5 Best Ways to Secure Your Backups

Backup, Backup and Recovery, Encryption, Password Security, Security, , ,
14
Jun 2018

Data backups are crucial when it comes to protecting your data; it’s even more important to ensure that your backups are kept secure and available.

For many people, having data backed up is enough. However, what they fail to understand is that a backup is not infallible. In fact, there are a whole range of issues that could affect the stability of a backup. And, if your organization is in the midst of a data disaster, the one factor above all else that you should be concentrating on is security. Your backup, after all, is your lifeline to resuming productivity, so it should be as secure as possible.

To get you started, we’re going to look at the five best ways to secure your backups:

  1. Password Protect Your Backups

At the very least, you have to make sure that your backups are password protected. While, yes, it’s possible for a password to be cracked, it still acts as a deterrent and guarantees some level of security. The stronger the password, of course, the more protection you provide to your backup, so make sure that it’s unique and contains a mixture of uppercase, lowercase characters and numbers.

  1. Restrict Backup Access Rights

The more people that have access to your backups, the more risk there is that they could be compromised or damaged. Therefore, you should only ever assign access rights to the backup software to those members of staff who genuinely need it. Nominating those with access in advance will help to not only protect your backups, but also ensure that restores are completed quickly if the need arises.

  1. Integrate Encryption

There’s every chance that your entire backup could be snatched in the case of a data disaster, so it’s vital that it’s protected. After all, your backup is likely to contain data pertaining to your customers/staff and this could be highly sensitive. However, by encrypting the data contained within your backup, you’re rendering it next to useless in the hands of external parties.  Along with password protection, it’s a simple yet highly effective layer of defense.

  1. Store Physical Backups in a Safe

Although we live in an age where cloud backups are grabbing all the headlines, it’s still important that physical backups are also maintained. These can include: DVDs, optical disks and data tapes. Naturally, due to the data contained on them, these storage methods represent a high security risk and can’t just be stored on a shelf. The best solution is to invest in a safe, but make sure it’s fireproof as high levels of heat can easily distort and damage physical storage devices.

  1. Log all Backups

Most backup software will log details of the backups carried out, but when it comes to working with physical backups it’s a little different. As your physical backups will be stored somewhere, there needs to be a logging process of what is going where. It’s very easy for a single DVD to go missing, but, with a logging system in place, you should discover this sooner rather than later.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

 

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How to Enhance Your Backup Process

Backup, Cloud, Cloud Backup, Data Backup, ,
29
May 2018

Backing up data is crucial for any organization, but it’s even more important that a good backup is performed or it may not be worth backing up at all.

Wasting time and resources on the wrong type of data or failing to backup data effectively can spell disaster for your restore options, so it’s essential you maximize the efficiency of your backup process. Understanding how you can improve and enhance your backup process, though, is a major struggle that many organizations face.

Therefore, we’ve put together a few pointers on how you can begin to reorganize your backup process and ensure that the data you need is available when you need it.

Keep Three Copies of Your Backup

The more sure-fire way to protect the availability of your data is by making multiple copies. The minimum you need is three, but what’s most important are the locations these backups are stored in. Naturally, you will want one copy based on site, but to minimize a loss of data you will also want two copies that are based off site. By storing these in, for example, a cloud based server or a remote data center, your organization can rest assured that a successful restore is almost guaranteed in almost all data loss scenarios.

Monitor Your Backups

As data gets bigger and bigger, the complexities behind backups increase accordingly. And this is why monitoring and analyzing your backups is more important than ever. To better understand how your system is coping then you will need to implement systems which can automatically survey servers and monitor how effective your backup process is and list any failures. Performing this kind of analysis manually is incredibly labor intensive and involves a lot of spreadsheets, so investing in specialized, automated software is vital to safeguard future backups.

