Help From StorageCraft Backup, DR Solutions in Fight Against Ransomware

In today’s world, ransomware adds to a long list of potential threats to BC, such as natural disasters, equipment failure, human error and malicious cyberattacks.

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If a business, especially a small business, does not have a strong backup and DR plan in place, there is a significant chance it will go out of business if it is unable to access data and systems during an IT emergency.

“It is said that data is the lifeblood of a business, which makes it concerning that research shows 85% of IT systems are not backed up, especially when 91% of businesses have experienced an IT outage in a 24-month window,” said Marvin Blough, VP, WW sales, StorageCraft Technology Corp.. “During Small Business Week, we emphasize that organizations need to be prepared for ransomware and other IT outage threats with a strong BC plan that features a fast, reliable backup and DR solution.”

For more than 12 years, StorageCraft has been providing businesses, both small and large, with backup and DR solutions to maintain access to data and mission-critical systems. The Recovery Solution is trusted by IT professionals to protect millions of systems around the world. Small businesses also find comfort in working with members of the company’s Partner Network, which is comprised of resellers and MSPs, who are contracted by businesses to handle IT needs.

Ransomware is an increasingly dangerous form of malware that encrypts data and makes it unrecoverable unless a ransom is paid. According to the FBI, there were more than 2,400 reported ransomware attacks in 2015 totaling more than $24 million, with ransoms paid during the first quarter of 2016 surpassing $200 million.

Future Vision, Inc., Raleigh, NC, is a company’s MSP partner that trusts StorageCraft to protect its clients’ data. In recent weeks, future Vision has used ShadowProtect to quickly help several clients avoid the dreadful decision of paying the ransom or allowing the data to be deleted.

Christopher Thompson, network engineer, Future Vision, gave an account of how one attack was dealt with while using ShadowProtect. “Once the customer informed us of the ransomware attack, and when they were last able to use those files, we were immediately able to start mounting backups and determine within the hour when the threat happened,” Thompson said. “Then, within 10 minutes, we had the last ‘healthy’ drive mounted and data replaced to the shared folder that was originally infected.“

Another company’s MSP partner that has seen an increase of ransomware attacks is Intelitechs, Salt Lake City, UT. Jake Hiller, owner, Intelitechs, pointed out the damage caused by ransomware and other threats to BC in general will go beyond just data loss because of the associated costs such as recovery, downtime and the negative impact on reputation.

“A good backup is data insurance. If a small business lost some or all of its data in one-fell-swoop, no other traditional insurance policy is going to be able to help,” Hiller said. “You will need a good backup and DR solution like StorageCraft.“

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