Cloud Source

Terms to Know for Cloud-Aided Disaster Recovery

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Even the smallest businesses recognize the potential impact that a natural event such as a fire or flooding, or a cyber attack can have on their business, but many are intimidated by the necessary investment in disaster recovery. No matter the size of the enterprise, the cloud provides a variety of resources to make a recovery plan more affordable and effective.

If you’ve examined the cloud options available for disaster recovery, you may have quickly found yourself swallowed up by the wealth of terms that seem somewhat interchangeable, due to their overlapping vocabulary. Is cloud back-up different than cloud recovery, for instance?

The following list includes a few terms you’ll need to know to navigate including cloud tools in your disaster recovery plan:

Cloud Disaster Recovery: When you store copies of your data in the cloud, you can add a safety net to your on-site disaster recovery plan. You may want to rely entirely on the cloud or you may use it as a back-up plan to your other data security planning.

Cloud Backup: This term is often used synonymously with cloud disaster recovery, but it is more effectively described as an element of the above term. Cloud backup stores data off-site, so that a local disaster won’t prevent you from accessing recent data backups.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS): A third-party provider offers a relatively comprehensive approach to disaster recovery and is a good choice for both small businesses that may not have the in-house talent to support such efforts and for larger enterprises needing extensive support. It’s important to note that while this type of service may cover your technology needs, a full disaster recovery plan will also address physical workspaces, inventory and other aspects of the physical business.

Disaster Recovery Plan: As noted above, your plan should not only include addressing the potential impact on your technology, but also the physical elements of your business. Your disaster recovery plan also introduces new risks and considerations simply by utilizing cloud solutions in your methods. When you include cloud solutions in your impact analysis, you will see how the tools affect your continuity and recovery times. You’ll also need responses planned for situations in which your cloud provider experiences a breach or goes out of business unexpectedly.

Cloud Service Provider: You’ll need to choose a provider that aligns well with your needs and your business culture. Find out the detailed terms of the service level agreement (SLA) and what the consequences are of any unfulfilled terms. Talk with any potential providers about their cloud insurance and the benefits you receive if your provider is impacted by an event. Discuss how and in what time period you’ll be notified if they will no longer offer disaster recovery services.

There’s really no need to memorize a bunch of terms when you’re working with a technology partner ready to walk you through your disaster recovery plan. Contact us at Cloud Source to begin assessing your needs for cloud-based tools and to leverage those that best support your business continuity.

Five Data Protection Measures Every Small Business Needs

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It seems like every month there’s another major story in the news about a large corporation whose data has been compromised by a cyberattack, affecting millions of consumers. The reality is that many of the data breaches causing the most damage never make headlines, because they affect small businesses. Extensive damage hits a company that’s not prepared with a data protection strategy.

There are measures you can put in place to protect your small business against a cyberattack. Here are the five that you should prioritize:

Employee training: One of the most important data protection measures is also one of the most budget-friendly. A few of the subjects you should cover in data protection training are how to use high-quality passwords and protect them, making sure employees know the danger of a smartphone that takes too long to hibernate and teaching them to recognize a phishing email.

Data backup: Completing a regular backup protects your data in the event of a natural disaster, and helps you decline to pay the ransom when you’re hit with ransomware. It’s a good idea to not only complete one backup, but to also have a backup that’s stored locally and then back that up with cloud backup. This protects your data in the event of a natural disaster that affects a wider geographic area.

Endpoint protection: Protecting your network is becoming more complicated because there are so many more devices connected to it, and these devices are also likely interacting with cloud solutions. Endpoint protection involves all of your computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Many of these devices come with a firewall program preinstalled, but you should go further with your data protection strategy. An endpoint detection and response program will check for suspicious activity, and then isolate any potential problems for review.

Cyber insurance: It’s a good idea to invest in cyber insurance as a safeguard in case a cyberattack still manages to get through your other data protection measures. It is important to note that cyber insurance alone should never be the sum total of your data protection strategy.

Data recovery: If all else fails, data recovery services may be able to recover data lost through accidental deletion, hardware damage, or a malware attack. Even when your data has been deleted from your hard drive, it doesn’t actually go away permanently. Data recovery services can access the hard drive and reverse the data deletion.

When you need assistance evaluating your data protection strategy, contact us at Cloud Source. Whether you need comprehensive Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) or an assessment of your current approach, Cloud Source can help you protect your business.

The Two Biggest Risks in Your Hybrid Cloud Environment

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Large enterprises implement a hybrid cloud solution with lowered costs, increased performance and agility, and better scalability in mind. They almost never do it in order to improve security. For most companies, the security question is the first topic of discussion once a hybrid cloud solution is on the table.

The implementation of hybrid cloud solutions can reveal gaps in security, and working with multiple vendors with public and private cloud solutions can require extensive monitoring of the security situation. In every enterprise, there are two risks that should be evaluated immediately:

Human administrators: When you’re implementing a new hybrid cloud environment, you need a good handle on which administrators are accessing each part of your public and private cloud, as well as on-premise software. This means you need to conduct an assessment of the level of access your administrators have been granted in the past.

As you know, this can get a little murky. For instance, people are often granted short-term access to a particular application’s guru-level security because a supervisor went on vacation — but most organizations forget to change the security back after the vacation is over. In many cases, there’s good reason not to allow widespread guru-level access to administrators.

