Joe Unger

How to Minimize the Impact of a Cybersecurity Breach

It’s true that some businesses are more likely to be targeted by cyber criminals, based primarily on their industry. For example, hackers often go after health care or financial institutions, because they house sensitive and significant personal data. But businesses of all sizes and in all industries are susceptible to hacks, ransomware, and other attacks. This is why cybersecurity and disaster recovery need to be a top priority for all companies.

Today, we’re discussing a few important actions businesses can take to minimize the negative impact of a cybersecurity breach, as discussed by the Disaster Recovery Journal.

Keep Software Up to Date

It’s important to install software updates as soon as they become available. This is because updates usually include patches for security holes and vulnerabilities. Using outdated software leaves businesses open and exposed to breaches.

Encrypt Sensitive Data

Even if your company is breached, you can minimize the harm by keeping your most sensitive data – customer financial information, for example – protected. Use encryption for that vital data.

Back Up to Avoid Paying Ransom

It’s important to maintain a full backup of your IT environment. If you’re hit with ransomware, this will allow you to restore your network from the backup, and avoid paying a costly ransom. However, if backups are also infected by malware, this strategy won’t offer much help. That’s why it’s important to ensure that backups are also secure against hacks and breaches.

Filter Viruses at the Perimeter

The best way to minimize the impact of a cybersecurity breach is to prevent the breach from ever getting into your network. Use a perimeter anti-virus software that blocks viruses at the network edge.

Is your company protected against ransomware, hacks, or any other cybersecurity breach? Is your sensitive data protected against disaster? If not, give Vaultas a call.

Vaultas is a premier provider of IT solutions, providing data storage and backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services, hosting, colocation, cloud storage and more. Our data centers are located in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Alexandria and St. Cloud, MN, and Milwaukee, WI. Contact us to get started.

A Tiered Approach to Data Protection and DR

All data is valuable. But when disaster strikes and the clock is ticking, with business operations and customers hanging in the balance, is some data more important? That’s the thinking behind the newest approach to data protection and disaster recovery: prioritizing certain data in order to avoid downtime and minimize customer impact.

Taking Cues from Cybersecurity

Adopting a tiered approach to data protection mirrors cybersecurity’s prioritized defenses, says Tech Target. In cybersecurity, multiple tiers are used to from data against the many different internal and external threats that loom every day. The thinking behind tiered data protection is similar: protecting data from the different outages – such as severe weather, ransomware, hardware failure or simple human error – that can occur.

More Data Equals Longer Recovery Time

As data storage has grown more accessible and affordable, so has the volume of data being stored by many organizations. While this is good from an overall business perspective, it’s not ideal for disaster recovery. Customers are increasingly intolerant of downtime, and taking that valuable time to load data that isn’t essential to operations could mean a significant loss in sales and customer satisfaction.

Start Slowly and Keep it Simple

For best results, disaster recovery solutions should include multiple data tiers, each supported by multiple points and layers. But tiering doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Defining and understanding your organization’s priorities is the first step, and something is always better than nothing.

If and when an outage or disruption occurs, will your business be ready? Give Vaultas a call to get started on a disaster recovery solution. We offer custom IT services to meet your company’s unique needs.

Vaultas is a premier provider of IT solutions, providing data storage and backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services, hosting, colocation, cloud storage and more. Our data centers are located in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Alexandria and St. Cloud, MN, and Milwaukee, WI. Contact us to get started.

Industrial IoT: Applications, Benefits and Challenges

On our hybrid IT blog, we’ve written about the Internet of Things, or IoT. As a refresher, IoT refers to the smart devices that are becoming increasingly popular and prevalent in Minnesota and across the country. These devices include smart thermostats and security cameras, fitness trackers, speakers, even light bulbs. The IoT is growing, and so is the application of IoT in the energy, transportation and related sectors: the Industrial IoT.

The Industrial IoT, or IIoT, refers to devices, sensors, instrumentation and applications that connect machines and tools in industrial businesses. Common users of IIoT include power utilities, oil and gas companies, transportation and healthcare, among others.

The potential benefits of IIoT are many, but, as discussed by NetworkWorld, challenges and risks are inherent in IIoT adoption and use.

The Benefits of Industrial IoT

The effective use of IIoT systems can lead to significant gains in efficiency, productivity and accuracy. To-the-minute asset tracking, production line instrumentation, predictive maintenance and immediate breach alerts can save companies time and money. IIoT helps businesses act proactively, protecting them against costly downtime from a broken part or misstep in the production network.

