Blog : Backup

Garmin services down due to suspected ransomware attack
Darren

Garmin services down due to suspected ransomware attack

Garmin has been down for around 2 1/2 days so far following an outage to its website, apps, Garmin Connect and flyGarmin.
Garmin announced on Twitter two days ago. The issue has even spread as far as its call centers, emails and online messages. The reason behind the outage hasn’t yet been revealed but many are reporting that a Ransomware attack is to blame.

What’s somewhat more worrying about all of this for other businesses is that it’s been reported online that the Ransomware attack (suspected to be WastedLocker) has blocked their backups and thus prevented a speedy resolution.

Malwarebytes describes WastedLocker as a highly targeted form of Ramsomware from Russian hackers that assess your network and backups and then deploys to disable both. What this shows us is that it’s now more important than ever to have robust backups and a disaster recovery plan for your business.

It’s no longer enough to simply have firewall, anti virus and a on-site backup, modern businesses need a full disaster recovery plan. If you’d like to have a chat about the IT and security in your business give us a call, no obligation, we’d love to help.

I.T. Hardware and Infrastructure Support

Microsoft 365 / OneDrive / Sharepoint Backups
Darren

Microsoft 365 / OneDrive / Sharepoint Backups

Cloud storage for Documents is of course becoming the sensible way to store your files as the flexibility it allows across you devices and the world to retrieve your data. So it probably won’t surprise you when I tell you how often we hear from a client that “Google Drive/iCloud/OneDrive/Sharepoint are backed up in the Cloud” and we have to find a gentle yet honest way of informing them, it’s just simply not.

Microsoft 365 offers very basic protection from data loss, firstly while Microsoft does of course replicate your data across their data centers in the event of data loss at one of their data centers that won’t protect against corruption from a Ransomware attack your end for instance, thus leaving encrypted data spread across Microsoft’s data centers. Now Microsoft does offer limited retention for deleted files and previous versions which may protect you from a Ransomware attack, but the restore might be time intensive and quite a bit more work if you don’t have a third-party dedicated backup tool.

All your data should be protected by the 3-2-1 rule of backups.
Three copies of your data on two different pieces of media, one of which should be offsite.

Therefore relying upon on Microsoft 365 to protect itself violates every one of the above backup rules. Microsoft 365 protections are built into Microsoft 365.  App data should always be protected by something that isn’t the app.

And… even Microsoft agrees. See this from their Microsoft 365 Service Agreement

Assume you accidentally or deliberately delete an email, OneDrive file, or SharePoint item, Microsoft 365 allows you to retrieve this for a small period of time.

You need to realise within this time you deleted the item (if it was an accident), locate the deleted item in the relevant Recycle Bin folder before it expires (and also hope the recycle bin emptied by an admin – bad actor or otherwise).

If it is a malicious attack and ransomware deletes hundreds or thousands of files, you will be spending quite a lot of time locating files and restoring, a process referred to as “dumpster diving,” which no one should use as their backup method.

A dedicated backup tool allows you to not only dellegate the recovery to us saving you valuable time but also easily find and restore as many files as you need, or even restore an entire user or folder to a point in time. One step, instead of thousands of them.

If you’d like to discuss protecting your Micorosft 365 / OneDrive / Sharepoint get in touch.

Microsoft 365 Backup

“I.T. is boring”
Darren

“I.T. is boring”

Late last week I was having a conversation with a good client about their website and how they could use it to generate more work for their business, all the little things that drive traffic and get visitors to engage, how they might stay in touch with visitors that don’t enquire there and then and how they ensure that they are giving their prospects and clients what they want.

We must have been speaking for 10 minutes about where they were improving their website and what it was going to mean for the future of the company and then my client said to me “I.T. is boring”. Had we not just been waxing lyrical for 10 minutes about all the interesting a beneficial stuff they were doing with their website?

What I realised is that while I may love the technology behind the scenes and creating something that produces a result, they may not they just love the end product not the journey. I understand that, I don’t love the endless gym sessions and pitch-black 5ks to the next village and back of a night but I love the end result.

So I understand that a lot of people think IT is boring, even if we love it. But how great would it be to let us deliver an end result for you, your clients and your prospects that drives growth and success for your business?

Creating I.T. systems that give amazing experiences for your clients and prospects is our bread and butter.

Whatever you’d like to achieve in your business this year we can help you make that vision a reality if you’d like to have a chat about your goals and how we can work together to deliver them we’d love to have a chat.

Give us a call on 01937 586888

I.T. Hardware and Infrastructure Support

Protecting your computers and your future too
Darren

Protecting your computers and your future too

For 14 years we’ve worked harder than the competition to offer I.T. support that not only keeps all of your I.T. infrastructure working and working well, but to also offer that piece of mind that comes from knowing we’re on your side.

We build relationships that mean we both get the most out of working together. We can’t thrive as a businesses without our clients thriving as a business.

This is as important now as it ever has been, as more and more of our day to day business is done via computers and the internet and convergent disruption changing the business landscape beyond all recognition. Now more than ever modern businesses need to trade on the internet as their primary platform and those that don’t will get lost in the noise. We see a lot of businesses recognising they need a platform on the internet but in actual fact just end up adding to the noise with many switching potential buyers off.

They realise they need to have a presence on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook but have no idea how to separate themselves from the pack and thereby end up adding to the already crowded middle.

The key we have found is to offer great free advice, doing this without de valuing your time or giving away hard earnt trade secrets can be difficult.

But in truth the issue goes deeper than just getting a message out there that’s a little different to the rest. It’s creating that different message and creating a different service for your clients and with that different service delivering different results. From start to finish being different, being better than the competition.

