Having a copy of your data offsite is becoming primordial in a world where ransomware hits are becoming very common. What are the problems with backing up to the cloud? Is your data safe in the cloud? What if your cloud provider is hacked? This article will discuss the pros and the cons of backing up to the cloud.
A backup is a consistent copy of your data that does not depend on the original data and can be used to restore critical information when an incident occurs. That incident may be caused by internal factors – data corruption, misconfiguration, deletion – or external factors – ransomware attack, virus attack, catastrophic event.
Your ability or inability to recover swiftly from those backup copies can make or break your organization. Companies would purchase a backup solution and perform a near-continuous backup to these live systems. The problem is nowadays, hackers also make it a point to make your backup unusable when conducting an attack. What is the solution then?
You may have heard it in the past: usually, the only way to survive a ransomware attack is to have an air-gapped backup solution that you can recover from when all or most of your data get encrypted. This means you are left with only two options:
Tape backup is a great way to achieve your backup and retention requirements.
Cons: They come with an extra management overhead though, you need to label the tapes, move them around, manage them, recycle them and provide them with physical and environmental protection. Using tape is far from a setup-and-forget-solution. You need a dedicated backup administrator to ensure you have consistency and guaranteed recoverability. This overhead is still a light price to pay when you consider the advantages.
Pros: Tapes have a relatively low price when you look at the $/TB values and they are easy to transport and give you the ability to easily keep a copy of your data on every continent if that is your requirement. Create your backup and mail the tape drive to the destination you want to keep it.
Cloud backup has emerged not too long ago and seems to be an easy way to go. Chose your cloud provider and send your backup files to them. Set-up and forget. Very easy route. But is it?
Pros: With cloud backups, you will be able to restore directly back to your environment or other cloud locations such as Azure or AWS; this may even further reduce your Mean Time to Recover. The setup is usually easy and with all the SAAS/IAAS vendors out there you will get a lot of visibility into what you backup and can leverage that to your advantage.Cons: Imagine you took a backup of all your systems and in the event, something happens you need a few critical servers to resume your operations. These servers are probably Domain Controllers, File Servers, Primary Application with Back-End, Front-End, and Database. Let take a guess and assume that to restore all those servers you need to download 2 Terabyte. With a 100Mbps connection on Fiber, it would take 2 days, and that is provided the internet connection is dedicated and uncapped otherwise you would have to reach out to your ISP and negotiate hard.
Cloud is great when you look at the initial setup but when you need to truly recover the entire data that is backed up it may become a problem. Another thing you need to keep in mind is data sovereignty. Depending on the industry some organizations are not allowed to place their data in certain places in the world. You may have to do a lot of research to guarantee your files are not breaking these laws to avoid any penalty.
Is your data safe in the cloud? Well, it depends on how you set it up and the technologies you are backing up with. You should not just copy your files using a protocol like CIFS or NFS as the data will be left unprotected. You need a technology that provides data in-flight and at-rest encryption whilst maintaining the benefits and cost-saving of in-line deduplication and compression. Many cloud providers use API-based proprietary technologies to ensure your data is protected while transiting to them and also while at rest in their environment. They also ensure their systems are multitenant and a breach to a customer will not necessarily affect you.
But what if your cloud provider gets hacked? Well never put all your eggs in one basket. Follow the 3-2-1 rule by keeping 3 copies of your data on 2 different types of media with 1 copy offsite to survive all kinds of scenarios.
I have been in the industry for a while and I saw many things happen to my clients when the business continuity strategy is not appropriately developed. Look at the pros and cons and chose the best of both worlds. Depending on your purchasing power, I suggest:
Complete protection is unattainable but you can do your best to be in a position where recoverability is always possible. Always remember the 3-2-1 rule and use as many backup solutions as it is financially viable for your organization. You will see the value of that investment when a hacker demands 1000 Bitcoins or more to release your data.
Apotica deploys a large portfolio of Next-Generation technologies and is uniquely positioned to advise on the next steps to help build your backup strategy. You can request a free consultation here. To enquire about any equipment or software, call us on +233.54.431.5710 or write to sales@apotica.net.
Apotica, headquartered in Accra, Ghana and brings together the best information and communications technologies to help clients grow, compete and serve their customers better. Apotica is an ISO 27001 and 9001 Certified Organization.
Matilda, a Chartered Accountant, joined Apotica in May 2023. With over 12 years of experience in banking, insurance, pensions, accounting and finance, she is responsible for the company’s financial control, strategic planning, management reporting, and overall financial performance.