Cloud Backup is Crucial

Cloud servers provide a highly elastic option for all your backup and restore needs, so there’s no excuse for not integrating them into your backup process. Not only can cloud servers help to counter the rapid increase in data size, but, as a remote system, they deliver fantastic protection from ransomware and other data disasters. Data can be transferred/accessed from cloud servers exceptionally quickly compared to traditional wide-area networks, so a cloud server can get your organization back on track quicker than ever before.

Protect Everything

While Windows is the primary target of most data attacks, it’s impossible to say that other services – such as the virtual application host Citrix – will not become the focus of attacks in the near future. Protecting all your servers and applications, therefore, allows you to keep your defenses fully manned and minimizes the amount of data loss that could occur. It’s important, however, that you don’t complicate your backup process with numerous pieces of software to help backup individual components. Instead, look for an all-in-one solution that can automate all the various backups and keep all your data safe.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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How to Keep Your Business Servers Safe from Hackers

Backup and Recovery, Hacking, Security, Servers, Windows Server, , ,
21
May 2018

The computer servers that support your business are the backbone that keeps your organization productive, but how do you keep your business servers safe?

Every week seems to bring a new security threat and you can rest assured that the number and ferocity of these attacks isn’t going to subside anytime soon. Your business servers, of course, contain untold amounts of sensitive data that could be used to harm not only your business, but also your customers. Therefore, keeping on top of your servers’ security is paramount in protecting your data from the all too real threat of hackers.

To help you stabilize and improve the security of your business servers, we’ve put together a plan of recommendations to help you meet your security objectives.

Run an Antivirus. Regularly.

Viruses can spread from file to file very quickly and, before you know it, your entire server can become compromised. However, a piece of antivirus software can prevent the majority of existing viruses taking hold of your servers. Quarantining infected or suspicious files allows you to analyze anything that is flagged as potentially dangerous, so installing antivirus software really is a prerequisite of good security practices. And, to really maximize its effectiveness, run it regularly as an infection could occur at any point during in the day.

Update Your Server Software

Many pieces of malware work by exploiting security vulnerabilities in software such as Petya and NotPetya, but these vulnerabilities could be easily avoided by patching. Installing patches, though, can feel like a tiresome task, particularly when your organization needs to stay productive. To put things into perspective you need to weigh up the minimal downtime of installing updates against the havoc caused by an infected server. The answer’s pretty obvious, right? Install those patches and install them immediately.

Educate Your Staff on Security Threats

Your staff are the first line of defense against any cyber-attacks on your organization, so it’s crucial that they’re trained in what to look for and what to do in the case of an attack. Naturally, they’re not going to be partitioning infected servers or installing critical updates, but they can do the very basics. And this can be as simple as good password practices or understanding how to identify a phishing email.

Backup Your Data

Ransomware has become a major issue for businesses in the last couple of years and, in many cases, paying the ransom doesn’t even guarantee the release of your files. And this is why it’s vital that your organization embraces backups to help safeguard your data in the event of a ransomware attack. Backups have been a cornerstone of IT security since the dawn of the digital age and their importance should never be underestimated.

Keep Web Browsing Separate

The internet is a portal to untold amounts of information, but it’s also a gateway to untold security threats. And this is the last thing you want your business server exposed to. Providing internet access through a separate server (to your main server), therefore, allows you to minimize the risk to your most important data.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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The Principles of Testing Your Backups

Backup and Recovery, data recovery, Local Backups, testing backup, ,
26
Dec 2017

A backup can be the difference between your business trading and not trading, but it’s crucial that you test your backup to make sure it works.It’s nice to have the safety net of a backup to keep your data close at hand in the case of a data emergency, but this alone can’t be a guarantee that it’s safe and recoverable. And that’s why I would always recommend that you test your backup to help make your restoration as seamless as possible.

Understanding what to test and what to look for is vital when it comes to safeguarding the data in your backup, so I’m going to take you through some of the most basic checks.

