Data Backup Protection Archives - LI Technology Solutions

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Transformation in Long Island, NY

litechsol on May 26, 2022

Every business needs to be prepared for the worst. It’s not enough to have a simple data backup app for your servers or customer data. You need to have a detailed disaster recovery plan and business continuity plan ready to go if disaster strikes.

In addition, it’s often wise to practice business continuity transformation. By constantly improving and evolving your business continuity plan, your organization will be better equipped to handle new cyber threats on the horizon.

But that’s a lot of responsibility and work, especially for smaller organizations that may not have the manpower to focus on all of these elements. Fortunately, managed IT service providers in Long Island can provide your enterprise with the disaster recovery and business continuity transformation services you need.

What Is a Business Continuity Plan?

Business continuity means ensuring that your business’s operations remain stable and available to customers during a disaster or IT issue. A good business continuity plan includes several key components:

One or more recovery personnel, who manage the recovery process to restore systems ASAP
A detailed recovery procedure to help restore key business functions and to maintain continuity of business operations as much as possible
A data backup plan and method. This allows the affected organization to recover valuable data and ensure its security seamlessly

Callout 1: Data loss prevention concept - Business continuity plans are vital - 2 reasons

Business continuity plans are vital so that companies don’t lose customers during service or power outages and so they don’t lose control of security in the event of a cyberattack.

Business Continuity Transformation – Why It’s Critical

Business continuity transformation means applying new techniques, technologies, and strategies to expand your enterprise’s ability to stay operational in a crisis.

More specifically, business continuity transformation means improving your current continuity plans. In this way, you can optimize your public-facing performance even if your company is currently backing up data, recovering from a cyberattack, or handling some other disaster.

The IT and cyber threat landscapes are constantly changing. It can be challenging for enterprises to always be innovating with their business continuity plans and procedures when they’re focused on so many other aspects of business operations.

What Is a Disaster Recovery Plan?

Disaster recovery plans emphasize restoring data access and security and ensuring the stability of IT infrastructure in the aftermath of a disaster.

In other words:

Business continuity prioritizes maintaining business operations throughout a disaster as well as possible to minimize consumer disruptions/security breaches
Disaster recovery means recovering data and restoring operational status after a disaster has concluded/security has been restored

Disaster recovery is also vital because many cyberattacks target vulnerable consumer data or valuable enterprise systems. Having a recovery plan in place may allow businesses to:

Secure their data more readily, minimizing the likelihood of a major or permanent breach
Restore business operations that consumers or employees rely on
Shore up security processes to prevent follow-up cyberattacks from being successful

The Importance of Disaster Recovery Planning and Leadership

Just like disaster or emergency plans for real-world crises, disaster recovery planning and leadership is also important for IT disasters. The best disaster recovery plans include:

Employee safety measures
Drills for cybersecurity or data protection
Purchasing supplies
Readying IT infrastructure
Coming up with response plans to fight back against malware and other cyberattacks
Methods to restore backed up data quickly
And more

However, even the best disaster recovery plans are only successful under the right leadership.

Organizations should ensure that at least one individual is placed in charge of disaster recovery planning and implementation. When a disaster strikes, that individual can quickly give orders and marshal security measures without unnecessary deliberation.

Benefits of Managed Service Providers for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

Managed service providers offer a wide range of benefits for companies just like yours. They can also provide specific advantages for business continuity planning and transformation, as well as disaster recovery procedures.

Business Continuity Testing

For example, managed service providers like LI Tech Solutions offer BCT or business continuity testing. This can provide your employees with key insights into their preparedness for potential disruption.

When you hire LI Tech, our cyber experts will help your team find good solutions for potential disasters, discover how to maintain services in the wake of a crisis, and much more. Plus, a managed service provider in Long Island, NY can help you run regular business continuity tests without interrupting your core business operations.

Perfect Implementation of Disaster Recovery Plans

Disaster recovery plans are only worthwhile if you can implement them properly. That’s easier said than done, especially if your employees are not properly trained on how to do so.

Managed service providers can implement your disaster recovery plans to the letter, ensuring that data is backed up properly, that IT infrastructure comes online in the right order, and that security is restored at the earliest opportunity.

End-to-End Encryption for Data Security

As experienced disaster recovery experts, LI Tech Solutions can provide end-to-end data security encryption. This flexible safeguard is perfect for any data environment, whether your business relies on cloud servers, hybrid servers, on-premises servers, or virtual servers.

