RenovoData was featured in the 3PL Perspectives publication with this article: “Cloud Storage versus Cloud Recovery”.

3PL Perspectives is a third-party logistics magazine provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

An excerpt is below:

“The right cloud solution can reduce downtime and financial impact during a disruption, especially when coupled with expert disaster recovery support – something organizations that have experienced a ransomware attack are now considering.”

You can read the complete article, “Cloud Storage versus Cloud Recovery“.

RenovoData was featured in the 3PL Perspectives publication with this article: “Safeguarding Data In a Multi-Cloud World”.

3PL Perspectives is a third-party logistics magazine provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

An excerpt is below:

“Data-driven decision-making is increasingly crucial in today’s business landscape. Protecting valuable data has never been more vital, yet it has also become more challenging.”

You can read the complete article, “Safeguarding Data In a Multi-Cloud World“.

RenovoData was featured in the 3PL Perspectives publication with this article: “Preparing for Resilience: Disaster Recovery Plans“. 3PL Perspectives is a third-party logistics magazine provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

An excerpt is below:

“A DR Plan is created to protect your company’s infrastructure and data during an event that could cause disruption to operations by providing procedures that minimizes downtime.”

You can read the complete article, click the PDF here:  Preparing for Resilience: Disaster Recovery Plans

An article, “Protecting Your Data in a Changing Data Landscape” was published in 3PL Perspectives. It discusses the fundamentals of Data Protection, Recovery Planning and Business Continuity for 3PLs.

An excerpt is below:

“For most organizations, 2020 was filled with uncertainty, unease and turmoil brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, cybercriminals were still able to identify vulnerabilities and attack businesses relentlessly throughout the year.”

Read the complete article in 3PL Perspectives: “Protecting Your Data in a Changing Data Landscape“ written by RenovoData’s Chuck Cook.

Don’t pay ransomware. Have a recovery plan.

Once ransomware infects a network, it contaminates all the data it accesses, including system files and backup storage. Attacks like this quickly become full-blown disasters that can take days to restore, days in which business activities can be brought to a standstill.

Most ransomware comes from North Korea, Iran, and Russia. Greed is usually less of a motivation than a desire to inflict damage and sow chaos. The goal of harming people and organizations outweighs the desire to steal money.

Ransom demands are intended to stoke panic. It’s a natural reaction since data is the life’s blood of organizations. The urge to pay can be powerful, but enriching the criminals invites more extortion, and you have no assurance that they will hand over the keys to decrypt your data. Before you’ve fully recovered, you may be hit by more infections from the same source, causing yet more data loss.

So don’t give in.

Ransomware: A Growth Industry

While most types of malware attacks are leveling off in frequency, ransomware is on the rise.

• A 2020 HELPNET study cites a 39% decline in malware along with a 40% surge in ransomware globally.
• Ransomware costs for 2020 are estimated to have reached $20 billion for organizations worldwide (Purplesec).
• DATTO determined that one in five SMBs fell victim to ransomware attacks in 2020.
• 51% of the businesses surveyed by Sophos were hit by ransomware in 2020.
• Kaspersky, along with other sources, found that about one-third of companies surrender to ransom demands and pay up.
• Kaspersky also discovered that 34% of businesses hit with malware took a week or more to regain access to their data.
• Microsoft reports that purveyors of ransomware are taking full advantage of the pandemic by sending COVID-19-related phishing emails.
• In a mid-2020 survey, SONICWALL saw a 176% increase in malicious Microsoft Office file types, a 50% rise in IoT malware attacks, and a 109% ransomware spike in the US

Protection is Crucial…

Without strong firewalls and server defenses, plus up-to-date anti-virus and malware protection installed on every PC and laptop connected to your network, your data is vulnerable to attack. Although servers incur the most damage, attacks usually come via PC workstations and laptops connected to the network. Some variants infect environments without clicking, by exploiting unpatched systems or weak security.

Essential Data Protection steps

• Always have a new-generation firewall in place.
• Know your security vulnerabilities.
• Establish company policies that bring all employees into the protection process.
• Educate employees about the risk of clicking on unknown links, since malware is commonly hidden in unverified email messages.
• Upgrade your security by installing the latest-generation endpoint protection software to stop viruses and malware at the PC / laptop level.
• Incorporate email filtering to block known viruses and malware.
• Consider a security monitoring service.
• Carefully evaluate your data backup solution and upgrade your tools accordingly.

Having a well-planned cybersecurity system is your first line of defense against all forms of malware, with ransomware at the top of the list.

Only robust disaster recovery can help you rebound quickly when ransomware breaches your defenses.

Malware developers are constantly creating new and more damaging ransomware. Even the best-defended system can be penetrated from time to time, and the ability to rapidly restore data and repair system damage is the only path to continuing operations and eliminating losses.

Follow our guidelines to develop a plan that identifies solutions and tools that are both thorough and cost-effective. Keep in mind that every organization’s disaster recovery needs are different.

Optimum disaster recovery coverage can appear costly, but not in comparison with the potential losses that significant downtime and system rebuilding bring on. The key to minimizing your downtime from natural or manmade disasters is your recovery solution. If you have a file backup solution but no protection for your server or PC operating systems now is the time to evaluate which computers and data sets are the most critical to your business and upgrade your protection to minimize your downtime.

