Cloud Backup

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"Yahoo saw some of its user information spilled onto the internet after waiting too long to fix the Heartbleed bug in its servers." - Brisbane Times

Changed your passwords yet?

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Social Insurance Numbers (SIN) of approximately 900 taxpayers were removed from CRA systems by someone exploiting the Heartbleed vulnerability

CRA

Full article at: CBC News

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Heartbleed bug - update

We are happy to report that all our web hosting servers have been confirmed and are NOT affected by the Heartbleed bug.

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HEARTBLEED - It's a serious website bug that has just been found. Change ALL your login passwords for sites you login to online. Do it now!

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Test your website for the "Heartbleed" SSL vulnerability (only an issue if your have an SSL key).

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What do you think? How often do you use WIFI?

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It's tragic - and you don't know when it may happen - but you can prepare for it.

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"Some older Linksys E-Series routers and Wireless-N routers and access points are vulnerable to a malware infection—dubbed TheMoon—that leaves a self-replicating worm behind". PC World

We don't often think about our home router, but these days you probably have files and media attached.

Got a Linksys, ASUS, or Netgear ReadyNAS? Upgrade your router firmware and/or replace your router!

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Uhh... you backed up right? .. John?

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Next Thursday is Restore Day

Join us next Thursday Feb 21st and test your backup. Take one file and restore it to make sure your backups are working as you expect. We'll help you get ready

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Will Your Backup Restore?

You backup every night - great! Are you sure you can get it back when you need it?

It is highly recommended that you plan your recovery steps and perform a routine recovery test. Performing a routine recovery test will ensure your backup is setup and performed properly. It will also help identify potential issues or gaps in your recovery plan. You don't want to be trying to figure this out in the middle of a disaster.

Plan a Real Recovery Test

It is very important that you do not try to make this test easy. The objective of a successful test is not to demonstrate that everything is flawless, but that it will work when you need it. There might be flaws identified in the plan throughout the test and it is important to identify those flaws. For best results, keep the test as close as possible to a real situation. Often times when a recovery test is to take place, administrators will plan for the test (e.g. reconfigure the test environments, restoring certain data in advance). For real recovery situation, you will not get a chance to do that.

Schedule these recovery tests on your calendar so that you remember to do them.

How to Test a Restore

Restore a single file

If you haven't restored a file for while then this is a good initial test. Pick a file on your computer or server and move it to your desktop (move, not copy). Now go to your backup and run a restore of that file to its original location. If everything goes well you should get the most recent copy of that file back where you moved it from. Make sure you can open and use the file. For example; Close down Outlook and move the .pst file out of it's original location. Now restore the .pst file from your backup and make sure Outlook still works.

Restore a computer

If you are backing up multiple computers then you can expand the first test to include all backed up data from that computer. Follow the same procedure and move all the backed up data to a different location (this is your backup in case it doesn't work). Now restore everything you can to that computer and make sure it all works.

Full Restore

If you have a spare computer or server you can use it as a full test of your backups. Pick the computer you want to test the restore of and rebuild this spare computer as if it was the original one. Apply whatever level of restore you are performing on the original and make sure you can get the space computer running and fully working as you would need to.

Lessons

This testing takes time but is worth the effort. If your test restores went well then give yourself a pat on the back! However it is more likely that you may have run into something you didn't expect. Now is the time to document the restore process and fix the areas of difficulty. Have it ready now so that in a real emergency you are in a better situation. Minimize problems now because in my experience more will pop up in a real emergency. By following these steps you can reduce the amount of problems you are likely to see in an all out disaster.

Good Luck!

[cloud-backup]

4 Days Left for Special Backup Offer

Get an extra 5Gb of backup space when you sign up before Oct 31st http://bit.ly/clddwnld

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How to Speed Up Your Backup

The number of files you backup and their size have an impact on your backup and restore times

This is true for any type of backup, regardless if it is an online Cloud backup or not. Although you don't have control over the backup files in a standard office environment, there are things you can do to help speed up your daily backups.

Speed Matrix

FILE SIZEBACKUP SPEED Many small files= Slower backups Fewer large files= Faster backups

The Solution

If you have many smaller files then consider splitting the folders into multiple backup sets with a smaller number of files to improve the speed of your backup operation. Or, if you have one particular folder with many small files then create a backup set for that folder separately from the rest of your backup.

All your files will still get backed up, however now you are doing it more efficiently.

[cloud-backup]

4 Days Left for Special Backup Offer

Get an extra 5Gb of backup space http://bit.ly/clddwnld Expires Oct 31

[cloud-backup]

5 Days Left for Backup Special Offer

Get an extra 5Gb on any backup plan you choose before Oct 31st http://bit.ly/clddwnld

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What Are You Backing Up?

It's easy to say; "yes, I have a backup." but are you really getting everything you need?

Our CloudPockets Cloud Backup client will easily pick up the standard folders on a computer that most people use, such as your Desktop, My Documents, and eMail. What about shared or central folders on other devices?

If your business runs on information you are playing with fire if you don’t already have a backup for your critical files. Customer information, financial files, etc. should all be backed up in case of emergency. If you need daily access to electronic information have it backed up in a way that you can retrieve it and get back to work. Even small, freak accidents like a virus, Trojan horse, or electrical fires could cost your business thousands without proper data backup.

Here's some thoughts on other areas you need to back up

Financials: Quickbooks, Simply, and other financial programs do not store their information in your usual places. They will have their own special folder. Find out where it is an make sure you include it.

Favorites: Cloudpockets will find your Internet Explorer favorites automatically. However if you are using Firefox, Safari, Chrome or another different Internet browser then you will need to make sure your bookmarks from them are backed up. Most people will find it almost impossible to remember all the favorites they used and need.

External USB: If your office taps into a networked drive or shares and external USB drive or USB key drive then make sure that is connected and create a backup for it specifically.

Smartphone/Camera/etc: Yes you can back these up too if you store important information on them, and as long as they show up as a drive.

The real point of this article is to get you thinking to make sure you are backing up everything you need. Don't just go with the defaults, take some time and be sure. You don't want to find out you're missing something when your computer doesn't turn on in the morning.

[cloud-backup]

5 Days Left for Backup Special Offer

Get an extra 5Gb on any backup plan you choose http://bit.ly/clddwnld Expires Oct 31st