Fewer Manpower Requirements from Your Organization

Perhaps most important of all, managed service providers reduce the disaster recovery and business continuity planning manpower needed from your organization.

When you offload the burden of these procedures to a trusted managed service provider, your employees can instead focus on other elements of your business. You can prioritize delivering great experiences and products to your customers without having to worry so much about IT security.

Instead, your managed IT services provider can tackle the tough elements of disaster recovery and business continuity planning/transformation.

Contact LI Tech Solutions Today

No matter your business’s size or focus, LI Tech Solutions offers the best managed IT services in Long Island. Our data protection solutions, business continuity planning and testing, and other services allow us to provide your business with the support it needs to anticipate and overcome disasters in the future. Contact us today for more information!

Digital Transformation: What It Is and How It Helps Your Business

litechsol on April 25, 2022

Technology continues to evolve and more companies than ever before are pursuing digital transformation. They’re using new tools and processes to take full advantage of the modern technologies and systems available to organizations of all sizes.

But what exactly is digital transformation, and how can it help your business thrive in today’s market? LI Tech Solutions answers both of these questions and more in detail.

Digital Transformation Explained

Digital transformation means something different to every organization. But overall, it involves transitioning your company’s current tech stack to a modern tech stack, as well as leaning further into modern digital technology use.

For example, a company might practice digital transformation by taking advantage of cloud technology and data storage. Using these tools, the company then enables most of its employee base to work remotely.

Callout 1: Abstract digital transformation technology background - Digital transformation quote from text

It can include adjustments or alterations to processes and procedures, using new tools instead of old ones, and changing company culture to adapt to modern digital technology.

The Four Areas of Digital Transformation

Broadly speaking, there are four primary areas of digital transformation. Your organization may see changes in all of these areas or just some of them.

Collaboration Transformation

Digital collaboration transformation occurs as you use collaboration and project management platforms ranging from Microsoft Teams to Microsoft 365 and more. Even communication platforms like Slack can help you enact a shift toward digital collaboration transformation.

Think of this element of transformation as shifting the way your team members collaborate and do work together, even when not in the same office environment.

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Transformation

Digital transformation also affects disaster recovery and business continuity. Cloud security, new antivirus software, and adaptable IT infrastructure are all some of the rewards that come from pursuing digital transformation.

Digital transformation processes enable organizations to be flexible, adaptable, and more secure. Furthermore, organizations can be more responsive and ensure that employees maintain productivity even in the event of a data crash, website failure, or security breach.

Cybersecurity Transformation

Speaking of security, digital transformations impact cybersecurity massively. As your business goes increasingly digital, cybersecurity solutions such as digital hygiene processes, cloud security, and managed security services all become more important.

This is just one of the many reasons why managed IT services providers such as LI Tech Solutions are valuable to modern organizations. Managed service providers can take care of your cybersecurity needs without massively ballooning your company budget or resource requirements.

Cloud Transformation

Lastly, digital transformation heavily impacts company cloud usage. Cloud computing can accelerate digital transformation and help your business automate more processes than ever, freeing up additional manpower and leading to greater productivity.

Furthermore, cloud technologies enable you to upgrade your IT systems, streamline employee management and hiring practices, and enjoy greater digital security.

Each of these areas is important and should be pursued by your company at the earliest opportunity.

How Does Digital Transformation Help Your Business?

What about specific benefits that digital transformation brings to your company? There are six major advantages that you might see after transforming your company digitally in the above four areas.

Improved Resource Management

Firstly, your company could see improved resource management. As you leverage cloud technologies and other digital transformation tools, your data and important company files will be more secure and organized.

Your company will be better able to integrate applications and databases into centralized repositories. These repositories, in turn, will enable faster data access and management even from employees around the world.

Better Data Collection and Analytics

Furthermore, transforming digitally will allow your company to collect more data and analyze it with more accuracy. You can create systems to gather the right data, not just any data, and incorporate it into your business intelligence efforts at high levels.

Using automation tools, new data storage techniques, and other practices, you’ll understand your target audience better, track important KPIs more efficiently, and see other benefits.

Better Customer Experience

Even better, digital transformation allows your company to provide a better customer experience across the board. Tools such as chatbots, for example, enable faster customer service response times for your website visitors.

