When I was a kid my parents would always ask, “David, why do you need an Xbox?” or “Why do you need this new game?” As a kid, it was sometimes hard to come up with a valid reason why I needed a new game or gaming device. Now that I have made my transition from a college student to full-time IT professional, I am faced with new questions. Specifically, “Why do I need endpoint protection?” The answer to this question isn’t as complicated as you might think.
Backing up your endpoints is something that every business, small or large, should be doing. There is a plethora of reasons why we need to protect our endpoints. Like all humans, we make mistakes. User error, although a mistake, can still be detrimental to a business. Accidental deletion of data is something that happens far too often. As users of desktops and laptops we are also susceptible to hardware failure. Most of a user’s data resides on a single hard drive, thus a hard drive failure can result in a catastrophic loss of data.
User errors and hard drive failure are not the only threats to the data that reside on your endpoints. Cybercrime, such as ransomware, has been on the rise this year. According to the FBI, $209 million dollars were paid in ransoms in Q1 2016, putting ransomware on course to become a $1+ billion industry by the end of 2016. It’s important to note that just because you pay the ransom does not necessarily mean you are guaranteed to get your data back! A hospital in Wichita, Kansas, learned this the hard way.
Having a backup plan in place is not just a sound operational practice, it’s often required by law or regulation, too. For example, HIPAA requires healthcare organizations to have and test a viable data backup and disaster recovery plan. The same holds true in the financial services industry; both the OCIE and FFIEC have made this a clear priority in their enforcement and audit practices.
Now you might be saying to yourself, “I understand the need for endpoint protection now, but how does it protect my business against ransomware?” Again, the answer to this question is not as complicated as you might think. Cloud backup for endpoints is designed with the end user in mind. For instance, let’s say at 12:27 PM Aaron from accounting receives a pop-up on his computer notifying him that all of your payroll has been locked and he must pay X amount in Bitcoins to regain access to his files. Your MozyEnterprise administrator can simply log in to the management console, find Aaron’s backup from 11:30 AM and restore his files. Performing this simple task restores all of Aaron’s files prior to the ransomware attack. And you don’t have to pay the ransom. #Winning
Mozy has helped thousands of companies restore the data on their endpoints after data was lost, stolen, deleted and held for ransom. If you are currently not backing up your endpoints, today is your day to do it!
Now about that Xbox, Dad…