The Challenges of Industrial IoT

If your FitBit suddenly stops tracking steps or your Echo stops responding, it could make your life more difficult. If a sensor in a large IIoT network malfunctions, it could disrupt power, production or care for hundreds or thousands of people. Put simply, the stakes are much higher when IIoT is adopted in industries that are essential to daily life. And, because IIoT networks are often large and intricate, one failure can have a ripple effect, and can be difficult to diagnose and fix.

Additional IIoT challenges include security (also a consideration for IoT), lack of standardization, cost, expertise and training, and integration with legacy technology. However, because the time and money savings can be so significant, IIoT adoption will likely continue at a fast pace in the months and years to come.

If you’d like to learn more about how IIoT can support your business, give Vaultas a call today. We offer custom IT services to meet your company’s unique needs.

Vaultas is a premier provider of IT solutions, providing data storage and backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services, hosting, colocation, cloud storage and more. Contact us to get started.

New Threats, Lower Costs Drive Disaster Recovery Planning

With the summer storm season upon us, disaster recovery (DR) is top of mind for many IT professionals. But new data shows that severe weather is no longer the primary reason that companies are undergoing the disaster recovery planning process. Newer threats, such as cyberattacks, ransomware, and climate change have become the main drivers behind the rise in DR adoption.

In addition, as detailed by Tech Target, disaster recovery planning has become more affordable, thanks in large part to new  and edge DR tools. In the past, disaster recovery was only possible through data backups and the use of a secondary data center. Without those physical requirements, DR planning is now cheaper and easier, especially as replication has become more available and affordable.

Benefits Outweigh the Costs

Of course, there are still some costs associated with creating and maintaining a DR plan. But more and more business owners and IT professionals are aware that the costs of not investing in disaster recovery far outweigh its expenses. In addition, today’s cyberattacks are more targeted and, often, more damaging, making DR even more worth the cost.

In today’s business climate, even minor interruptions can have catastrophic effects. When you consider all that can be lost to disaster or cyberattack, the cost of a disaster recovery solution is miniscule in comparison.

DR is Necessary in All Geographies

Previously, business owners in certain parts of the country believed that, because they weren’t in the path of hurricanes or heat waves, DR wasn’t as important. That could certainly be said of many Minnesota and Wisconsin businesses! But no location is safe from cyberattacks, and the changing climate has led to more extreme weather conditions in all parts of the country, making DR essential no matter where a business is headquartered.

Small Businesses Lag in DR Adoption

Many small- and medium-sized businesses lack the resources to undergo disaster recovery planning. But because a data loss or time offline can be catastrophic for a small business, it’s even more important that the time and money is spent to plan in advance.

In today’s business climate, even minor interruptions can have catastrophic effects. When you consider all that can be lost to disaster or cyberattack, the cost of a disaster recovery solution is miniscule in comparison. Vaultas offers custom IT services to meet your company’s unique needs. Contact us for more information on how we can help with disaster recovery, business continuity, backups or replication.

Vaultas is a premier provider of IT solutions, providing data storage and backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services, hosting, colocation, cloud storage and more. Contact us to get started.

Tips for Migrating a Database to the Cloud

The cloud has become an essential tool for business. In fact, a recent survey found that more than 90 percent of organizations have adopted the public cloud, with 75 percent adopting the private cloud. It’s clear that businesses are seeing the benefits of cloud migration, such as increased flexibility and lower costs. This translates to additional benefits and savings for companies with robust databases. By moving a database to the cloud, businesses can take advantage of the cloud’s elastic scalability to create space for database growth.

There are, however, some best practices for the process of migrating a database to the cloud, as recently discussed on the Mission Critical blog.

Migrate Applications and Databases Together

It doesn’t make sense to migrate a database to the cloud without also moving the application it supports. This ensures that the application and the data that supports it remain in close proximity to one another, hopefully preventing any outages. It also allows the scale to be adjusted according to demand.

Move Nonessential Applications and Databases First

In order to minimize downtime and the impact on customers, companies should initially only migrate applications and databases that are not mission critical. To identify these nonessential programs, look for those that have the least impact on customers, business operations and revenue. Also examine the security requirements, looking for applications and databases that require less security. Then, once those are migrated and the cloud scaled appropriately, should customer-facing applications and corresponding databases be moved.

Deploy Security Tools

Before and during migration, it may be beneficial to deploy security assistance tools into the cloud. This will allow for increased visibility and protection of the cloud environment, and will help monitor the effectiveness of the security tools put in place by the cloud provider.