She holds a BSc degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Ghana Business School and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the same institution. Matilda is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana.
Matilda has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management at the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars around the world.
Peniel Korley is Head of Marketing for Apotica, designing and implementing comprehensive marketing strategies to create awareness of the company’s business activities.
Peniel joined Apotica in April 2019 and has helped build our market presence through an adept combination of traditional marketing and digital marketing techniques, executing and monitoring corporate promotion campaigns, and conducting market research to help us stay abreast of trends.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Ghana and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of Ghana Business School. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
As Head of Projects, Sylvester Kyeremeh is responsible for coordinating people and processes to ensure that our client projects are delivered on time and produce the desired results. He leads this function within the confines of our quality management and information security management systems.
Sylvester joined Apotica in 2017 as a Systems Engineer, before moving on to join our project management practice a year later. His calm and collected approach to interpersonal engagements, impressive sense of planning, and excellent communication skills continue to receive the plaudits of our customers.
Sylvester received his B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s a Certified Information Systems Auditor, a Cisco-certified professional, an ISO 27001 Lead Implementer, and a member of the Project Management Institute with PMP and Scrum Master qualifications.
At 25, Millicent is currently the youngest head of department at Apotica, taking up this role in August 2020. She’s responsible for managing all aspects of risk to the organization, employees, clients, assets, reputation, and interests of stakeholders. Millicent also works with the leadership of the organization to embed and maintain a risk-aware culture in the organization.
Before joining Apotica, she worked as a broadcast journalist at Radio Universe – a popular media house in Accra. Millicent holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has attended the Executive Education course in Personal Leadership at the Maastricht School of Management, Netherlands.
She’s a Certified Governance, Risk, and Compliance Professional (GRCP) and a qualified ISO 9001 Lead Implementer.
Elom Kutsienyo is the Chief Technology Officer at Apotica. A technology enthusiast and Apple nerd, he is responsible for the development and maintenance of our excellent technical services capabilities and enabling our engineering teams to become adept at industry best practices relating to enterprise solutions design, deployments, and support.
Since taking up the CTO role in August 2019, he has strategically grown our product offerings through strong channel partnerships with leading ICT vendors. Elom’s extensive experience in product sales, project management, service delivery, and field engineering also helps as he oversees company webinars, product demos, proof-of-value activities, and technical proposals for clients.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Telecom Engineering from Ghana Technology University College and has attained several professional qualifications including the coveted Cisco CCIE certification as well as certifications from Microsoft, VMware, NetApp, HPE, and Nutanix.
Clifford leads the Customer Experience practice at Apotica which encompasses our consulting, technology, support, and learning services.
Prior to his position at Apotica, Clifford was the senior manager of IT Infrastructure at Stanbic, a leading commercial bank in Ghana. He has also previously held roles in field engineering, service delivery, and customer support at organizations including Huawei, IBM, Tech Mahindra, and Zenith Bank.
Clifford is PMP-certified and holds a Bachelor’s in Information Technology, as well as several industry certifications from Microsoft, VMware, and Amazon.
Dzigbodi Amekoudi oversees company business in Benin and the countries in French West Africa. As Country Manager, his primary responsibility is business development, which involves helping to define and introduce the right go-to-market strategies and making sure our business operates profitably in the territory. He’s also responsible for establishing operating budgets and managing company employees in his region.
During his tenure, Dzigbodi has led Apotica’s expansion into other countries including Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Mali, and Niger. Additionally, he works with our technical services leads to ensure successful post-sales delivery of customer projects.
Dzigbodi started his career in engineering and project management, before joining Apotica as a key accounts manager in January 2020.
He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Telecommunications from Ghana Technology University College and a Master of Science degree in International Management from Franklin University Switzerland. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
Emmanuel Nketia is responsible for managing all sales functions at Apotica and oversees other departments, including marketing, operations, and client renewals. An excellent salesman and negotiator, he brings with him 20 years of experience in logistics, accounting, business development, and customer relationship management.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and an MBA Marketing candidate at the University of Ghana Business School.
Emmanuel has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars in the USA.
At Apotica, we are on a mission to help clients grow and serve their customers better. As CEO, Felix Nkansah works closely with our Sales, Services, and Operations leadership to identify customer and industry transitions and determine our strategies to address them.
Felix joined Apotica in January 2017 and brings more than 18 years of experience across executive leadership, systems engineering, customer support, and sales functions with some regional conglomerates and information technology companies.
He has a background in computer science and holds expert-level professional certifications in networking, security, and systems design.