18 Jul Last layer of Data Security

What is the threat to my data?
Here at Puzzle Technology, we are always helping customers to improve and maintain their data security. With the upsurge of threats to our private & personal data, cyber-criminals are forever engineering new ways to disturb and cheat our professional and personal lives. One of the cyber threat trends that has seen a sharp increase in activity within recent years is Ransomware.

Ransomware takes its act via the prearrangement of malicious software that restricts or removes your access to file data stored on your computer or server. Downloaded from an unlawful website or arriving on your computer via an email link or attachment, the Ransomware application quickly installs itself & begins to contaminate or take control of your file data without the computer user even being aware an attack has taken place.

Ransomware, as the name suggests, is a means by which hackers will take something belonging to you or your company and hold it to ransom for release upon receiving a monetary payment from you. Although, there’s no guarantee they’ll even release the file upon receiving your payments!

Can we avoid being targeted?

Although it’s vital to ensure you have cyber defences in place, it is almost impossible to ensure that you have 100% data security from the threat of cybercrime, mainly from the specific threat of Ransomware.

The malicious software used to launch a Ransomware attack is continually evolving and can take many forms, despite security vendors frequently updating their software & threat analysis, there is a sturdy chance that an innocent action by one of your users will result in their machine becoming infested at some point.

What we can do to add data security if we’re attacked?

Primarily, make efforts to limit your exposure to attack by verifying you have cyber defences in place and have directed cyber awareness training for your team.

But, when you unavoidably suffer from an attack, your last line in the defence against cyber-attacks is to rely upon a secure recovery point from a current, ring-fenced data backup solution.

With a professional-grade backup service, you can benefit from the peace of mind that your latest data is stored, securely, in an alternate offsite location and is ready for recovery at a moment’s notice in the event of loss or corruption to any, or all, of your files or system data.

But we already backup data to a disc…

Having a data backup of any kind is an initial step to take in a bid to recover your data in the event of any loss. Nevertheless! An unripe backup to an external disk is by no means a dependable or secure means to achieve true peace of mind with all your system data.

There are numerous manual elements to a disk backup that limit its effectiveness in a disaster; most critically, the need for a person to take the disk offsite and remember to bring it back again.

In the event of a Ransomware attack, should the disk be connected to the network, it will most likely be infected and render the backup useless. This twinned with limited means of running effectively repeatedly scheduled backups, results in a data backup to the disk being a too preventive and risky means of recovery in the event of a disaster.

What should we do in its place?

All businesses should function with an automated on-site + off-site backup service, confirming to the of 3-2-1 backup rule.

• 3 copies of your data – one active on your server/cloud storage/computers, one local backup copy and one offsite copy.
• 2 forms of media – changeable medium of disk or device used to store the backup copies.
• 1 copy held offsite.

The service should be managed and monitored day-to-day by your external IT service provider or member of internal IT personnel – with strict urgency placed on acting in the event of a failure or issue logged from the previous day’s backup.

It all sounds pricey, however implementing a professional-grade backup solution doesn’t have to cost the earth; particularly if you factor in the cost and inconvenience of a total, or even partial, loss of data.

Authorising these rules within your business can go a long way to ensuring a fast & effective recovery from a disaster, should you ache the loss or corruption of any data, however large or small.

Do you want data security for your business?

We specialise in learning about our client’s businesses and best-applying security technology to their needs.

If you would appreciate a free brief discussion about your operational challenges & to explore the threats to your business, please get in touch today – 01480 570339 or drop us a line [email protected]