Today, all systems need layered security protection. These layers include: Personnel Training, firewalls, anti-exploit, antivirus, anti-malware and anti-ransomware software systems. However, due to bad luck, a miss-click, etc., the bad guys may still get to your mission critical systems.
To fully protect your systems, the number one tool are your backups of key files and systems. With appropriate backups, if you get a virus, ransomware, etc, you can clean your systems and then restore them with the backups. You will only lose a small amount of work. You will not lose your entire mission critical information system.
A backup process includes software, hardware and human action. Do not make the mistake of relaying on a single backup software program to protect you. If you do, you run a grave risk.
There are three things you need to be aware of when implementing a backup process.
1)
Perform your backups on the appropriate schedule. Determine which files need to be backed up hourly, every 6 hours, daily, weekly, monthly. Schedule your backup process to implement this schedule.
2)
Keep multiple version of the backup.
i)
Never rely on a single backup. If the ransomware accidently gets backed up in your single backup, the backup does you no good.
ii)
Also, some backup systems automatically back up the file if the system notes a change to the file. In this case, the backup system will corrupt your backups with the ransomware.
iii)
Use separate storage media for each version of your backups. If you use a single media for all your versions, and one of the backups is infected, then all versions will be infected.
Backup to storage that is not mapped nor continuously connected to your network or computer. Today's encryption ransomware can encrypt all files mapped to the infected system. Some of the more advanced ransomware can ping a network for unmapped systems and then also encrypt these files.
