What should be considered when thinking about the backup regime that best suits your needs?

Will a 'major incident' close your business?
It’s a fact that 80 percent of businesses affected by a major incident close within 18 months if they do not have a contingency plan in place ---- OR IS IT!

This ‘fact’ is one frequently used by many vendors of backup and disaster recovery software and I have searched high and low to find any documentation to back this up – or even to find an original source - without success.

However, what IS true is that an individual or organisation that does not have adequate backups and who suffers a major data loss is certainly going to experience considerable inconvenience, possibly financial loss and in extreme circumstances even closure.

So, what exactly does ‘adequate backups’ mean?

For an individual who has a collection of music and/or photographs it could be as simple as copying everything onto a memory stick, external disk drive or an Internet based storage such as Dropbox or SugarSync.

For anyone using their PC for business or who uses a business network it probably goes a tad further than that. The more vital your data is to your everyday operation, and particularly if you have to satisfy an external regulator (e.g. an Insurance Broker with a database of clients and client transactions), the more important it is to carefully consider your backup requirements and to implement an appropriate strategy:

Consider the following:

1. How frequently does your data change?
If you only occasionally change documents or add new ones then backing up daily or even weekly may be sufficient. If your data changes rapidly during the day then you should back up at least daily and even consider a system that will allow you to take ‘point in time’ backups that will allow you to recover to a specific time of day.

Consider whether you need to take daily backups and separate weekly / monthly backups.

2. Security of your backup

There are two issues here –

Data integrity – it is ESSENTIAL that you regularly ensure that you can recover from your backups. You don’t want to wait until you need to before discovering that you can’t!

Physical security – you should keep at least one backup in a separate physical location from your systems. It’s no good having all your backups on an external hard disk if it is in the same room / building as your computer systems and they get destroyed by fire or stolen.

Cloud backup can be a choice for this but if you are subject to the Data Protection act you must determine where the data is actually held (i.e. Country) and if out of the EU you must ensure that the organisation holding the data subscribes to the EU Safe Harbor Scheme.

3. Does your business rely on access to your IT systems?

If the loss of your IT systems will have a significant impact on your ability to do business then you must have a proper disaster recovery plan in place. But that's the subject of another article!

A VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) telephone system enables ordinary voice calls to be carried over broadband lines. Incoming calls can originate from any normal landline or mobile or another VoIP system. Calls are directed to your broadband connection by your VoIP supplier and are picked up using VoIP handsets connected to your broadband router.

Outgoing calls are initiated just like an ordinary telephone system using the VoIP handset
VoIP uses ordinary geographical dialing codes so you can use any number you like or even move your existing number.
This means that 'one man bands' no longer have to publish a mobile number or an 0845 number but can publish a number that is relevant to the area(s) in which they operate. Calls to the number can be automatically forwarded to a mobile or other landline for maximum convenience.
A single user pre paid solution with just one number starts at only £2.50 per month

Oragnisations with two or more people can benefit from systems providing full PBX capability like call transfer and forwarding, call pickup, call recording, voice mail, follow me, hunt groups etc.

All this from only £7 per month!

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there!

The threats from viruses and other malware (Malicious Software) are a lot different today then the viruses of just a few years ago which were essentially designed to be destructive and annoying.

Today, the threat is far more sinister. Malware does not announce its presence by displaying unwanted messages and ‘bleeding’ your PC screen. Now they are after your money; they do it sneakily and quietly and attack from many sources including:

• Links in emails

• Executable programs disguised as innocent documents like word, excel, acrobat

• Macros hidden in MS Office and other programs

• Fake web sites

They make use of security ‘holes’ in every day software like Adobe, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer and others to plant software called Trojans and Downloaders onto computers. These in turn can download additional software that continually updates the virus making it difficult to trap by AV software.

• Keyloggers identify account user names and passwords as you type them
  Once details of your social network accounts are obtained they will be used to send messages ostensibly from you that will spread the malware to others

• Some malware will search your computer for numbers that look like credit card numbers, post codes, bank sort codes and account numbers etc and send them to the criminals controlling it.
  Then they can use them for online shopping, moving money etc!

So how do I stop them?

1. Install a commercial anti virus product from a leading supplier such as Kaspersky (my favourite!) –and KEEP IT UP TO DATE!

2. Keep your computer up to date with all the security updates from Microsoft, Java, Acrobat etc.

3. The problem isn’t just e-mail. Social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn etc. are a major target. Be careful with links in ‘odd’ social networking messages and blogs even if they are ostensibly from people you trust. Their account may have been hacked!

4. Don’t think that you are too small to be targeted! If you are a trusted supplier to a larger organisation you are the perfect vehicle for malware into their organisation

Why are passwords important?

Choosing a good password is vital for being secure on your PC, your home or office network and the Internet. And yet some of the most common passwords are Password, 123456, God, secret…..   
Incredible! These are open invitations to people to hack your systems.

Use of online banking, online shopping and social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. (on which we share all kinds of personal details as well as music, pictures, and videos.) mean that we have to create and remember multiple passwords; you should not use the same password for all your online activity!

The more personal details we make available, the more exposed we are to online identify theft. Identity theft is when a criminal steals confidential personal data that lets them fraudulently obtain goods and services in your name, remove funds from your bank or distribute viruses using your email or social networking account.

Good, or ‘strong’ passwords help safeguard you against hacking and identity theft. They make it harder for cybercriminals to access your network or PC, profile you, access your bank account (or other online accounts) and steal your money.

So what makes a good password?

A strong password is generally considered to be at least eight characters long and should consist of a mixture of uppercase (capital) letters, lowercase letters, at least 1 number and at least 1 ‘special’ character such as !£$%^&@# (some online systems will restrict what special characters you can use).

e.g. yHq6l9*a - I don’t suggest you use this one!

To help you remember your passwords you could choose a word or phrase that is relevant to the account (e.g. mycheques for your current account) and then apply a rule.

A simple rule might be to change char 2 to #, char 4 to 8, char 6 to capital and char 8 to !
With the above example this results in a password of m#c8eQe!

All you have to do then is to remember a simple expression for each account and your rule.

Wireless networks make life simple and convenient. But if your wireless network is not secure you could be making it simple and convenient for others to:

• gain access to your network
  from next door, outside in the street…in fact anywhere in range of your router

• hijack your Internet access
  If you have a download limit on your broadband agreement (most do) other people ‘innocently’ using your Internet access could result in your connection speed being limited and/or additional charges

• intercept any data you send and receive and access files on your network
  Once connected to your network it would be possible to connect to the computers on your network and access the files and data they contain

How do I secure my wireless network?

There are some simple steps you can take to secure your wireless network in order to minimise these risks:

• Change the administrator password for your wireless router. It’s easy for a hacker to find out the manufacturer’s default password and use this to access your wireless network. And avoid using a password that can be guessed easily
  Download my Password Guide

• Switch off SSID (Service Set Identifier) broadcasting, to prevent your wireless device announcing its presence to the world. If you want to be able to see your network in available network lists change the default SSID name of your device. Again, it’s easy for a hacker to find out the manufacturer’s default name and then use this to locate your wireless network.

• Enable encryption in your connection settings. WPA encryption is best, if your device supports it. Some devices, in particular older laptops, may not support WPA reliably (difficulty connecting, intermittently losing the connection) if at all in which case use WEP encryption.