One of the best ways to protect yourself from an attack is to have access to a database backup of your site. If something goes wrong, you can get your site back by restoring the database from a backup and replacing the files with fresh ones. You can schedule automated backups over at iThemes Security > Settings > Features > Utilities > Database Backups.
Schedule Database Backups
Here is where you enable scheduled backups. After it's enabled you will have the option listed below.
Backup Interval
The number of days between database backups.
Backup Method
Select what we should do with your backup file. You can have it emailed to you, saved locally, or both.
Backup Location
The path on your machine where backup files will be stored. This path must be writable by your website. For added security, it is recommended you do not include it in your website root folder. This feature is only available when using the Save Locally Only and Save Locally And Email options.
Backups to Retain
The number of backups that should be kept on disk. This only applies to backups saved to disk. Set to "0" to disable.
Compress Backup Files
You may need to turn this off if you are having problems with backups.
Exclude Tables
Some plugins can create log files in your database. While these logs might be handy for some functions, they can also take up a lot of space and, in some cases, even make backing up your database almost impossible. Select the log tables above to exclude their data from the backup. Note: The table itself will be backed up, but not the data in the table.