Table of Contents
Overview
On May 7, 2021, ransomware was the culprit in a cyber attempt against Colonial’s gasoline pipeline. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts targeted files and demands a ransom to open or decode the files when installed on a computer system. The affected files or systems that utilize them will become worthless if the ransom is not paid.
Data theft by various ways, including ransomware, is a profitable industry targeted by computer hackers–this should give anyone with valuable data saved on a computer pause, even if it is of personal or sentimental significance. Data thieves frequently locate customers for their stolen data on the Deep Web, a portion of the internet that is invisible to normal search engines.
Mitigation
Being proactive rather than reactive when it comes to data protection is part of the remedy for data theft.
It’s critical to keep regular backup copies of documents, images, audio, video, and other forms of data stored off the computer–on external hard drives, thumb drives, or cloud storage–on external hard drives, thumb drives, or cloud storage. Data storage best practices, computer upkeep, and cybersecurity familiarity should all be covered in computer security education. Data destruction is also required for data security. Hard drives should be removed and destroyed when it’s time to get rid of old PCs. Although there may be no files visible on the devices any longer, professional recovery techniques may be able to recover hidden data.
Data storage devices, such as hard drives, thumb drives, and embedded flash devices, such as eMMC, should be destroyed by industry professionals.
Keeping your data secure necessitates the creation of data backups. Cyberattacks such as ransomware and phishing scams can cause data loss. Data loss might also occur as a result of a natural disaster that damages your organization. Staying proactive and creating data backups is the greatest approach to avert such a disaster and provide you with peace of mind. Many businesses, on the other hand, make various blunders while generating data backups, which can be costly if they need to access this information in an emergency.
Here are some of the most typical data backup blunders to stay away from.
1) Backups are not audited
Many companies make the simple mistake of establishing backups but never testing them for issues. Failure to audit your data backups, on the other hand, exposes you to several threats. Auditing your backups at regular intervals is critical to guarantee that everything is in functioning order and that your data is accessible at all times.
2) Data not being stored in a separate location
Another common blunder is failing to back up your data in a separate location. Storing all of your backups in your workplace poses a big security risk, particularly if your building is damaged by a fire, flooding, or a variety of other factors. One option to address this issue and assure regional disparity is to upload data backups to the cloud using zero-trust encryption.
3) Giving Access to Your Backups to Servers
For best security, data backups should be unplugged or “gapped” from your servers or PCs. Allowing direct access to your backups from your computer systems makes it far too easy for fraudsters to target your IT infrastructure and obtain access to all of your data. Ransomware, for example, might encrypt all of this data and prevent you from accessing it. It’s vital to keep your data backups distinct from the rest of your servers if you want to give your company the protection it needs from cyber threats.
4) Using Only One Data Backup Method
Using only one data backup strategy is a major blunder that many businesses make all too often. Following the 3-2-1 rule is one approach to avoid this issue. This guideline states that you must keep three copies of your data and store them on two different types of media. To avoid ransomware or hackers, one copy of your data can be kept on-site, while another can be kept off-site while separated from your network.
Final Remarks about Backups
In today’s workplace, data is extremely important. Unfortunately, fraudsters are continuously creating new techniques to target organizations of all sizes, so all of this information is extremely important to them. In order to provide your organization with the finest data security, you must regularly audit your data backups, store your data in many locations, and keep at least one backup separate from your PCs and servers.
It’s also a good idea to use different data backup solutions to keep your data safe.
Now is a good moment for your company to review its data backup policy and make any necessary changes to improve data security.
