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Backups: Company's best friends.

While backups in of themselves do not usually fall under the cyber security umbrella, it is important to spend a little time discussing them for a number of reasons.


First, no matter how robust your cyber security solution is, there is always a chance for failure. This is especially true whenever people are involved. There is a common misconception amongst the public that every time a successful cyber-attack takes place, a hacker is spending countless hours writing thousands of lines of code in order to “take over” someone’s computer. A lot of times people accidentally compromise their own computers. Things like clicking a malicious link in an email, downloading a piece of software that looked legitimate or even just not keeping up to date on updates all lead to compromise.


Second even non malicious incidents by employees can have devastating consequences without backups. I can’t count the number of employee workstations I have cleaned malware off after the employee swore to me, they didn’t click, download, or do anything at all to get malware. Sometimes by the time the employee alerted anyone to the malware on their computer, it had already taken root in the network. If that malware is ransomware, as it was a handful of times, then you are truly left with two options. First you can pay the ransom to these attackers, or secondly, you can restore from good backups. Not only is restoring from backups usually cheaper, its also a good idea in case the attacker left a backdoor behind.


Finally, backups are a relatively cheap return on investment. As storage prices continue to fall, backup solutions are dropping with them. However, regardless of their cost, even a complex expensive backup solution will always be cheaper than the alternative of not having your company’s data.


While any backup is better than no backup, there are a couple quick rules about backups your company should try to follow.


1) Backups should run frequently, preferably on a schedule – It doesn’t do you any good if your last known backup is from 6 months ago. Setting up a scheduled backup task is a great way to make sure you have up to date backups.


a. Pro tip – Enable VSS on your Microsoft Windows Based machines. VSS can be setup to make shadow copies of files at regular intervals. This makes it incredibly easy to restore accidentally deleted files.


2) Backups should be audited regularly to make sure all necessary data is covered – Regardless of polices, standards and procedures, employees tend to store critical information in the weirdest places. It’s a good idea to continually check to make sure that all necessary data is backed up.


3) Backups should be secured and encrypted – The last thing you want is an unencrypted copy of your company’s data falling into the wrong hands. Most modern backup solutions offer some level of encryption.


4) A offsite copy of your backup should be encrypted and sent to a server, or location that is not at your companies main campus – This one is pretty self-explanatory. If your building burns to the ground you local NAS, hard drive or tape backup solution is going to be burned with it. Many IT providers offer an offsite backup solution.


Overall, it’s always good to be prepared. If you have any questions about backups or need a referral for a local backup expert feel free to reach out to us here at Soteria Tech.


Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully you found something informative!

Stay Safe.

- Soteria Tech

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