Hurricanes, floods, fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, even ransomware — these devastating events can strike almost without warning. Does your business have a plan to not only safeguard sensitive data but contingencies for recovery should a catastrophe occur?
Management should acknowledge their company’s potential exposure to disasters, natural and otherwise. These events can endanger the accessibility and support of an organization’s IT systems and networks.
It’s trite but true: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So how does a business protect the integrity of its IT processes before cataclysm strikes? An effective option is to collaborate with a reputable data center, one with the resources to protect valuable data while keeping it secure and accessible.
Now that you recognize the utility of a data center, what should you look for? Below is a laundry list of essentials your DR service should provide.
An effective disaster recovery plan starts long before storm clouds gather. You want your IT partner to customize a comprehensive and ordered strategy that maintains and monitors network infrastructure and ongoing processes. Too, your employees should be trained and evaluated on how to reduce or avert system downtime.
Proactive planning also encompasses preventive maintenance. Your DR provider should regularly schedule tests of fire detection/extinguishing systems, power supplies/generators and HVAC systems.
How do fiber optic networks provide such outstanding redundancy and protection? In large part, due to bidirectional line-switched architecture. This means that in the event of network element failure, optical signals can be rerouted, either with “protection” spare fibers or by backhauling.
You want the same from your DR provider. Does it offer alternative facilities should its primary data center be offline? Are their data centers sited to prevent damage from floods, fires, winds or earthquakes?
Power failures and loss of environmental cooling can wreak havoc on vulnerable infrastructure elements. Look for facilities with redundant uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), supported by generators that switch seamlessly online if utility power fails. Seek the same redundancy within the data center’s HVAC configurations.
Redundancy also includes instantaneous access to multiple “core” or “Tier 1” long-haul networks should the primary carrier interrupt service.
Is the DR provider’s data center monitored at all times? Are employees required to wear visible ID whenever onsite? Nowadays, constant surveillance of network assets is a must to maintain network integrity and data security.
Your DR provider should have a cross-trained and experienced emergency ops team in place, ready at a moment’s notice to restore operational functionality to networks and systems in case of a disaster. They are the “cavalry” riding to the rescue, freeing local employees to see after their families and homes.
Now that you know, consider Aperio IT as your partner in disaster recovery planning. We provide cloud hosting and backup services to small and mid-sized businesses like yours. It’s never too early to prepare before catastrophe strikes.
Contact us to learn more about planning your Disaster Recovery Plan with Aperio IT.
Whether you like it or not, Cloud computing is here to stay. For many businesses, both big and small, it is making us all more connected and improving office procedures and upping our collective productivity. Whilst the early days of cloud computing may have been all about security, the latest vibe is how it is pushing business forward and, in the process, saving a good deal of money on IT support.
There’s no doubt that this growth has been supported by our increasing use of a number of portable devices such as smartphones and tablets. That means your cloud desktop is now a thing that operates on the move, travelling with you across the world, keeping you in contact with the office, business associates, and consumers whether it’s at home in Brighton or 5am in Beijing.
In short, we are no longer tied to one PC at a desk but can network and develop and collaborate anytime and anywhere we wish. For those of you who remember the humble floppy disk, we’ve come a long way in the last twenty years or so. Cloud hosting has grown for both consumers and businesses and, for many of us, has become part of our daily online lives – we save photos, post messages, swap data and provide solutions at much greater speed than we ever have before.
Benefits of a Cloud Service for SMEs
For small and medium sized businesses, having a cloud desktop is one of the most practical operational decisions that can be taken. It’s cheaper and more flexible than investing in onsite hardware without the capital expenditure and therefore a more eco-friendly way of operating. Disaster management, an important component for many businesses nowadays, is also taken care of because all data is held safely away from the business which means it can be easily recovered if something terrible happens to the office environment or equipment such as mobile phones.
The rise in cloud subscription platforms also gives many businesses access to feature rich products that would be more costly if they were installed separately. That means employees can have access to a wide variety of software for just a set monthly fee that doesn’t break the bank and can be adjusted depending on individual needs. Finally, one of the main advantages of a cloud desktop is that it allows for a greater degree of collaboration with users able to work with each other whilst outside the office.
With the enhanced security that comes with cloud services nowadays, SMEs get all the power they need from their operating platform at a fraction of what it would cost them back in the old days.
Moving to a system like the M2 Cloud gives businesses all the flexibility and security, as well as useful tools such as Microsoft Office 365, which dramatically improves connectivity and productivity. Provisions can be tailored to individual businesses which means they don’t end up with programs that have little operational value and only pay for what they really need.
Yes, it’s all going to the cloud, which is better than “to the dogs.” And yes, you have to make sure your cloud environment is secure.
You need to confront some hard realities about cloud security because the cyber landscape continues to be unforgiving. It doesn’t matter whether you’re protecting traditional computer systems, your mobile platform or the cloud itself. Simply put, organized cyber crime and cyber espionage continue to grow in sophistication. Any new hackable platform is red meat for them. Opening massive breaches that harvest critical data is their day and night job. News headlines make that clear that the aggregate total of global cyber crime damage now rivals that of many nations’ annual gross domestic product (GDP).
