating more data than we have ever done. Businesses, for instance, are recording customer and transaction information, digitizing payroll, and supporting their operations with virtual tools. This is happening globally; the sum of data that’s being created as a result is mind-boggling.
The entities that generate all this material—whether they are individuals or organizations –may want to store them somewhere. They could need them to use their material in the future.
Traditionally, we kept our data in hard drives, solid-state drives, and tape drives. These were sufficient when we produced a fraction of the data we churn out today. But as our world became more dependent on digital technology, businesses have shifted away from on-premise storage solutions to the off-premise cloud.
Cloud storage is represented physically by data centers, often run by third party companies. These ‘cloud service providers’ allow their client businesses to store their data on its servers, through virtual storage applications. An example of a cloud service provider in Nigeria is Layer3.
Unlike the older solutions, the cloud offers you potentially limitless storage. And that’s the most important reason why businesses are adopting BaaS.
How Backup as a Service Works
You probably know what a backup means. It’s saving copies of data somewhere so you can retrieve them if the other copies are lost.
The “as a Service” component means that it’s backup that you can purchase. You could pay for backup capacity that suits your needs. There’s no fear that your service provider will run out of it, so you can always scale up your backup capacity if you’re able to pay for it.
BaaS becomes useful when there’s been a loss of data. This could happen due to human error, power outage, a natural disaster, or even a cyber-attack. If you don’t have backup for your files before any of these things happen, you risk losing them permanently. But if you have backed up your files, you’ll still be able to access them even if they are removed from your systems.
Cloud service providers also help you with Disaster Recovery, which allows you to get your data and applications running again within a few minutes of losing your first copies.
What You Can Enjoy With BaaS
- Unlimited Storage
Hard drives have limited storage capacity. This is a drawback for organizations that produce huge amounts of data that they need to backup. The cloud doesn’t have this problem.
In 2018, there were about 33 Zettabytes (33 trillion gigabytes) of data housed in the global cloud. That’s a lot more than all the information stored on every device on the planet, combined. By 2025, we could have up to 125 Zettabytes of data on the cloud. And we’ll still be able to host more on it afterward.
- Pay as You Use
You may set up onsite storage and wind up using just a fraction of its capacity. This would mean that you have spent more money per unit storage than you should have. It’s the sort of loss you may encounter if you’re using on-site storage hardware.
The cloud lets you avoid this sort of thing. You can scale up or scale down your BaaS capacity very quickly; all you’ll need is to pay the commensurate fee for the scale of service. This can save you a lot of costs, and free up resources that you can allocate elsewhere in your business.
- Managed Service
What BaaS does is hand the maintenance of storage to another party. But they are not just ‘another party’. Cloud service providers like Layer3 are experts at what they do. They can draw on their experience with the cloud and IT infrastructure when they manage your storage.
This is more cost-effective than handling your storage in-house. You won’t have to spend a lot of money hiring extra IT staff or training existing employees to manage storage equipment.
- Easier Data Recovery
It could take you days to recall data that you have stored on your hard drive. You will need much less time to retrieve the same amount of data from the cloud. And if you’re using Disaster Recovery, it will take you only a few minutes to get your lost files back up.
This could be the difference between your business operating at a fraction of its capacity for a week or more and running smoothly even when there’s been a major disruption.
- Support
If you encounter issues with your backup, you can always ask them to help you resolve them. And if you have any questions about how the service works, you can contact them for answers as well. Traditional storage doesn’t come with these added advantages.
Conclusion
Without adequate backup for your files and applications, you risk losing them forever. It’s a risk you shouldn’t take if you want your operations to run smoothly.
Layer3 provides remote backup service to several organizations in Nigeria. This BaaS solution allows clients to choose their preferred backup location and also secures their data so that it remains accessible to them. When disaster strikes and onsite data are lost, they can always retrieve them from our cloud, quickly, and with little effort.
If you would like to boost your organization’s storage capacity with cloud storage, you can reach out to us, and we’ll get it done for you. Contact us here to request a demo.
A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring.
The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs.
