Compromised Data: Important Backup Service Inclusions
It’s no secret – businesses are prime targets for ransomware.
All it takes is one infected user to bring a department or entire organization to a halt. In fact, 72% of ransomware victims are unable to retrieve or access their data once it has been compromised for up to 2-days. Moreover, a lot can happen in two days.
Here’s the down low on compromised data…
How Infections Happen
Phishing attacks, unpatched programs, compromised websites, poisoned online advertising and free software downloads are common ways that users of your business systems are exploited and how an infection begins.
Examples of User Infections
Ransomware is hard to detect. Because user files are encrypted with the infection, an IT Admin may not recognize that the malware is already inside the network until the damage is done. There are, however, a few ways a user can detect it. Some examples of these are:
- A user can no longer open normal files
- A user gets errors such as the file is corrupted or has the wrong extension
- Window pop ups appear to ransomware programs that the user cannot close
- IT admins see files in the company directory with names like ‘HOW TO DECRYPT FILES.TXT’ or ‘DECRYPT_INSTRUCTIONS.HTML.’
Business Repercussions
Aside from losing time and money, your business reputation is scrutinized. Which, in turn, can affect sales goals. Regarding data – once your server is infected your mission-critical files and applications become inaccessible and your customer’s data is no longer secure. This too can wreak havoc on your margins.
Compromised Data Solutions
IT admins can remove the machine from the network and reset the bios time to contain and eliminate the malware. For a company wide containment, especially when your anti-virus, firewall, and employee education programs fail, your best bet is to rely on a backup solution.
Not all businesses are built the same. Therefore a backup service should provide much more than just a simple file backup solution. However, there is a range of standard options that your IT staff should become familiar with when considering a backup service. Because backup services are a dime a dozen, we’ve come up with a list of items to be aware of during your review of backup providers.
Important Backup Service Inclusions To Consider Are:
- Limited versus Unlimited History
It is important to know the difference. A backup service that only retains a limited history may not be able to restore all of the critical files your business needs to clean up the infection. A proper enterprise-grade cloud backup service should maintain a complete history of your data, that way you can retrieve a recovery point that is reliable.
- Detection Ability
Some Cloud Backup Services include Anomaly Detection that alerts your IT admin when the number of “new” or “changed” files increase dramatically. This feature is important to have so you can quickly isolate a ransomware infection and recover data before the entire network is frozen.
- Backup Protection Coverage
An infection is not limited to just one device. To protect all of your data and all your devices from mobile phones to Exchange Servers, you should select a program that offers backup services from device-to-device.
- Compatibility
Not all cloud backup services are created equal. In fact, many of them have limitations. Some services do not allow file sharing or storage. So, before you pull the trigger on a service you selected, make sure your IT staff does a system compatibility check to avoid any “ooppss” moments after you have signed the contract.
- Fees
Some backup service plans include retrieval fees per GB. Most of the time, the service provider will maintain an uptime of nearly 100 percent; however, as part of their service agreement, you can receive credit for those occasions when you get less than 99.9 percent. Be sure to keep an eye on any notifications about interruptions.
- Accessibility
Accessibility is important. Being able to manage all of your settings quickly and easily provides flexibility. Most service providers offer a web browser interface giving you the ability to view alerts, load balancing, status checks, manage groups and tags, deploy app versions, view configuration details as well as events. Be sure to inquire about what monitoring systems are available.
To protect your company from data corruption invest in a cloud backup service that is scalable based on your businesses requirements.
