CT Tech Expert Warns Back It Up Or Risk Losing It All

“Backup your computer.” How often have you heard that? More importantly, how often do you do it and are you doing it correctly? One of Connecticut’s top tech gurus warns irreplaceable personal and business files can be lost forever if a solid backup protocol is not put in place.

“The most common cause of data loss is not implementing and following a consistent backup plan,” said Eric Buhrendorf, CEO of EVERNET, a computer consulting and service firm in Hartford. “It’s not a difficult process, but the consequences of not backing up can be catastrophic.”

Buhrendorf further explains a loss of data can happen anytime due to hard drive failures, software bugs or hacker ransomware holding files hostage. Improperly backing up a company’s entire virtual infrastructure makes recovering from a disaster long and costly. As a business grows larger or adapts to their changing environment, they often do not make corresponding adjustments to their backup protocol. National Record and Information Management Month in April is the ideal time to engage an outside IT firm for a systems’ check-up.

Buhrendorf outlines the key steps his firm follows to protect precious electronic information:

1. Determine what needs to be backed up: documents, databases, full systems, etc.
2. Determine retention requirements: this may be dictated by regulations, business preference under risk assessment, and/or budget
3. Choose schedule and methodology: full daily, full weekly/daily incremental, full monthly, weekly, incremental, automated or manual
4. Choose technology/product/vendor: onsite, cloud, hybrid
5. Establish management: Responsible human resource(s) and monitoring method
6. Establish test restore methodology and schedule; perform tests
7. Review regularly

“Don’t have a false sense of security by thinking you can ‘set it and forget it,’” said Buhrendorf. “Restore protocol should be established and all scheduled tests should be performed. It’s important to secure your data with a backup product from a managed service provider. The backup system – and not the actual data – will be monitored for security and functionality, and any issues can be addressed ensuring a functioning backup when it’s needed.”

EVERNET partners with key leaders in the Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) space such as DATTO and Barracuda. The firm provides a backup service under the EVERNET Essentials Suite through a partnership with Solarwinds MSP Backup.

This is critical since hackers are becoming more able to evade detection while weaponizing cloud services and other routinely used technology. A recent example was the highly sophisticated ShadowHammer cyberattack that targeted users of the ASUS Live Update Utility with a backdoor injection. Users thought they were performing a legitimate update when in fact it opened them up to hackers.

The worst-case scenario is not being able to recover data due to a neglected backup system. EVERNET provides the necessary support and service for recovering from data loss. The time it takes depends on the backup system used, and its last operational state and configuration.

“When the call comes in to us for data recovery, it’s all hands-on deck until the client is restored to the best available outcome. Our clients who benefit from the EVERNET Essentials Suite can be back to work in minutes in most cases. And for new clients with existing systems, we likely already have a partnership with that vendor so we can support what’s already in place.” Buhrendorfadded.

Since 2007, EVERNET has provided the most trusted computer support for businesses of all sizes in Connecticut. Their wide range of reliable, tailored IT solutions includes managed services, network administration, help desk support, training, onsite computer installation & repair, data backup and recovery, remote IT services and more. For information or to schedule a free consultation visit www.evernetco.com or call 860-656-7810.