It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD.
Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .charity, .menu, .paris and .ceo). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand.
The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online.
However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking.
Key findings from the research include:
- After defining a gTLD, 92% of marketing leaders responded that they could see the potential benefits to gTLDs, with enhanced brand differentiation (46%), improved customer trust (45%), better control over online presence (44%), and improved SEO (44%) topping the list.
- 19% of marketing leaders work for organizations that have previously applied for a gTLD.
- Cost concerns (31%), knowledge gaps (27%), and insufficient resources (24%) were identified as the main barriers to application.
- The research revealed notable regional variations, with Nigerian (74%) and Indian (61%) marketing leaders showing the strongest belief in gTLDs’ potential for branding and online presence. In contrast, marketers in China expressed more mixed views, with 50% seeing strong potential but 49% considering gTLDs an unnecessary investment with unclear Return On Investment.
The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%).
A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet.
An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today’s environment, where users often don’t know whether they can trust the source on the Internet.
Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy said: “The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests.
Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands.”
To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants.
Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) experts at the 10th annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2025 held recently, talked about supply chain attacks and reported that by the end of 2024 a total of 14,000 malicious packages were found in open-source projects, a 48% increase compared to the end of 2023. 42 million versions of open-source packages have been examined by Kaspersky throughout 2024 in search for vulnerabilities.
Open-source is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. Popular open-source packages include GoMod, Maven, NuGet, npm, PyPI, and others.
These are tools that power countless applications and help developers easily find, install, and manage pre-built code libraries, making it simpler to build software by reusing code others have written. Attackers take advantage of the popularity of these and other packages.
In March 2025, the Lazarus Group was reported to have deployed several malicious npm packages, which were downloaded multiple times before removal. These packages contained malware to steal credentials, cryptocurrency wallet data, and deploy backdoors, targeting developers’ systems across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The attack leveraged GitHub repositories for added legitimacy, highlighting the group’s sophisticated supply chain tactics. Kaspersky’s GReAT also found other npm packages related to this attack. Malicious npm packages could have been integrated into web development, cryptocurrency platforms, and enterprise software, risking widespread data theft and financial losses.
In 2024, a sophisticated backdoor was discovered in XZ Utils versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1, a widely used compression library in Linux distributions. Inserted by a trusted contributor, the malicious code targeted SSH servers, enabling remote command execution and threatening countless systems globally.
Detected before widespread exploitation due to performance anomalies, the incident highlighted the dangers of supply chain attacks. XZ Utils is integral to operating systems, cloud servers, and IoT devices, making its compromise a threat to critical infrastructure and enterprise networks.
In 2024, Kaspersky’s GReAT discovered that attackers uploaded malicious Python packages like chatgpt-python and chatgpt-wrapper to PyPI, mimicking legitimate tools for interacting with ChatGPT APIs.
These packages, designed to steal credentials and deploy backdoors, capitalised on the popularity of AI development to trick developers into downloading them. These packages could have been used in AI development, chatbot integrations, and data analytics platforms, endangering sensitive AI workflows and user data.
“Open-source software is the backbone of many modern solutions, but its openness is being weaponised. The 50% rise in malicious packages by the end of 2024 shows attackers are actively embedding sophisticated backdoors and data stealers in popular packages, which millions rely on.
“Without rigorous vetting and real-time monitoring, a single compromised package can trigger a global breach. Organisations need to secure the supply chain before the next XZ Utils-level attack succeeds,” comments Dmitry Galov, Head of Research Center for Russia and CIS at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an investigation into allegations that the confidentiality and integrity of candidates’ personal data may have been compromised by hackers.
The Commission initiated the inquiry following concerns over possible data breaches during examinations.
Preliminary findings indicate that several examination centres may not have implemented adequate technical and organizational measures to safeguard candidates’ personal information, as required under data protection regulations.
Although the incident reportedly affected 379, 997 candidates, the NDPC’s investigation is poised to cover a systemic audit of data processing and third parties.
It will be recalled that JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected a total of 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.
Further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects who are currently in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force.
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