Break the Database into Parts

Databases can be large and complex. To minimize customer impact and avoid issues affecting the entire database, migrate it in parts, following a strategic execution plan. There are some database conversion tools that can assist with this complicated task.

Migrating a database into the cloud can be complex, but Vaultas is here to help. We are a premier provider of IT solutions, providing data storage and backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services, hosting, colocation, cloud storage and more in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Contact us to get started.

Five Things to Monitor for a Secure IT Environment

Monitoring a hybrid IT environment is a complex and high-stakes task. No matter how robust the monitoring system, there will inevitably be something that falls through the cracks. And the ramifications can be major, from data loss to network failure and everything in between. So how can IT administrators monitor their system in a proactive way, without the extra noise and stress that overmonitoring can cause?

According to Mission Critical Magazine, there are five essential things to monitor in order to maintain control of the IT environment. We’ll summarize them here.

Quality of Service

Quality of service, or QoS, allows you to examine the network as a whole. Standard QoS metrics include latency, bandwidth, error rates and uptime. Watching for sudden changes in these areas allows you to uncover breaches or other issues.

Quality of Experience

Not surprisingly, quality of experience, or QoE, monitors the enduser experience. The primary metric here is response times, because that’s really all the enduser cares about – how fast their data will load. The challenge is identifying exactly what is causing response times to lag.

Resource Utilization

The expectation that resources (such as servers and networks) should be fully and efficiently utilized is a constant challenge. It’s been made more difficult with the increasing popularity of the cloud. Ensuring that all resources are being utilized, wherever they are housed, can improve efficiency and boost the bottom line.

Error Logs

Don’t wait until a major breach to examine error logs. Check them regularly, watching for seemingly-innocuous errors, such as a sudden jump in login failures. This could signify that an attack is being attempted.

The Monitoring System

It may seem unnecessary, but think of it this way: if you lose the ability to utilize your monitoring system for any length of time, you’re vulnerable until it’s back up and running. A great deal of damage could be done during that time. A secondary monitoring system that exists solely to report the status of your monitoring system is essential.

If you need help reinforcing and protecting your hybrid IT environment, give Vaultas a call today.

Vaultas is a premier provider of IT solutions, providing data storage and backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services, hosting, colocation, cloud storage and more. Contact us to get started.

How to Choose a Colocation Facility

As we discussed in our previous blog post, there are many benefits to choosing colocation instead of a traditional data center. These include lower cost, increased security and ease of access. Once you’ve made the decision to colocate your data and IT equipment, the next step is to actually find a colocation facility that meets your needs. How should that be done?

There are certain things to consider when choosing a colocation provider. We’ll go over a few below.

Still unsure of the process? Download our free colocation guide!

Location and Amenities:

Is the facility located close to the company’s office? If not, is it within driving distance of a major airport for easy access? Does it offer a comfortable work environment for IT technicians? Is it in a location that experiences severe weather, and if so, has it taken the proper precautions?

Security and Stability:

Is sufficient security (physical and virtual) in place? How often does the facility test its primary and backup power and cooling systems? Is the provider audited by a third party for data security, or take any additional data security measures? Is there a fire protection system in place?

Carrier Neutrality:

Is the provider carrier neutral, offering broad network choices and access to multiple internet service providers?

Scalability and Value Added Services:

Is there room to grow? Are additional services, like cloud or managed hosting, available for future use if business needs change?

Service Level Agreement:

Does the provider offer a strong SLA? If an issues arises, will you be able to immediately speak with a local engineer, or will you have to wait until the next business day?

Clearly, there are several concerns to keep in mind when choosing a colocation facility. Don’t be afraid to ask all of these questions and more. Your company’s data, applications and operations are its most important asset, and choosing a colocation facility that will protect them is key to your success.

For more information on colocation and how to choose a colocation facility that is right for your business, download our free colocation guide.

Vaultas offers colocation in our fault tolerant data centers, with access to our many world-class, redundant network and bandwidth providers. All of our colocation facilities are fitted with reliable IT infrastructure, access to many different cloud operators, storage providers and redundant networks. Every Vaultas site provides redundant electrical and cooling systems that are monitored 24 hours a day, offering the greatest protection and security available.

Want to learn more? Get in touch today.

Colocation or Data Center: Which is Right for Your Business?

One of the most common challenges in IT infrastructure management is maintaining sufficient space and power. As a business grows and ages, it will naturally acquire more data, which will, in turn, require more storage space. Purchasing new IT equipment is usually only a stopgap, as it can quickly outgrow the available office space, power and cooling capabilities. So what’s the solution – colocation or data center? And what, exactly, is the difference between the two?

