CryptoLocker Breach Prompts K.E. Andrews to Overhaul Backup Strategy

Zetta.net (Zetta, Inc.) announced that K.E. Andrews and Company (KEA), an energy industry-focused state and local tax firm, has deployed its enterprise cloud backup and DR solution to ensure that critical files can be recovered easier and faster in the event of a disaster.

Ransomware virus CryptoLocker hit KEA earlier this year, causing the company’s IT team to establish a new backup strategy that would deliver more convenient and faster offsite recovery in the event another disaster hit. The incident encrypted a number of KEA’s files, setting the business back due to weeks of lost work, as well as countless hours spent trying to restore files from the company’s existing offsite tape strategy.

KEA, which works with firms mostly in the energy sector to help lower their tax burden, often serves as an outsourcing arm for this type of function. The ability to restore lost data quickly for clients who have enlisted KEA’s expertise for audits, valuations, and other legal endeavors is critical.

“We knew we needed a much more convenient way to get data offsite for DR,” said Tom Phillips, IT director, KEA. “We wanted more peace of mind for backup and restore because tapes were not a good model anymore.“

KEA’s goal was to add cloud backup to its existing local disk and tape set up as a faster and more convenient way to recover data. The multi-tier backup strategy includes Zetta.net backing up about 4TB of data, including user-created files, two active directory servers, email, databases, and a legacy NetWare server.

“The stuff that’s really mission-critical is backed up to Zetta.net,” Phillips explains. “The local disk backups everything, including to tape. But in the event of a true disaster where we lose a facility or something gets damaged, we’ve got the critical data to recover with Zetta.net.“

KEA chose Zetta.net’s cloud backup and DR solution because it offers flexibility in supporting multiple backup scenarios, a local backup drive option, ease of use, and support. With support that is always accessible, KEA’s IT team is able to reduce the amount of time spent on backup tasks.

Since using the Zetta.net system, KEA has had a couple of recovery incidents, all of which have gone smoothly and worked as promised. The company also finds it much easier to conduct SOC 1 audits on backup logs with Zetta.net whereas the process could take a full week with the old solution.

Phillips says: “What’s priceless about adding Zetta.net to our backup and recovery mix is avoiding those sleepless nights spent worrying about backup failure. The peace of mind is huge – I can’t put a value on how great that is.“

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