New digital tools also enable you to customize the customer experiences you provide to site visitors. Better customer experiences mean more profits for you in the long run.

Digitization of Culture

Your company’s culture will change for the better. For example, remote work tools and a digital-first workplace both allow your company employees to work anywhere around the world without compromising security or productivity.

In turn, this may enable you to broaden your candidate search for top team members and make your company a more attractive place to work.

More Productivity and Profits

Digital transformation should lead your company to more productivity and profits, as well. As employees do great work from around the world and take advantage of streamlining tools, they’ll get more work done in the same amount of time plus spend less time on rote, monotonous tasks best left to automation technology.

More productivity, of course, oftentimes leads to more profits both in the short and long term.

Increased Agility

Lastly, your company will benefit from boosted agility as it digitally transforms. You can improve your speed-to-market for new products, plus adopt continuous improvement or CI strategies.

The result? More innovation and adaptation to adjust to evolving market and customer demands.

Summary

All in all, digital transformation is a net benefit for all organizations, including your own. You can accelerate this transformation for your company by taking advantage of managed services providers like LI Tech Solutions.

As a trusted IT managed service provider in Long Island, New York, we’re well-equipped and ready to assist with your digital transformation efforts from start to finish. Whether you need managed security, cloud server administration, upgrades, or something else entirely, we can help.

3 Benefits of Conducting a Technology Audit

Swarm Dev Team on March 7, 2022

When was the last time you conducted a comprehensive technology audit? If it’s been a while or hasn’t happened at all, you’re probably vulnerable to a cyberattack. Cybercrime shows no signs of slowing down and is expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion per year by 2025.* Technology audits have become a necessity.

Are you confident that your organization is secure with the current remote and hybrid work environments? This is where a technology audit can give you peace of mind. An IT audit is a thorough analysis and assessment of an organization’s IT infrastructure, policies and procedures.

Importance of Technology Audits

Here are five reasons why a technology audit is essential to organizational resilience and overall success:

Detects security vulnerabilities
Ensures that the organization is up to date on security measures
Establishes the foundation for the organization’s new security policies
Prepares the organization to respond quickly and effectively in the event of a cyberattack
Helps maintain compliance with various security regulations

Benefits of Technology Audits

Comprehensive technology audits have three key benefits:

1. No Surprises

IT components that we use and trust every day may have hidden threats that we can easily overlook. If not addressed early on, such threats can quickly escalate into a full-fledged data breach. An IT audit is extremely beneficial when it comes to addressing this particular concern.

A properly planned auditing process creates a map of your IT environment that helps you understand how everything connects and which areas expose you to threats. This allows you to focus your remediation efforts where they are needed the most.

Consider this: What if one of your top executives was secretly selling all your intellectual property ideas to your main competitor? That could sink your company or significantly reduce your profit potential. Unmapped and unaccounted-for technology landscapes can lead to similar outcomes.

To avoid this, regularly monitor, update, patch, and clean up the proverbial dust in your infrastructure. You might soon discover that someone intentionally or unintentionally downloaded a piece of malicious code that’s spreading like wildfire across your network, waiting for the perfect moment to demand a ransom or continue spying and stealing your best ideas.

2. Data-Driven Decision Making

A properly conducted audit will provide you with valuable data that you can use to make core business decisions. Its value extends to security budgeting as well. A data-driven approach to developing cybersecurity strategies can assist you in making more informed budget decisions. You’ll have a better idea of where to spend your money.

An audit can also help you prioritize your goals based on what’s most pressing, exposing vulnerabilities or what’s causing productivity loss.

3. A Vision for the Future

An audit can lay the groundwork for a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a technique for evaluating the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of your business. It’s a powerful tool that can assist you in determining what your company excels at right now and formulating an effective strategy for the future.

Armed with a thorough understanding of your technology’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, you can begin planning years in advance and share the vision with team members to keep them motivated.

Now that you understand the benefits of conducting a technology audit and may be considering auditing your organization’s technology, contact LI Tech Solutions for complete data protection services.

Are you ready to start planning your technology audit? Contact us today for a free assessment.