Before implementing a hybrid cloud environment, take inventory of the security levels each of your administrators and revert them back to appropriate levels. This may cause some frustration, but security must be the priority.

Data: You need to know which parts of your data are most critical. Depending on your industry, this could be a lot of different things. No matter what business you’re in, your customer database should be considered critical. Take time to evaluate what’s necessary for business continuity in a disaster recovery situation, then determine where that information is located.

If your data backups are not adequately labeled, this could turn into a time-consuming process. Fortunately, there are tools on the market that can assist with data backup identification.

Identifying your security risk areas is a critical step in your hybrid cloud implementation process. If you need guidance in your digital transformation strategy, contact us at Cloud Source. We can help you with each step of the process, from determining areas of risk to evaluating and choosing your cloud vendors.

5 Common Cloud Backup Misconceptions and Why They’re Untrue

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Cloud backup is safe, secure, and affordable, but many businesses still fall prey to misconceptions about it. Avoiding use of cloud backup causes businesses to miss out on its many benefits. Here are the five most common misconceptions regarding the technology, and explanations for why they’re untrue.

Affordability

Many businesses worry about the cost of a cloud backup system, but there are plenty of options in a variety of price ranges available. Partnering with a reputable provider is the most important step. A cloud system is well worth the expense if it means the business doesn’t lose important documents or sensitive data — which, in the long run, could be even more costly.

Cloud Backup vs. Cloud Storage

There is a difference between cloud storage and cloud backup. Storage is focused more on the sharing of files and allowing collaboration between employees, teams, and even clients and other businesses. However, it doesn’t protect against common forms of data loss, including:

  • Accidental (or intentional) deletion
  • Hardware failure
  • Power failure
  • Software crash

With cloud backup, a business’s information is constantly saved as versions, so if something does happen, they can access the latest version and restore most, if not all, of the data.

External Hard Drives and Manually Backing up

Many people think that backing up data manually and using external hard drives does the job just as well as the cloud. Unfortunately, manual backups rely on the user to remember to execute them, and external hard drives can easily be damaged or destroyed by fire, viruses, or theft.

The cloud ensures that data is being saved while working in the background, and it can be accessed from any computer — even outside the business premises.

Ransomware and Anti-Virus

Technology is a constant race between software engineers and hackers. If a hacker really wants to target a business, they will find a way past any antivirus protection. However, this can be prevented with cloud backup and versioning; the business can roll back to a previous version before the ransomware was installed.

Safety and Security

There’s a pervasive myth that the cloud is not as secure as manual methods of saving and backing up data. By partnering with a reputable vendor, however, businesses gain access to the many security benefits of the cloud, including:

  • Failsafe power generators
  • Encryption
  • Redundant disk arrays
  • Temperature-controlled environments

Although the above misconceptions are common, they can be easily proven untrue. The cloud is just as safe and secure as manual methods, as it runs automatically; and for the peace of mind it provides, it’s certainly affordable. With research, businesses should find that cloud backup suits their needs and their budgets.

Disaster Recovery: Using Cloud Services and DRaaS

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All businesses understand the concept of disaster recovery (DR), which enables the recovery and continuation of systems after something goes drastically wrong. However, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are only just beginning to move towards using the cloud as a DR option. It is now becoming more affordable, cutting down on the need for physical space and IT infrastructure and resources.

Creating a Plan
Businesses are unique in their needs, the data they generate and use, and the applications they work with. This means there is no one-size-fits-all plan that every business can use when it comes to cloud DR. Instead, a business should have its own specialized plan, geared towards the following:
Priority: The apps and services that are the most important and need to be recovered first
Downtime: How long each app will be down
Recovery time objective (RTO): Achieving the objective in the most cost-efficient way
Resources and recovery: Identifying the best methods

Once the plan has been created, a business can look into the different ways of using disaster recovery in the cloud:
Backup from the cloud
Backup to the cloud
Managed recovery
Virtual machines

Backup From the Cloud
Backup from the cloud is used to download data from the cloud back onto physical machines. This method is best used by businesses with a high bandwidth cap, or ideally no cap at all, as it can mean huge amounts of data being downloaded. Some vendors also offer the option of the vendor downloading the data and sending it to the business on disk.

Backup to the Cloud
Backup to the cloud uses virtual machines, cloud storage, and cloud compute resources to restore data. This can mean pre-staging in expectation of a disaster being declared, or ongoing. Keeping these backups up to date is crucial for bringing applications and services back as soon as possible.

Managed Recovery
Businesses without a dedicated IT department may find it best to go with a managed service provider for their DR needs. If something goes wrong, it becomes the vendor’s responsibility to fix it. Choosing this option may mean more research in the beginning so that the business chooses a reputable vendor with a suitable service level agreement (SLA).

Virtual Machines
Copying data to virtual machines has the benefit of being suitable for both the cloud and on-premise systems. Replication to virtual machines is the best choice for businesses with a strict RTO.

Every business hopes that it won’t need DR, but if a disaster does happen, the cloud provides a number of options for data recovery. The cloud is cost-efficient, enabling smaller businesses to compete on a more level playing field with large businesses. A well-tested, solid plan is the cornerstone of a business’s disaster recovery, and using the cloud offers many options to execute that plan smoothly.

Contact

328 S. Jefferson St. Suite 603
Chicago, IL 60661
Ph: 312.753.7880
E: info@CloudSourceServices.com

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