Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR)
Lately, the news depicts a lot about Ransomware attacks. You can read here, here, here, and here. These attacks are not decreasing but increasing both in frequency and clout. Bigger monetary demands are next up. And there is no reasonable solution that will release your hostaged files other than paying the ransom. Except BDR.
The one exception to the demand of Ransomware is an equally robust backup business continuity plan – BDR. We’re not talking a home-made back up which will take you days to restore. The amount of business you lose while you are in process of restoring will likely be much more than the ransom demand itself. In fact, those who regularly fight the Ransomware Internet pest have actually advised their clients at times to pay the ransom to avoid the extensive loss of being off-line as a business.
The weakest link
So what kind of Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR) plan are we speaking of? It must back up data in real time. No sense waiting until the end of the day to back up. If Lucy Recordo clicks on an ill-advised link at 4:30 pm on Friday, no one will know the damage done until Monday morning. Then good luck recovering your data. Nothing from Friday will be recovered. It is lost and not in the backup! And by the time your files are once again accessible, who knows how many days will have passed with business down? A robust BDR system is a must.
Air, fire, earth, water
You must also have your data off site. Fire, flood, and power loss are as absolute as Ransomware. If all your data backups are on physical media at the site of backup, you’ve lost more than Friday. You’ve lost everything. Oh yes. There is also the potential for the Ransomware hacker to access your backup machine and compromise it as well. Connected to the same business network it is vulnerable.
What about the restore time? You need a backup machine which can draw safe data from an offsite resource to restore all data up to the latest 60 minute interval. So the maximum data loss is from the most current 1-59 minutes, depending on the time of attack, discovery and deployment. A good BDR system initiates the restore process in as little as 2 minutes, with full restoration depending upon the amount of data transferred. It begins immediately and is available for use on completion.
Multi-layered protection
Successful BDR must be multi-layered. Not just a robust backup – as important as that is to maintain business continuity – there must also be layers of protection to keep intruders from accessing the network system to begin with. Firewalls will establish a firm boundary. Heavy-duty antivirus software on individual workstations and servers also provide strength to the walls set up. Most significant is the education of the individual workers who ignorantly or irresponsibly click on that ill-advised link.
Alliant has found Datto to provide excellent backup devices that centralize your BDR for front-line business continuity, safeguarding your data. Even against Ransomware. Ask us about a product that will fit your business needs. Call 626-461-1300.
