I still see a lot of clients using manual backups to backup important files daily, picking and choosing what files to backup in the event of a disaster. Every time there is a problem and they need to recover data they always come up short. Either someone forgot to do the backup that day, they forgot to update the backup to include an important directory, or they become overwhelmed with the restore process as the underlying system was not properly backed up.

There are no real savings by using manual backups as opposed to using complete backups to tape or disk. The labor and costs involved in recovering from a single failure generally will net a break even with the correct backup equipment. You can not easily put a ticket price on loss data.

Complete automated backups are also considerably simpler to perform and even easier to recover from. You also minimize the risk of not backing up important files.

While I am on the topic of backups, I am amazed at how often clients will delay bringing in help when their backup does fail to backup for the day. Either they do not monitor and confirm successful backups daily, or they keep waiting for weeks hoping that it will just start backing up properly. A failed backup is likely useless in the event of a disaster. Thus increasing the amount of data lost due to a failure. It is disappointing to get a call to help a client recover data only to find the backup stopped working 3 weeks or, or sometimes even 8 months ago. Every backup strategy requests daily confirmation of its success and failure and on going effort to ensure successful backups.

One of the most common problem we find is that most clients never test their backups. In an event of a failure, frequently we find their “successful” backup is incomplete or unavailable when you actually need it. In an ideal world, every company would have duplicate hardware to be able to drill the recovery process on separate hardware. Unfortunately it is not common to see this properly implemented and documented.

Another common problem we find is how often clients clean their tape drives. A lot of clients believe a tape drive should be cleaned once a year or never. Proper cleaning is very important and will often be the source of failed backups and tapes that just don’t recover when you need them to. Typically manufacturers recommend cleaning a tape drive every month or two depending on how many hours in service it has. Improper cleaning can and usually is a common cause of data loss.

Author: Christopher

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If you have used email in the last few years you have without a doubt seen phishing attempts first hand. Maybe it was an email that appeared to be from PayPal asking you to confirm some information about your account to prevent immediate suspension. Or perhaps it was one of the infamous Fifth Third Bank emails asking you to confirm your account. Either way, I am sure you have seen your fair share of similar messages, I know I have.

In the last year the number of phishing sites plaguing our Internet has increased over 700 percent, now over 37,000 sites. Garner estimates over over 2.8 billion dollars lost to phishing attacks in 2006 alone. 3.5 million Americans lost an average of $800 last year in phishing scams.

Blacklisting is the most common defense against phishing threats. The practice of making a list of known phishing sites and blocking them by brute force. Although this strategy is very effective against known and documented phishing sites, it quickly becomes inadequate against the speed in which new phishing sites emerge.

The most effective defense against phishing scam has been around for many years. Avoid clicking links inside email, and when you do click a link inside an email, always try to hover the mouse over the link for a few moments until the hover tool tip shows up with the real link (if your mail client supports this). When surfing the web, use a strong anti-virus like Kaspersky and a good tool such as Site Advisor from McAfee. Although Kaspersky Anti-Virus is not free, McAfee Site Advisor is. Together they are a very effective defense against the ever increasing phishing threat. As always, try to type the website address you want to go to in the address bar directly instead of using links in your email.

Author: Christopher

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