Putting Your Backup Under the Microscope

What are the most important factors to take into account when testing your backup? Well, you can’t go wrong with the following:

  • Restore to multiple locations – A common mistake made with restoring backups is to only test them on the intended server or PC that they will be restored to. However, in the case of a data emergency can you honestly know for sure that specific servers or PCs will still be working? It’s possible for hackers to destroy servers, so it’s important that backup solutions are available e.g. laptops and temporary servers. Make sure that backups to these locations are tested as there could be compatibility issues behind them that need eliminating.
  • Scan the restored directories – It’s highly important that you monitor exactly what gets restored during your test backups. Remember, unless you investigate the contents of a folder then you can’t know for sure exactly what is in there. This may sound labor intensive, but once you’ve tested your backup and confirmed that entire directories are being restored, there’s less need to worry.
  • Don’t Just Test Once – Your network’s properties can change on a daily basis, so – although it’s not essential to test on a daily basis – you want to make sure that regular tests are carried out over the course of each month to ensure that factors such as software updates and configuration changes are taken into account. By regularly testing your restore, you’re minimizing the room for errors when your data is restored.
  • Test ALL your applications – Your organization’s IT continuity relies heavily on the ability to have access to all your applications, so it’s essential that you make sure all of these work following a restore. After all, whilst having access to your databases will be highly beneficial, if you’re unable to access your email server then you’re going to face all manner of communication issues.
  • Safeguarding your restore process – Your backup may be capable of fully restoring all your data and ensuring that your organization can continue to operate, but what if your restore software doesn’t work or the procedures aren’t understood? This can present a severe problem, so make sure that you keep install disks of your restore software and, whilst testing, make sure you document the entire process as this knowledge can easily be lost.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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What Is Flat Backup and How Can It Benefit Your Data?

Backup and Recovery, data recovery, flat backup, ,
21
Dec 2017

There’s a new kid in town when it comes to data storage and it’s called flat backup, but it’s so new that not many people are aware of its benefits.

We’re all used to local backups and the popularity of cloud backups has skyrocketed over the last couple of years, but the data storage industry is now so huge that it’s constantly looking to improve and raise the bar. No form of backup, of course, will ever be perfect but the developers behind flat backup believe that they can eradicate some of the common problems associated with the current backup methods.

To help you understand exactly what flat backup is and what it can do for your organization, I’m going to shine the spotlight on this exciting development.

The Concept Behind Flat Backup

The backbone of flat backups is provided by snapshots of your data which copy the entire status of your data at any given moment. This sounds fine in principle, but how does this differ from any other form of backup? Well, with local and cloud backups, if you want to create a new backup you have to go through the process of creating a whole new backup, but a flat backup simply updates the existing backup. Changes to the data and any deletions are quickly flagged in the snapshot, so there’s no need to create a series of duplicate backups to highlight any changes.

These snapshots can then be stored and, if required, simply mounted to the application which requires data to be restored. There are no format changes required, simply a seamless transition of data. Flat backups, however, come with many more benefits which could encourage significant changes to your organization’s backup practices.

Flat Backup Benefits

The new approach of flat backups can deliver the following benefits:

  • Reduced Storage Space– The need for only one snapshot per application not only simplifies matters, but it will also lead to a dramatic reduction in storage space required for your organization. And, with this reduction in digital real estate needed, you’ll find that you start making savings as storage media can be downgraded.
  • Quicker Restores– One of the major problems with traditional backups is that restoring the data can be a time consuming affair. With flat backups, however, the recovery process can be implemented almost instantly which ensures your organization can get back to its normal operations as quickly as possible following a data disaster.
  • No Impact on Application Performance – Snapshots don’t affect application performance as dramatically as traditional backup methods, so this opens up the possibility of carrying out more flat backups throughout the day (every minute if required). This approach allows your business to archive more and more incremental changes to your data and improve the amount of data that can be recovered.

Final Thoughts

Flat backup is still in its infancy – even more so than the recent phenomenon of cloud backups – but it represents an intriguing evolution of backup methods. As with all backup methods, though, flat backup doesn’t avoid the need for multiple storage locations – if your flat backup snapshots are only stored in one location then they are at risk of being completely lost. Nonetheless, flat backups are something to consider for the future.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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