RenovoData was recently featured in an article about Online Security for a Remote Workforce in 3PL Perspectives, the third-party logistics magazine provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA).

An excerpt is below:

“This Pandemic has created countless new challenges in both our personal and professional lives and the fact that team members are being forced to work remotely is one of the most difficult. Since we don’t know how long this will last, we should not think of employees’ working in isolation as a momentary stopgap measure.”

To learn more about remote workplace essentials while maintaining online security, please read the complete article at “Online Security for a Remote Workforce.“

RenovoData was featured in the 3PL Perspectives publication with this article, “Know Your Security Vulnerabilities: The Danger is in the Details“.  3PL Perspectives is a third-party logistics magazine provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

An excerpt is below:

“When devising IT security processes or reassessing existing ones, 3PL and trucking companies should be aware of how many aspects need to be covered and how complex they can be. Vulnerabilities can be both external and internal, and serious perils can arise at many points.”

Read the complete article in 3PL Perspectives: “Know Your Security Vulnerabilities: The Danger is in the Details..” written by RenovoData’s Chuck Cook.

It is axiomatic that every organization with an online presence needs a solid Disaster Recovery Plan. This blueprint shows you what to do and how to do it when hacker assaults, weather events, or other catastrophes threaten your data and systems.

Effective planning incorporates system-wide protection, thorough backup capabilities, and timely data recovery procedures. Human factors are equally important. These include:

• Clearly established rules regarding day-to-day handling and management of data
• Well-rehearsed action assignments for protection and recovery
• Ongoing training for everyone who has any role in those processes
• Periodic drills and testing to keep everyone on their toes and for tools and procedures to be deployment-ready always
• Rapid responses to constant changes in IT environments, requiring equivalent changes in protection, backup, and recovery methods, as well as training components

Other important though often-overlooked elements are the psychological reactions of the team members who must deal with disasters. When emergencies arise, people are thrust into fight-or-flight mode. At these times the speed, accuracy, and thoroughness of the team’s responses can mean the difference between a company’s survival and its destruction.

By their very nature, disasters strike when they are unexpected, so no matter how well-prepared your people are from a technical perspective, they will inevitably experience acute stress, which triggers the fight-or-flight response. This is completely natural and instinctive, so we can expect it to kick in whenever a threat appears. The fight-or-flight motivation is so deeply programmed in all of us that we sometimes experience it even when there is no danger at all. In cases where the menace is real and urgent, it can be overwhelming.

Choosing to fight or flee makes sense when lions are after us, but not when challenges demand informed, cool-headed, and rapid action. The best plans in the world will fail if the people who are charged with implementing them are emotional basket cases.

Fight-or-flight is essentially an automatic reaction of the sympathetic nervous system that prepares us to deal with extreme peril. We instinctively focus on our own survival, which can distract us from dealing with a disaster.

Nerves of steel and strong self-discipline certainly help, but when the heat is on, the fight-or-flight compulsion is inescapable. None of us is immune, nor do we know exactly how some will react, yet for any organization’s response to disaster to be effective, every team member must be a fully functioning participant.

Overcoming fight-or-flight reactions must be part of your Disaster Recovery Plan.

• Throughout the training process, remind all team members that disasters usually come as shocking surprises, and that there will not be time to contend with the emotional jolt.
• Everyone must understand that the moment a disaster is known to have occurred, the fight-or-flight impulse will interfere with problem-solving abilities, so remaining focused and on-task may be difficult.
• Let everyone know that the only way to overcome fight-or-flight is to follow established procedures to the letter.
• It is absolutely imperative that all team members be so well-practiced in disaster-recovery procedures that they can perform their assigned tasks even under intense stress.
• Disaster-response duties should be presented in clearly defined steps so that people see their responsibilities as a checklist rather than an amorphous collection of goals.
• Set up regular DR drills so that team members not only know what they have to do but, through practice, develop the automatic muscle memory needed to make each step easier and quicker.
• Make tabletop exercises part of the drill program. These are meetings in which team members discuss and analyze simulated disaster situations to spot potential flaws in the DR Plan. These exercises serve to sharpen participants’ understanding of their responsibilities.

Remember that effectively countering fight-or-flight responses is as essential as any element in your DR Plan.

RenovoData provides top-flight tools and techniques for disaster recovery as well as expertise in handling threats to data and systems. We can help prepare your team for attacks and other crises, enabling them to overcome problems and return to normal productivity as quickly and painlessly as possible.

RenovoData was featured in the 3PL Perspectives publication with this article: “The Cloud Can’t Eliminate Your Responsibility for Data Protection”. 3PL Perspectives is a third-party logistics magazine provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

Two excerpts are below:

Companies often blame the technology itself for difficulties with the cloud. More commonly, problems are the result of avoidable mistakes and failures to impose fundamental security procedures…

…every aspect of credential protection, every user ID and password must be made secure, with emphasis on every. Most companies using cloud systems may have, at one time or another, allowed potentially lethal exposure of their cloud-stored data due to careless credentialing.

You can read the complete article, “The Cloud Can’t Eliminate Your Responsibility for Data Protection” written by RenovoData’s Michele Vayle..