Source:

* Cybersecurity Ventures

6 Major Tools for Enterprise Data Protection

litechsol on February 24, 2022

For the modern enterprise, data protection is of the utmost importance. Keeping your company’s data safe isn’t just important for your operations and the security of your customers. It’s also necessary so you can adhere to new regulations and guidelines like the GDPR.

However, cyber threats are also evolving at a breakneck pace. It can be difficult to know what tools you should prioritize or what services you should employ to maximize enterprise data protection.

Today, let’s break down six important tools you should use for protecting your company’s critical data.

Ransomware Protection

First, ransomware must remain at the top of your cybersecurity team’s awareness. Ransomware threats are constantly evolving and viruses or malware can enter your company’s systems in a variety of ways, such as:

Phishing emails
Viruses from sketchy websites
Bad digital hygiene from employees
And more

Ransomware viruses often take or delete critical data, then hold copies hostage to extract a ransom from your company. Don’t let this happen to you. Instead, your business should invest in quality ransomware protection, such as ongoing digital hygiene seminars, antivirus software, firewalls, and managed security services.

Callout 1: Data protection privacy concept - Ransomware threats can enter your company's system in variety of ways - 3 bullet points

As a bonus, defending yourself against ransomware may prevent you from having to pay excessive fines or fees for losing control of valuable customer data or personal information.

On-Premises and Cloud Backup Architecture

Even the most robust digital systems will sometimes collapse or fail, whether it’s from resource overdrawing or power grid issues. When that happens, your critical data has to be backed up in more ways than one.

By backing up important data, you can bring your website or servers back online almost instantaneously once things are fixed. More importantly, you can restore the most recent version of your site or IT infrastructure using backed-up data.

That backed-up data is also important for your customers. If a customer needs to access important data, you’ll have it ready for them since it will be backed up and restored to its usual location on your company’s servers or IT architecture.

You should invest in both on-premises and cloud backup architecture for the best results. On-premises backup architecture gives you direct control over data backups, but cloud backup architecture:

Often comes with additional security
Is not subject to the same collapse conditions as your on-premises architecture
Can be overseen and controlled by a managed services provider like LI Tech

With both backup systems enabled, your company will rarely if ever, lose any critical data, even in the event of a major crash or system collapse.

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Ongoing, Continuous Critical Data Protection

Your most important data shouldn’t just be backed up once a week or even once per day. It should instead be backed up in near real-time. This enables you to restore any critical data, whether for your company or your customers, at practically any point in time.

Continuous data protection does just this. It always backs up critical files almost instantaneously, so the most recent version of data is always stored somewhere else, typically in the cloud or off-site.

As you employ continuous data protection, you’ll also find that your IT infrastructure is further fortified against other cyber threats, like ransomware attacks. There’s no reason not to use continuous data protection in this day and age if you have any critical files for your business or customers.

Data Encryption

Another aspect of continuous enterprise data protection means employing end-to-end data encryption for all workplace devices, plus any cloud server access points. End-to-end data encryption means securing files or workstations at both ends of access, not just employee terminals, for example.

End-to-end data encryption is also useful if some or all of your workforce does work remotely. Ransomware or other cyber threats are oftentimes picked up at vulnerable public access points, such as coffee shop servers or unsecured work laptops.

End-to-end data encryption ensures that these potential vulnerabilities won’t negatively affect your enterprise or result in data theft.

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Self-Directed Healing

It’s also important to lean into self-directed healing or self-healing IT infrastructure. Machine learning and data analytics innovations now allow systems or IT infrastructure to heal themselves by:

Managing their resources more effectively, especially to prevent server or infrastructure crashes
Resolving datacenter limitations
Ensuring operational consistency
Balancing performance levels throughout computer infrastructure
And more

In short, self-directed healing is a novel way for your enterprise’s data to remain secure and safe. Your IT infrastructure will monitor itself for any potential problems and send a warning if there’s a catastrophic issue coming ahead.

Managed service providers often employ self-directed healing protocols to enterprise IT infrastructure. That’s just another benefit of hiring a managed service provider for your organization.

Managed Resource Scaling

Lastly, all enterprises should leverage managed resource scaling like never before. This is especially important for small businesses that hope for rapid growth in the future.

Even with the best planning, spikes in usage can sometimes cause catastrophic and cascading failures in IT infrastructure, leading to server outages, website wipes, and lost data.