To learn how to choose a colocation partner that fits your business’ unique needs, download our free colocation guide today.

Let’s begin with a brief definition of each:

Data Center:

Networked computer servers used for the storage or processing of data for daily use as well as backup and disaster recovery. These servers can be hosted in-house or in a remote data center facility.

Colocation:

Colocation facilities provide the space, power and bandwidth to store servers and IT equipment. Many businesses utilize the same facility for storage.

At first glance, the two appear very similar. But there is one key difference: with colocation, businesses provide their own servers and equipment.

Without knowing more, it would seem that data centers are the easier and better choice. But that’s not necessarily the case. There are several benefits to colocation:

  1. Lower cost: Sharing overhead with other businesses lower the total expense, and storing in facilities specifically designated for colocation increases energy efficiency.
  2. Access and ease of use: When IT professionals work on-site at colocation facilities, efficiency increases. Dedicated facility staff is available to help with any issues that arise.
  3. Network accessibility: Colocation facilities allow companies to connect with multiple carriers, regional networks and internet service providers.
  4. Network neutrality: When colocation providers are network neutral, companies can be in control of their own network strategy.
  5. Security: Colocation facilities are secure against any kind of threat – physical or virtual.
  6. Disaster readiness: Colocating allows companies to choose a facility that may be safer from weather threats than business headquarters.
  7. Easier compliance: Colocation facilities will maintain detailed records, making it easy for companies to produce compliance documentation.

Still not sure whether colocation or data center is right for your business? Download our free colocation guide, then get in touch. Vaultas offers both data center storage and colocation throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. We will help customize a solution to meet your company’s unique needs.

Which Backup Level Is Right For Your Business?

A company’s data is its most important asset. It’s essential to protect it, through data storage and backup, as well as an up-to-date disaster recovery and business continuity plan. That seems simple enough, but there are some nuances to understand in order to achieving comprehensive and complete data security. Ensuring your business has the right backup level is one of those key concepts.

One obvious consequence of having the wrong backup level is not having sufficient space to store essential data. Another lesser-known concern is wasted storage space and bandwidth, which can lead to unnecessary expenditures.

So what’s the difference between full, incremental and differential backup? What is a forever-incremental backup? We’ll discuss each below.

Full Backup

A full backup is exactly what it sounds like: a backup of all data in the entire system. One caveat is that some files are specifically excluded from backup by the set configuration. Usually, these are directories that won’t hold any value during a reboot, or contain temporary files.

Incremental Backup

An incremental backup includes all data that has been changed since the last backup of any kind (in contrast to differential backups, discussed below). Previously, they backed all files that has been changed. However, that often caused a great deal of unnecessary backup effort (like when one small piece of a file has changed) and significant inefficiency. Now, many incremental backups only back up the blocks that have been changed.

Differential Backup

In contrast to an incremental backup, a differential backup includes all data that has been changed since the last full backup. Differential backups were popular in the days of tape-based backups, and have largely fallen out of use in recent years.

Forever-Incremental Backup

Now that most backups are done on disk, full and differential backups are less relevant. Instead of restoring data, a forever-incremental backup system keeps a record of the location of the files in storage, and transfers the files back to the client. This is significantly more efficient.

Not sure what backup level your business needs? Give Vaultas a call today.

Vaultas is a premier provider of IT solutions, providing data storage and backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services, hosting, colocation, cloud storage and more. Contact us to get started.

Transitioning to the Cloud: Common Issues and How to Overcome Them

Across industries, geographical areas, business types and sizes, and even internal departments, the cloud continues to transform the way business gets done. More and more businesses are turning to cloud-enabled IT infrastructure – not just for storage, but for operations – seeking greater efficiency and cost savings. However, there are a few issues businesses commonly experience when transitioning to the cloud. It’s important to be aware of these potential pitfalls before and during the cloud adoption process.

Security and Data Protection

There are several concerns related to the security of data placed in the cloud. Encryption is a good way to protect data. However, in one survey of IT department managers, one-third admitted that their company’s data was only partially encrypted. Failing to fully encrypt data can lead to data breaches, a loss of customer information, fines, legal proceedings, and damage to corporate reputation. It’s essential to take the necessary steps to protect information in the cloud.

Compliance

Businesses must follow strict compliance rules or face severe financial penalties. However, there seems to be some confusion about whether companies or cloud service providers are responsible for protecting the personally identifiable information in the cloud. Ultimately, it is the company’s responsibility to protect its customers’ information and bring itself into compliance with compliance regulations.

