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Reducing the risk of losing your data by not having ‘all your eggs in one basket’

Redstor Backup and Recovery for Microsoft Office 365 data 

Firstly, an article you may find of interest – 10 reasons to embrace a third-party backup solution

A recent story

Something happened recently within one of our accounts that has prompted us to assess the impact that this could have with all of our customers.

The customer in question had a senior member of their team leave and unfortunately, she deleted everything within her 365 account, including several files critical to an ongoing commercial project.

This is the risk that we need to make you aware of:

• The recovery capability within Microsoft 365 is very limited, which became clear in this case
• Schedule 6 of Microsoft’s services agreement states: “We recommend that you regularly backup Your Content and Data that you store on the Services or store using Third-Party Apps and Services.”

To protect the customer against this threat in the future, we deployed Redstor cloud backup for them which offered the following benefits:

• Complete protection against data loss threats, including malware
• The customer no longer needs to retain 365 licenses for former employees as Redstor provides backup for deleted accounts.

As a result of the above, we are now encouraging our customers to use Redstor for 3rd party backup for their Microsoft Office 365 accounts.

We have made it easy to sign up and try Redstor for yourselves and see how this works for your organisation. The trial is free for 30 days, then billing is done retrospectively based only on the amount backed up. It’s as simple as that. You only pay for what you use.

Sign up today using this link. Follow the simple steps, then begin backing up your data:

 https://app.redstor.com/enterprisered/sign-up You will see it is very cost-competitive, scalable and easy to use.

We are here to help you with any questions. So please email our team: support@enterprisered.com 

We can also go through a tutorial to help you get the most out of Redstor. 

Sincerely, your EnterpriseRed team.

Ransomware has been a major cybersecurity issue for a number of years now. It’s a new year, but it shows no sign of going away. The goal of ransomware is simple; deploy file-encrypting malware and then make money by demanding a ransom payment in exchange for a decryption key to unlock the encrypted systems.

Ransom demands can run into millions of pounds. Governments, law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity companies warn that victims should never pay the ransom because it only encourages further attacks. However, many victims pay up either because they are unable to recover from the attack themselves or because they think it’s the quickest way of getting their encrypted files back. Not that all crooks can be trusted to send you the decryption key to unlock your files once they’ve got your money.

For those organisations that do have the ability to recover from an attack it can take weeks or even months, which is why a significant number of victims do pay and why ransomware continues to be a major threat. It works and it makes criminals money.

Relying on law enforcement to track down the cyber criminals behind ransomware attacks is not going to work. The attacks are typically international in nature, with gangs often hiding beyond the reach of law enforcement agencies. Ransom payments are usually demanded in cryptocurrency, making it hard to trace.

Small-to-Medium-Enterprises (SMEs) often rely on the organisations that provide the email and hosting services they use to provide cybersecurity, but what if that prevention fails? All organisations, irrespective of their size, should consider the impact of a ransomware attack and put steps in place to minimise the risk of an attack occurring.

EnterpriseRed has the expertise and cybersecurity solutions to help you prevent ransomware. Together with other cyber defences, we provide a complete set of solutions to improve your cybersecurity resilience. Talk to us to see how we can help you.

The EnterpriseRed team.

A data breach can have a severe impact on the health of an organization, not only can they be devastating financially but they can also erode customer confidence and trust. With the rapid shift to remote working due to the Covid pandemic, teams are now more distributed than ever and the organsation’s network perimiter has all but disappeared. It is no longer a matter of if but when a data breach will occur.

Data breaches are a killer of productivity. According to a 2021 Norton cyber safety insights report, victims of cybercrime spent nearly 7 hours resolving each breach, resulting in a total loss of some 2.7 billion working hours globally.

With the rapid rise of distributed working, use of Software as a Service and the prevalence of IoT devices, organisations risk having security vulnerabilities everywhere. An organisation’s security is only as good as that of its weakest link, whether that is a third-party vendor that they work with or a login on a personal computer.

Enterprise organisations ideally need 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring. A 24/7 security operations center (SOC) has long been considered an essential part of an effective cybersecurity strategy. However, SOC implementations tend to be complex and expensive, putting a modern SOC out of reach for many organisations. A recent Ponemon Report found that of those that did invest, despite the best efforts and money spent, only 42% rate their SOC as highly effective.

One option is to invest in SOC-as-a-service (SOCaaS) to add that extra layer of security. SOCaaS delivers all of the benefits of a dedicated 24/7 SOC, but without the high costs and complexity that come with building, staffing, and managing one in-house. With a managed SOC service, organisations can outsource the people, processes, and technology needed, the SOC is operated and managed offsite and delivered as a cloud-based service.

Most organisations rely on third-party suppliers in order to operate their business and because close collaboration is often required between organisations, their suppliers and resellers, computer networks may become intertwined and sensitive data may be shared. In this situation third-party security vulnerability and digital supply chain resilience become an important aspect of the organisation’s cybersecurity. Instead of attacking the target directly, a cybercriminal may attack a weaker organization in the target’s supply chain and use that to gain access to the target’s systems.

Supply chain security focuses on managing the risks of using external suppliers, vendors, logistics and transportation. Its goal is to identify, analyse and mitigate the risks inherent in working with other organisations as part of a supply chain. It can involve both physical security relating to products and cybersecurity for software and services. By applying the mitigations best suited to its business sector, an organisation can greatly improve its supply chain security.

Consumers are becoming increasingly wary of how their data is used. A large percentage of adults don’t like it when social media sites, search engines, mobile apps, etc. take their personal, online, and mobile location data and allow advertisers to use it to send targeted advertising. You can build customer trust by clearly communicating how you use their data and by offering opt-in or double opt-in options for the appropriate online customer interactions.

Internally, focus on building a cybersecurity-centric culture and stress the importance of attention to cybersecurity across all parts of the organisation. Weave cybersecurity into all your processes. Adopt a zero-trust security model. Even for SMBs, thinking about cybersecurity is critical. In 2019, a study from the National Cyber Security Alliance found that of small businesses with less than 500 employees, 10% were forced to close after suffering a cyber-attack. Small businesses often don’t have the resources to completely revamp their security protection but business leaders should look at all of the areas where the business is vulnerable, consider which one is the most pressing and address that first.

Following the data breach reported on 26th October, details of Australians’ medical histories have been leaked online after the private health insurer refused to pay a ransom for the records of almost 10 million customers.

Medibank said that it consulted with cybercrime experts before determining that paying the ransom would not ensure the return of customers’ data and that it now expected more customer data to be released after the extortionist posted personal information, including names, addresses, and details of medical procedures, on a dark-web forum.

Australia’s Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil said Medibank’s decision not to pay was consistent with government advice and urged social media platforms and media organisations not to facilitate the sharing of stolen medical histories.

On 26th October Australia’s largest health insurer reported that a cybercriminal hacked the personal data of all its 4 million customers, and that “significant amounts of health claims data” had also been accessed in the breach. A ransom has been demanded with reported threats to expose the diagnoses and treatments of high-profile customers.

The company had previously said the breach was thought to be limited to its subsidiary AHM and foreign students.

The Australian government has been planning urgent legislative reforms on cybersecurity regulation since a hacker stole the personal data of nearly 10 million current and former customers of Optus, Australia’s second-largest wireless telecommunications carrier.