Managed services providers can employ resource scaling to ensure your enterprise always has the server resources it needs no matter how much traffic or attention it gets. This can also protect against certain types of cyber threats, like DDoS attacks.

But even beyond protecting your organization’s data, resource scaling is cost-efficient and allows your enterprise to better predict ongoing server resource costs. This, in turn, may help you budget more effectively in the future.

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Conclusion

At the end of the day, the most important data protection solutions are all available from managed service providers like LI Tech. As the ideal managed IT services provider for Long Island businesses, LI Tech is well equipped and ready to help your enterprise protect its data in more ways than one.

With our managed services and cloud operations, your data will be secured from attacks, backed up multiple times and insulated against crashes, and more. Contact us today to learn more or to set up a consultation – we’ll find the perfect solution for your company’s unique needs.

IT Cloud Services for New York City Businesses

litechsol on January 31, 2022

Space is at a premium in New York City, and your business may not have the space (or the budget) to run its servers and digital architecture. This is doubly true if your business is relatively new and you want to scale quickly and flexibly with your growing customer base. The solution? IT cloud services are designed specifically for New York City businesses just like yours.

Fortunately, LI TECH Solutions can provide the right cloud services for your organization based on your budget, infrastructure needs, and other factors. Let’s take a look at our IT cloud services for your New York City business now.

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Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

Cloud infrastructure as a service or IaaS is one of the most important cloud service models for modern companies. Also called cloud infrastructure services, IaaS offers essentially serverless computing by providing computer infrastructure to end-users or clients across the Internet.

More specifically, IaaS can provide your organization with storage, network, servers, and virtualization services. Because of this, your company doesn’t have to maintain its own on-premises data center, nor do you need to worry about updating or maintaining components.

Cloud IaaS gives you the base computing tools you need to run software platforms or programs, ranging from programming kits to web applications and more.

In many cases, IaaS is used in conjunction with both cloud platforms as a service and cloud software as a service if you need a whole host of managed cloud services for your enterprise.

Like all managed cloud services, IaaS allows your team to focus primarily on what you do best: making your products and services for your target customers.

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Scalable Cloud Architecture and Hosting

Many of the best-managed cloud services providers can offer integration and hosting. Full integration of your existing software or data means you don’t have to waste valuable time updating your systems and can instead benefit from cloud resources right off the bat.

Furthermore, organizations like LI TECH Solutions offer scalable and predictable hosting for your organization. This is cost-effective (since you don’t pay for resources you don’t use) and very flexible and convenient for your users.

Imagine that you need additional hosting space on only a few days of the week to handle increased traffic from your customers. With scalable cloud hosting from LI TECH Solutions, you can get just that without having to waste money on additional server space you don’t use throughout the rest of the week.

Cloud Platform as a Service

Platform as a service or PaaS offers cloud-streamed hardware and application software platforms when necessary. As with other cloud services, the hardware or application software platforms are both managed by your third-party service provider, such as LI TECH Solutions.

Meanwhile, your people can handle the full application and any of its data. Cloud PaaS is the choice of particularly good service for developers, programmers, and other tech-heavy companies.

Callout 3: Cloud technology infrastructure - PaaS offers hardware/application software

In a nutshell, cloud PaaS gives your people the platform they need to develop, run, and eventually even manage their apps without having to build and maintain any additional infrastructure. This includes all the same benefits and conveniences as other cloud services.

You don’t have to update the platform or its software
You don’t need to worry about any other tech maintenance concerns
Platform security is handled entirely by your third-party cloud provider, which ensures your organization is kept up-to-date about modern cyber threats

Cloud Data Backups

LI TECH Solutions take things one step further with PaaS and other managed cloud services: we provide cloud data backups for your servers, workstations, or even individual devices.

Data backups are more important than ever in this day and age. Cyber threats are constantly evolving and tech and finance organizations have to keep their users’ personal data safe, especially if they do international business.

Legislation such as the GDPR and other laws impose harsh fines and penalties if your data isn’t kept properly secure.

With cloud backup architecture ready to go, you won’t need to worry about valuable data being lost because of a crash or hack. If your site or servers ever go down, you can simply reboot to a recent version of the same information and continue with business as normal.

Additionally, LI TECH Solutions offers end-to-end data encryption for all your devices and cloud services. Since we take care of regular updates and maintenance, we also handle ongoing digital security.