Additional IT Department Work

While migrating to the cloud can save a company time and money, that savings often comes with a trade-off: an increased burden on IT departments. IT teams report spending more time on managerial tasks after moving workloads to the cloud. This can mean less time to spend on improving data security and on general IT projects.

So how can businesses overcome these burdens to realize the efficiencies that come with transitioning to the cloud? At Vaultas, we’re experienced in cloud migration, complex or hybrid data center solutions, data security and much more. We can help businesses gain maximum efficiency while maintaining compliance and security. Contact us today to get started.

Don’t Forget Data!

There’s a lot to consider when writing a business continuity plan. The plan needs to establish the process for continuing business operations in the event of a disaster, incident or outage. Business continuity plans don’t focus on IT systems, but the departments that are supported by IT, including sales, customer service, and HR. In addition, it’s essential to plan for the protection and recovery of the company’s data.

Why is it so important to protect data? To put it simply, your data is the lifeblood of your company. Without it, you can’t fulfill orders, communicate with customers, product reports, measure progress, contact employees, market your business and more. Data is essential to both day-to-day operations and long-term objectives, which is why it’s so important to include in business continuity discussions.

A good business continuity plan will cover both data protection (the process of safeguarding information from corruption or loss), and data recovery, (the process of restoring data that has been lost.) And because most data loss occurs due to simple human error, not large-scale incidents or outages, it’s important for each and every business to include data in business continuity plans.

But how should data be incorporated into the plan? Disaster Recovery Journal recently shared a few basic tips, which we’ll summarize here.

 

Backup:

First and most importantly, ensure that your data is backed up, either physically or virtually.

Recovery:

Consider colocating data on the cloud so that it can be recovered in the event of a loss. This limits downtime by allowing employees remote access.

Remote Data Movement:

Copy data to a location outside the primary physical location, or better yet, to the cloud. This will ensure that it remains safe through fire or natural disaster.

Storage System Security:

It’s important that your storage facility is accessible to employees. However, it’s vital to protect it from unauthorized users who may have bad intentions.

Test and Test Again:

Make sure all essential employees know the procedures for backup and recovery, and run drills to ensure that data can be easily recovered in the event of a loss.

 

From data backup and storage to cloud colocation, Vaultas can help your company prepare for disaster. Give Vaultas a call at 888-998-2858, or contact us online. With custom solutions to meet the most demanding IT needs, we’ll work with you to find the best solutions for your business.

The Internet of Things Ecosystem Continues to Grow

Even if you’ve never heard of the Internet of Things, or IoT, it likely plays a big part in your everyday life. Do you wear a Fitbit? Do you use Alexa to manage your shopping and to-do lists? Is your home monitored from afar with a smart camera? If so, the Internet of Things ecosystem is probably fairly ingrained in your life.

Even if you’re fairly familiar with IoT, the different terms and labels can be confusing. We’ll break that down below, based on a helpful article from Business Insider. We’ll also look a little more closely at the IoT ecosystem and how that is projected to grow in the coming years.

What is the Internet of Things?

Simply, it is the connection of devices to the Internet. The IoT devices that we use everyday are defined as standalone, Internet-connected devices that can be monitored or controlled remotely. Common examples of IoT devices include fitness trackers, digital assistants, smart thermostats and medical devices. The number of available IoT devices has skyrocketed in recent years, and will probably continue to increase in the foreseeable future.

The IoT Ecosystem

The Internet of Things ecosystem is the sort of central hub of IoT – the components that allow businesses and consumers to connect to their IoT devices. This includes networks, gateways, data storage, security, dashboards and more.

IoT Layers

There are three layers that allow devices to connect through the ecosystem:

  • Physical layer: IoT device hardware
  • Network layer: Transmits data collected by physical layer to different devices
  • Application layer: Interfaces and protocols by which devices identify and communicate

The Future of the IoT Ecosystem

Business Insider predicts that 24 billion IoT devices will be connected to the internet by 2020, with businesses as the top adopter of IoT solutions. Governments will be the second-largest adopters. Consumers will adopt less quickly, but they will still invest a large amount of money into the IoT ecosystem. In sum, an estimated $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions between 2015 and 2020.

Ready to incorporate the Internet of Things ecosystem into your business?

Vaultas is here to help. Give Vaultas a call at 888-998-2858, or contact us online. With IT services to meet the most demanding needs, we’ll work with you to find the best custom IT solutions for your business.

 

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