First reality: Organizations spend considerable time and money securing their on-premises infrastructure. That’s good. The problem is maintaining that same high level of security when outsourcing to the cloud. Security delivery requires a cloud provider’s undivided attention. Yes, there are built-in security tools, but you will not get the key to any strong security posture—24/7/365 threat monitoring, analysis and response—or “managed security service.” These are humans watching out for you. You must know what’s happening on the cloud in real time and be able to respond very quickly. You need people to manage this, even if you have automated capabilities as part of your cloud security. The “cloud” doesn’t do it on its own.
(Related: An interview with Brendan Hannigan, IBM GM Security Systems Division)
Second reality: Repeat after me: “My cloud will be breached.” Take a deep breath. Say it one more time.
Remember, just because you’ve been breached doesn’t mean an attacker knows where to go once they get in your system. If you identify the attack quickly you can prevent him or her from getting to your critical data.
So, review your incident response plan for cloud security. What, you don’t have one? Okay, review the plan you have for your premises infrastructure.
If you still have a blank look, gather your team and start putting a response plan together—fast. How you handle it is crucial, particularly the speed of your response. Sophisticated attacks often show no upfront “symptoms” but can quietly devastate your business over time. The longer it takes to resolve an attack, the more costly it becomes.
Prevention starts with an incident-response plan and mock exercises to test the plan. Get an experienced provider to try and hack your cloud. Find out your vulnerabilities. Most important, make sure you have a team ready to move quickly and decisively if you suspect your cloud has been attacked.
Third reality: Last but maybe most importantly, get smart about “security intelligence.” Your cloud systems, along with your other IT platforms, generate billions of security events each day from firewalls, emails, servers and the like. It’s simply not possible to manually sift through this data and find evidence of suspicious behavior. Beyond the costs involved, it’s confined to figuring out “what happened” rather than “what will occur.”
When applied to security data, big-data analytics tools can be transformative—the tip of the spear in security intelligence and response. Analytics can provide automated, real-time intelligence and situational awareness about your infrastructure’s state of security to help disrupt the attack chain.
Say that two similar security incidents take place, one in Brazil, the other in Pittsburgh. They may be related. But without the intelligence needed to link them, an important pattern—one that could indicate a potential incident—may go unnoticed.
You need this capability, and providers like IBM are stepping up to make it the ultimate reality.
Stay safe.
Highly publicized events like hacked celebrity photos, credit card data theft from major retailers, and confidential business data loss from large corporations have drawn into question the security of Cloud storage, especially for businesses.
From customer payment information to internal pricing policies to large commercial and government bids, the data that businesses keep is critical, and its loss could be devastating – just ask Sony.
And it’s not only large corporations or financial institutions that should be concerned. One study showed that over half of the small businesses surveyed had experienced data theft, and half of those had experienced it more than once.
The corresponding business disruption can also cost companies big money. Even a simple file that takes an employee an hour to recreate costs you money, and it can snowball from there. Worse still, most insurance policies don’t cover data loss of any kind. And even if you can be monetarily compensated, it won’t change the fact that your data has been stolen.
In a post earlier this year we discussed the different file storage options for businesses (an on-premise server, public or private Cloud storage, or hybrid solution). Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. With on-site servers, your information is physically with you, under your direct observation and control. However, all it takes is a single bolt of lightning knocking out your server, or a cleaning lady clever enough to steal a password to simply walk away with your hardware. Viruses, stolen laptops, crashed hard drives, spilled coffee-all threats to your computing system also threaten your data.
The truth is, cloud computing is here to stay, so it is increasingly important to protect your data there. And guess what? With the right safeguards and protocols in place, it’s actually more secure.
Keeping your data secure in the cloud
Beyond 24/7/365 monitoring that should be the basis of any managed IT services relationship, here are five key ways that cloud storage provides greater security than on-site servers.
Controlled access: Know who accesses your data and when. Levels of access should be controlled and customizable by you, meaning that each employee should be given access only to the information that they need to get their work done. We also recommend two-factor authentication for an additional shield against cyber intruders.
Data encryption: The data you send to the Cloud should be encrypted during upload and encrypted again (and assigned a unique password) every time it’s opened on a device (smart phone, tablet, PC, Mac, etc.)
More robust firewalls and virus protection: Cloud storage facilities are constantly upgraded in response to the latest threats and to implement new technology. Besides malware detection and anti-virus software updates, make sure your IT service provider is able to detect and quickly remedy data breaches that may occur.
Sophisticated management and restoration capabilities: The right service provider can identify file changes between any two backup points on a system, and can see which files were created, modified or deleted at any point in time. This means your data can always be recovered to the latest version saved before it was destroyed by a virus or accidentally deleted. Off-site backups, built-in redundancies, fail-over protocols and fault-tolerant architecture that protects against power failures also prevent costly business disruptions.
Physical security: Cloud storage is located in highly secure data centers with restricted physical access, sophisticated burglar and fire alarms, backup generators and multiple redundancies and fail-overs. Many have multiple locations around the country, creating further redundancy in order to protect against a catastrophic loss in one location. On-premise servers rarely have this kind of fortress-like protection around them.
Is your data safe in the cloud?
Given the level of security measures, physical safeguards and redundancy, Cloud-based solutions can provide superior data protection if implemented and managed correctly. Our managed IT services professionals can help you assess and implement the best solution for your organization today-and develop a plan that makes good business sense for your future. Contact us to discuss your needs regarding data security issues and cloud storage options for businesses.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=E_Speidel
Photo Credit: Super Famous
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