Callout 4: Cloud technology database - LI Tech Solutions provides cloud data backup

Cloud Software as a Service

Cloud software as a service or SaaS is another important managed cloud service. It delivers web applications or software straight to your team without you needing to download and install the software packages manually.

Instead, your team can access any chosen web apps or software solutions straight through their web browsers. This means we handle:

General software maintenance
Software updates
Bug fixes
And more

In this way, your team just has to worry about using the apps to their best extent. SaaS from LI TECH can completely eliminate the need for each member of your team to have a version of the app installed on their computers, as well.

Because of this, SaaS facilitates remote work more efficiently and conveniently than any other solution. Entire groups of workers in your enterprise can use the same application through a browser without having to go through the hassle of buying and/or downloading the software beforehand.

How LI Tech Serves New York City Organizations

Ultimately, LI TECH Solutions is the go-to choice for managed cloud services for all New York City enterprises. Why?

Because we offer each of the above cloud services and more. We go above and beyond and offer a variety of cloud setups depending on your unique needs and budget, including:

Private clouds
Public clouds
Hybrid clouds
Multi-clouds

Whether you need full-scale cloud infrastructure support, platforms for your web developers to get to work quickly, or specific applications to share between your organization’s members, we can help. LI TECH Solutions offers managed cloud services no matter what you need. Contact us today and let’s get started.

4 Data Backup Myths You Need to Know About

litechsol on January 6, 2022

Humans generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day.¹ That is a substantial amount of information. However, failing to keep up with the ever-changing threat landscape might wipe your share of this data in the blink of an eye. In fact, ransomware has more than doubled in frequency since last year, accounting for 10% of verified breaches.²

While there is a lot of fear surrounding cybersecurity, you don’t need to panic. There are measures you can put in place to better protect your business. One of our best recommendations is to make data backups a component of your cybersecurity plan. Companies that don’t regularly back up valuable data leave themselves vulnerable to evolving cyberthreats.

Data loss can occur due to multiple reasons that range from hard drive failures and ransomware attacks to natural disasters and human error. Whatever the reason may be, data backup can provide the relief you need by helping restore data on your devices should an incident occur.

When you decide to embark on your data backup journey to protect your organization and create business continuity, there are several myths you’ll come across. Here are four of the most common data backup myths:

Backup Myths Debunked

Myth #1: Data Backup Is Too Expensive

Data loss can have a cascading effect, resulting in downtime, productivity loss, revenue disruptions, regulatory fines, and reputational damage. The total cost of these setbacks is typically higher than the cost of a backup solution.

Myth #2: Having One Copy of Your Data Backed Up Is All You Need

The 3-2-1 strategy is a data backup best practice that involves having at least three copies of your data, two on-site but on different mediums/devices, and one off-site.

Three copies of data: Having at least two additional copies of your data, in addition to your original data, is ideal.
Two different mediums: Keep two copies of your data on different types of storage medium such as internal hard drives and removable storage like an external hard drive or a USB drive.
One off-site copy: Keep one copy of your data off-site. This helps safeguard against worst-case scenarios.

Myth #3: Multiple Copies Guarantee Successful Backups

Having additional copies of your data by following the 3-2-1 strategy is a smart practice, but this doesn’t guarantee backups will operate as expected.

Organizations following the 3-2-1 strategy generally keep the original data and one of its copies on-site while another copy is transmitted to a safe, off-site destination, typically the cloud.

Beyond creating additional backup copies, regularly check to verify whether your backups are working properly since they may still be vulnerable to user error or data corruption. Routinely test backups or outsource the task to a managed service provider (MSP).

Myth #4: Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Are the Same

This misunderstanding stems from the fact that many people do not understand the difference between data backup and disaster recovery. Even though they are both vital components of business continuity, they are not the same.

While data backup is the act of backing up critical data, disaster recovery is the act of recovering those backups. Another distinction is that while data backup is defined by the recovery point objective (RPO), which is the amount of data that must be restored to keep operations running, disaster recovery is defined by the recovery time objective (RTO), which considers the time it takes to recover.

Partner for Success

Trying to safeguard your organization against data loss on your own can be overwhelming. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered.

We can make it easier for you to implement a long-term security and data backup strategy that also meets IT and endpoint device security and data protection requirements – especially considering new, growing cyberthreats that target vulnerabilities you may have overlooked. Contact us today for a free consultation.

