Invoicing is a critical component of your workflow as a freelancer or small business owner. They are sensitive documents that are essential to every organization and continue to be significant even after being paid.
Invoices may include useful data in addition to payment amounts, such as client lists, descriptions of goods or services, prices, special offers, and other important agreements.
But what if your invoice data is damaged due to a human error, a hack, or a computer crash? A data leak can have detrimental effects. Sensitive account information may be compromised, enormous sums of money could be lost, and both parties could suffer reputational damage.
Therefore, you must effectively and securely backup your invoicing data. In this article, we’ll explore the invoice Ninja Backup but first, let’s look at some common Invoice security risks.
What are the common invoice security risks and how can you avoid them?
1). Invoice fraud
An intentional attempt to change, copy, or fabricate an invoice to trick you or your customers is known as invoice fraud.
It may result in you paying more than you should, lead to misunderstandings and conflicts with customers and suppliers, and have an impact on your cash flow and budgeting.
Examine invoices for mistakes, anomalies, or inconsistencies to prevent invoice fraud.
2). Identity fraud
Identity theft happens when someone uses your name, address, bank account, tax ID, or other personal or commercial information improperly to commit fraud or other crimes.
Your Invoice issued through email or regular mail contains information that thieves can access. They can make use of it to file taxes, start new accounts, apply for loans, and impersonate you online.
When sending and receiving invoices, you should use safe procedures to prevent identity theft, such as encrypted platforms or cloud-based software. Shred any paper invoices you no longer need, and keep an eye on any shady activity on your credit reports and bank accounts.
3). A violation of data
Data breaches happen when someone accesses or discloses private information without authority, which can negatively impact the security of invoices.
This may involve giving hackers access to private or commercial data, harming your reputation, and creating legal and financial problems.
Use secure invoice software that encrypts data and adheres to data security guidelines to prevent data leaks.
Additionally, you must periodically backup your data and keep it in a secure area, update your software and hardware with the most recent security updates, install antivirus protection, and only allow authorized users access.
4). Phishing schemes
In a phishing scam, a person sends you an email or message that appears to be from a trustworthy source—like a client, bank, or government agency—but is phony.
Phishing scams try to trick you into clicking a link, opening an attachment, or giving out personal data.
By leading you to a fake website that requests login information or payment information, infecting your device with malware that steals data and records keystrokes, impersonating your client and altering payment details, or posing as you and sending fake invoices, these scams can jeopardize the security of your invoices.
Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication for online accounts and invoice software, verify the sender’s identity and contact information before opening any related emails or messages, avoid clicking on any suspicious links, and educate customers and suppliers about how you communicate with them, invoice them, and how to recognize phishing attempts.
What are different ways to backup your invoice data on Invoice Ninja
Invoice Ninja is an invoicing program that offers professional, dependable, and economical company solutions.
The program includes connectivity with Zapier and Authorize.Net, recurring billing, and customizable invoices.
When using Invoice Ninja, you can be confident that your data will be safe, especially in the event of a disaster. It has:
Backup Strategy: Invoice Ninja has a disaster recovery plan that includes regular data backups that are kept safe.
Data Restoration: Invoice Ninja backs up your data and restores it in the event of a disaster, keeping your information safe.
Invoice Ninja uses Installatron Remote. Installing and managing each of your InvoiceNinja websites only takes a single click.
By using Installatron, you can utilize features like Clone, Backup and Restore, and Backup Scheduling to keep InvoiceNinja up to-date and secure while saving time.
How the Installatron works
- Restore and backup.
Any installed app can be backed up using Installatron Remote. Direct backups are produced on your web hosting account.
- Compression with Gzip.
Database tables and installed app files are swiftly compressed into a gzip-compressed bundle.
- Obtain backups.
To conserve online space, backups can be downloaded and kept locally.
- Revert
Have you ever updated an app only to discover that the new version ruined your website?
You can immediately restore a functional backup of the damaged application using Installatron Remote.
Read also: Comparison of invoice Ninja Backup with its competitors
01). Wave
Users can back up archived video from system servers to secure NAS, DAS, or even offshore cloud-based places like FTP sites using the WAVE Storage Backup function.
Backups can be carried out immediately or scheduled to run once a day or once a week.
Backups can be set up to back up all streams, captured low-resolution streams, or captured high-resolution streams.
Additionally, backups can be set up for particular cameras.
Storage Backup archives can still be directly played and accessed using the WAVE Client after the backup has been completed.
Wave offers great backup practices, however, it is less flexible and offers fewer capabilities than Invoice Ninja.
02). Zoho Invoice
This provides an automatic data backup. Additionally, it connects with Skyvia, a program that regularly backs up data and permits data restoration in the event of a catastrophe. Invoice Ninja is more affordable compared to Zoho invoices.
How to do backup on Invoice Ninja
To backup data on Invoice Ninja, there are several methods available.
One way is to stop the application so it doesn’t write things to the database at the same time, and then create a backup at down hours, e.g. nightly, by running mysqldump.
For example, mysqldump -h localhost -P 3306 name-of-your-db | gzip > /path/to/backup/location/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).sql.gz.
Another way is to use a bash script available on GitHub that can backup all of the self-hosted Invoice Ninja data, which includes the MySQL database and the web app, locally then remotely.
Additionally, in Settings > Import | Export, you can do a full JSON export, which is the same as exporting your database
Tips to ensure secure and effective backup of invoice data
#1. Secure your backup files
Data backups for your invoices are insufficient. Additionally, you must safeguard it from misuse or unauthorized access. You can achieve this by encrypting your backup data using a key or a strong password. Unless you have the right password or key to decrypt it, encryption scrambles your data into an unreadable state. Your invoice data can be protected by encryption from theft or tampering by hackers, thieves, or other businesses.
#2. Schedule regular backup
You can create a backup schedule that works with the amount and frequency of your invoices. You may, for instance, make a daily, weekly, or monthly backup of your invoice data. Additionally, you don’t need to remember or manually back up your invoice data by using automated technologies.
#3. Test the backup files.
Testing your backup data regularly is a crucial step in securing and effectively storing your invoice data. When you most need your backup data, you don’t want to discover that it is corrupted, out-of-date, or incompatible.
Restoring your backup data to a different computer or location allows you to test whether it functions as planned. You can also check for any discrepancies or errors by comparing your backup data with your original data.
#4. Keep many copies.
You could need more than one backup copy of your invoice data.
If one fails or disappears, you might need additional copies in various locations or formats.
You might, for instance, have copies on an external hard drive, a cloud service, and software.
In this manner, you can raise the likelihood that your invoice data will be recovered under any circumstance.
You can also employ various backup techniques for many sorts of invoice data, including historical, present-day, and future data.
Conclusion
Along with backup procedures, Invoice Ninja uses strict security features like two-factor authentication, role-based access control, an encrypted secure socket layer (SSL), and compliance with key international data protection requirements in data policy.
This ensures the safety of your data through backup and security features.
But because no software is faultless, it’s crucial to put the aforementioned backup tips into practice for effective data security.
