Data Backup and Disaster Recovery

In my last Blog post I talked about file encryption and securing your data from the bad guys. I want to continue on that topic with an emphasis and data backup and disaster recovery.

 Many of the small businesses I encounter have very little regard for backups and disaster recovery. I find this disturbing since their data is one of their most important assets. Many of the excuses I hear relate to the cost of backup and recovery software. Even if the cost is around a couple grand it’s not worth it to them? I see what these people drive, what their homes look like, etc. and believe me when I say 2,000.00 is pocket change! My larger clients have no problem with the investment as they acknowledge losing their data would be a disaster to say the least.

One of our solutions we recommend is the Dell Appassure Backup and Disaster Recovery software platform. It’s easy to install and use and will replicate your data to an offsite hosting facility every hour of the day or at night if you so choose. There are options for converting your data into virtual machines (Hyper-V, VMWARE) to create a hot standby. Data retention can be configured for months or years depending on how much data storage you have.

Our clients replicate their recovery points to a local data center here in Phoenix. They have peace of mind knowing that their data isn’t stored in some ambiguous place in the cloud. There is no reason your business should ever be at risk from data loss unless of course you don’t consider that data to be worth very much.

7 Deadly Sins

As IT networks become more complex protecting them becomes even more difficult. Did you know that malware growth on Android devices has increased 1800% over the last 12 months? How about that Apple MAC devices have become more susceptible to malware? Here is something very alarming: 64% of users don’t lock their phones! Employees losing their phones which are not even locked can give any IT administrator heartburn. If infected mobile devices are connected to a corporate network really bad things can happen. Mobile device management has never been more critical.

How about unsecured WIFI networks? I have run into this one many times in the past and when I confront the client I ask them to give me the keys to their home. Of course after the laughter stops I explain that leaving their WIFI network unsecured is just about the same thing. I mean this is not something which is difficult to do but so often overlooked.

Firewalls are great security devices but when they are misconfigured or not setup properly they can do more harm than good. By giving the end user a false sense of security thinking that their network is protected when in reality it isn’t and is vulnerable to attacks. Don’t let this happen to you! Make sure your firewall or UTM device is looked at very carefully by a security professional who is certified.

Is your corporate data a valuable asset? I would the answer to this question is a resounding YES! Well one of the best and cost effective ways to ensure that it remains safe from the bad guys is to use data encryption. Sophos data encryption is not expensive and is an excellent way to keep your data safe. Suppose one of the computers on your network has been infected with one of the ransomware viruses like CryptoLocker. Your files are encrypted by the virus and you either have to restore from backup or pay the ransom to get your files back. Well if your files were encrypted with Sophos data encryption it wouldn’t make any difference. The ransomware virus would not be able to do any harm to your data and there would be no need to go through a time consuming restore process. Every corporate network should encrypt their files, no excuses here!

Attached to this blog post is a nice little PowerPoint presentation about the 7 Deadly IT Sins, some of which I have discussed here. Please take a look and let me know if you have any questions!