Sources:

net
Verizon 2021 DBIR

Article curated and used by permission.

Costly Ransomware Threats to Business

litechsol on December 27, 2021

These days, it seems that half of the online business management revolves around cybersecurity, and for good reason. Malware attacks and ransomware threats are expensive, time-consuming, and can even lead to bankruptcy in isolated scenarios.

Indeed, there are several costly ransomware threats to business that enterprise executives may be unaware of. Let’s break down some of these threats in detail so you can grasp the full danger that even a single successful ransomware attack may pose to your company.

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The Ransomware Payment Itself

Naturally, any ransomware attack will include a ransom payment by its very nature. Most ransomware attacks are unreported and many enterprises are advised not to accept any demands. But plenty of firms do so regardless. Some estimates indicate that average ransomware payouts are over $300,000.

Some enterprises may have no choice when paying a ransom fee. If sensitive company data is on the line, they might not have enough time to come up with an alternative solution if they want to prevent sensitive information from leaking to the public. This could include customers’ credit card numbers or other identifying information.

In this way, ransomware attacks may cost a business money twice: first when the business pays the ransom fee, and another time when the business repairs any damage done by an attack.

Downtime and Disruption

In addition to the cost of the ransom payment, ransomware also typically costs companies thousands of dollars at minimum from disruption and downtime. When a company’s website or database goes down, it impacts its customers, their operations, and more.

In short, it tanks productivity and may have downstream effects for weeks, months, or even years to come. The cost of downtime is sometimes estimated to be much higher than the cost of even the most exorbitant ransom demands.

For example, an international currency exchange named Travelex was attacked by ransomware. The costs of disruption were so great that the company later had to file for bankruptcy.

Downtime to company services or websites costs more than money as well. Many online consumers don’t have any patience for websites that crash. In this way, companies may lose cash that they would otherwise receive as revenue when their customers go to their competitors or stop patronizing their online establishments.

Callout 2- Ransomware payment-facts to know And Downtime and disruption facts to know

Data Loss (and Fees)

In this day and age, enterprises that do online or international business must be very careful about their data security. Not only is it important for their operations, but it’s also crucial for the safety and security of their customers.

Data loss can take a heavy financial toll on ransomware attack victims. Some estimates indicate that 90% of ransomware attack victims don’t get all their data back, even if they pay the ransom fee.

If customer data is compromised, it can also lead to legal injunctions, particularly in light of legislation like the GDPR and CCPA. These fees can be quite exorbitant, just like ransom demands themselves.

Even after fees are paid, companies may be forced to undertake additional cybersecurity practices, adjust their procedures and policies, and implement other expensive fixes by legal mandate. All of those requirements can add up quite quickly, especially if a company’s security was subpar beforehand.

All told, the complete cost of data loss and security breaches can’t be fully tallied. In some cases, companies may lose the trust of their customers so much that they have no choice but to go out of business.

Forensics and Recovery

Enterprises must also consider the costs for forensic investigations and recovery when tallying the total cost of a ransomware attack. No company wants to be hit by the same attack twice, which means in-depth investigations are always required.

It often means hiring detailed cyber forensics specialists, leveraging certain types of expensive software, or shutting down company operations for some time while the investigation proceeds. Such adjustments may also cost the company in terms of productivity and customer loyalty, leading to further losses down the road.

Furthermore, recovery efforts, even when disaster recovery or business continuity plans are in place, can still cost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Depending on the quality of forensic equipment and processes used, the investigation alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Callout 3- Data loss and fees - 2 facts listed And Forensics and Recovery-2 facts listed

Infrastructure Repair and Recovery

Some ransomware attacks incur additional costs in the form of broken or damaged infrastructure, such as decimated servers, irreparable platforms, and more. On top of that, you’ll have to purchase or rent infrastructure to recover after a ransomware attack, costing you more money in the short term.

Furthermore, in the immediate aftermath of a ransomware attack, many companies find that their cybersecurity insurance premiums have skyrocketed. They may choose to purchase additional infrastructure and security measures to prevent the same attack from happening again.

Reputational Losses

All these factors don’t even touch the potential reputational losses an enterprise may face when they are the victim of a ransomware attack. Even a single attack is enough to shatter the public’s perception of a company being safe and secure, especially if the public stores a lot of sensitive financial or personal information on their servers.