We’ve done this for over 14 years and so are as well placed as anyone to work closely to make sure your technology delivers not only for you and your team but for your prospects and clients too. Who ever we work with on whatever level we deliver not only amazing I.T. support services but future results for your business. We look constantly to make sure the systems you use are creating the desired results for you and those you support with your products and services.

Our traditional I.T. support contracts offer system monitoring (among many other amazing business benefits) so each month we’ll look to see how improvements can be made to your systems, improving productivity and team efficiency thereby creating amazing experiences for your clients and prospects.

And our Growth partnership services provide a working platform for us once a month or every quarter to sit down and spend time going through results with a fine tooth comb and producing better more amazing results after each meeting.

 

To find out more about either of these services please give us a call on 01937 586888 or click on the relevant link below.

I.T. Hardware and Infrastructure Support

Business Growth Partnership

Yahoo! Tripled it’s quota on what was already largest data breech in history.
Darren

Yahoo! Tripled it’s quota on what was already largest data breech in history.

This week Yahoo announced that what was already the largest data breech in history was in fact 300% bugger and that in fact all of it’s 3 billion users had their data obtained. Not the 1 billion it revealed late last year.

On Tuesday the company announced that the breach previously disclosed by the company in December was in fact much higher than originally expected. Yahoo claim that following its acquisition by Verizon in June, it obtained new intelligence while investigating the breach with help from outside forensic experts.

And believes the stolen customer information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data or bank account information.

I have to say this seems to be the new normal, hackers are looking for information and poor security is the same as leaving the door open, we’re no doubt going to become a stuck record on this one but as well as amazing I.T. Support in the Leeds area we offer we work with over 150 companies to secure their data and protect their networks.

If you’d like a free no obligation chat to discuss your companies Security needs please get in touch.

Free Consultation

Fines of up to £17m or 4% of turnover for Companies neglecting their security and leaving systems open to cyber attacks
Darren

Fines of up to £17m or 4% of turnover for Companies neglecting their security and leaving systems open to cyber attacks

The Government announced today that they will fine Companies up to £17m or 4% of turnover for neglecting their security and leaving systems open to cyber attacks.

The Government will target the transport, health and energy sectors. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has announced. The plans make sure that those providing essential services are taking strong enough measures to prevent downtime as a result of a Cyber Attack.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have announced that the minimum expected standards are monitoring for threats, processes to detect cyber attacks, staff training in cyber security, and measures for quick recovery of systems after an attack. Something our Cyber Security protection covers (click here).

If a business was victim to a Cyber Attack and was found by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to have fell short of the new standards, they could be fined by these new rules.

The Minister of State for Digital and Culture, Matt Hancock has said “We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to live and be online, with our essential services and infrastructure prepared for the increasing risk of cyber attack and more resilient against other threats such as power failures and environmental hazards.”

Recent Major cyber attacks, including WannaCry which crippled large parts of the NHS and other major ransomware attacks that hit many of the world’s largest firms.

The Government have encouraged Businesses and public providers to respond to the DCMS plans.

Another week another leak, Swedish Government suffers major Data Leak
Darren

Another week another leak, Swedish Government suffers major Data Leak

Today Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven confirmed at a press conference that his administration had likely exposed the personal information of millions of Sweden’s citizens.

Back in September 2015 the Swedish Transport Agency outsourced its database and IT service management to private companies in the Czech Republic and Serbia. What seems to have happened is the Government started uploading its Data to the Private companies Cloud Servers where it was accessible to individuals outside of Sweden without the relevant security clearance.

The Data compromised consisted of the names, photos, and home addresses of Swedish citizens being held by the Swedish Transport Agency (STA). And as if that wasn’t bad enough the data was also still available to STA IT workers back in Sweden just after they had been laid off, so any disgruntled ex employees could download to their hearts content.

THEN….

In March 2016 this information was made available to Marketing Companies (no I don’t know why this information should be sold off either) however this time the information included those with protected identities, i.e. Military Personnel and Witness Protection. The Swedish Secret Service noticed the mistake and notified the STA.

ARE WE GETTING THERE? … NO, NO WE’RE NOT

The database Admins emailed employees identifying all of the information that is supposed to be protected, and they asked vendors to simply remove it from their databases.

The moral of the story here is clearly that you need to be very careful who you instruct to secure your data.

Now don’t get me wrong, mistakes happen but data should always be properly encrypted and clearance to use that data needs to be properly managed, whatever your companies needs Aurora Tech Support can help.

Get in touch

I.T. Hardware and Infrastructure Support

Business data backup in Wetherby, Harrogate, Leeds and York
Darren

Business data backup in Wetherby, Harrogate, Leeds and York

Many companies backup their core Business Data and many don’t. But not all backup methods were created equal. And the truth is you’re either backing up your data properly or you’re not.

In short you should be achieving the following in your Business Data Backup Systems

Previous Versions

This is perhaps the most important point to consider when performing critical backups of your data, many of the recent threats such as Ransomware attacks on peoples data involves the practice of locking or encrypting company data, if the backup runs and you’ve got the locked data on your backup then your backup practices become pretty redundant. Google Drive and Dropbox suffer from this problem. (Google Drive and Dropbox while amazing ARE NOT A BACKUP)

Deleted files

Sometime files are moved or lost or even worse deleted, implementing a delete files solution into your backup strategy saves a lot of headache. We keep deleted files for 30 days before removing from our servers (longer if you wish) this way you don’t need to worry about getting a bit click happy when cleaning up workstations.

VSS Backup

We use VSS backup so if a file is open it can still be backed up, many companies have files that are open most of the time, this can interfere with keeping recent versions of certain files in the backup data. We use VSS to ensure that all files are regularly backed up.

Automated backup and email reports

The best thing about our data backup solutions? It’s automatic and you get an email report to inform you of it’s successes and failures. Complete peace of mind for you, your team and your business.

Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery for your Business