International customers, B2B clients, and other involved parties may simply stop doing business with an enterprise if they discover that it was the victim of a preventable ransomware attack. Even if the attack wasn’t preventable or was novel, the reputational losses are often impossible to stem.

Callout 4- Infrastructure Repair and Recovery- 2 facts listed And Reputational losses - 2 facts listed

Where Does That Leave Businesses?

Ultimately, no company wants to be the victim of a ransomware attack. That’s why high-quality IT security and managed IT services are more important than ever before.

When it comes to IT security in Long Island, look no further than LI TECH. As experienced data protection specialists, we offer a number of cloud management services, ranging from data protection cloud services to cloud infrastructure services and more.

We follow all the cybersecurity best practices for securing a cloud environment and put the safety and peace of mind of our clients at the forefront of each operation. Contact us today for more information.

Main Advantages of CaaS

litechsol on December 20, 2021

Regulatory compliance has always been vital, but it is even more important in the modern online economy. With legislation like the GDPR threatening organizations with major fines and penalties if they are found to be non-compliant with data security or other measures, guaranteeing compliance for security, data administration, and risk mitigation is incredibly important. This article takes a look at some of the main advantages of CaaS.

It can cost organizations a lot of time and money to ensure full compliance 24/7 using in-house employees or tools. That’s why many businesses now turn to compliance as a service solutions, which outsource many of these duties to managed IT service providers like LITech Solutions. Let’s take a closer look.

Callout 1- blurred background- Compliance as a Service Explained- quote from article

Compliance as a Service Explained

Compliance as a service or CaaS is a type of cloud service often packaged with broader IT-managed services. In a nutshell, CaaS is intended to help organizations meet any regulatory compliance mandates, including those pertaining to data security, international eCommerce restrictions and requirements, and more.

While the exact services will vary from provider to provider, compliance as a service offerings typically include duties like:

Change control
Data discovery
Database access control
Application management
Separation of duties
Annual risk assessments
Data masking
Incident response
Real-time data protection
Policy creation and enforcement for data security
Security vulnerability repair
Training of company personnel
Server configuration
And more

In most cases, compliance support services are used by organizations that primarily operate in industries with a lot of regulations, like finance, banking, healthcare, and more. The importance of CaaS has increased in recent years due to legislation like the GDPR and CPAA, both of which highlight how businesses must be responsible for data security at all times.

The increasing regulatory requirements, administrative overhead, man-hour costs, and the overall time that an organization must spend ensuring operational compliance place significant burdens on modern enterprises. By outsourcing compliance to managed service providers, businesses may benefit from several major advantages.

Callout 2- Compliance graphic - Benefits of CaaS- 2 benefits listed with facts

Benefits of CaaS

Not sure whether CaaS is right for your organization? Let’s take a look at the detailed benefits of CaaS one by one.

Reduced Administrative Overhead

For starters, CaaS reduces administrative overhead for organizations by taking control of compliance standard assurance and benchmarks. Instead of a company’s administrative team being responsible for ensuring compliance for data security, for example, their CaaS provider will do it instead.

It frees up the administrative team (or any other team responsible) to accomplish other objectives. Such freedom could be fantastic for maximizing profitability, operational efficiency, and more.

Savings on Compliance Costs

Naturally, reducing administrative overhead and freeing up time to be spent on other tasks also saves on compliance costs. By reducing the compliance burden for an organization, that time and energy can be spent elsewhere or even saved.

No longer does an organization need to spend money on the salary of a dedicated compliance officer or manager. Instead, CaaS services are packaged with other managed services and purchased affordably. Depending on how much an organization needs to save on its budget, this could make the difference between a profitable or unprofitable business.

Reduced Workload for Compliance Updates

Compliance support services are cloud-based by their very nature. This, in turn, provides several technological advantages, especially in terms of reducing workload for upcoming compliance updates.

Imagine a new firewall patch that must be installed and triple-checked to ensure fidelity and compliance with the GDPR. The organization that uses CaaS doesn’t need to worry about this.

Instead, their managed services provider tackles the task. But even they don’t have too much to do, as their CaaS team ensures that the firewall update is already compliant with existing legislation or regulations.

In other words, CaaS improvements or updates are designed from the get-go to be compliant and secure. It is very different from an in-house solution or update, which may be designed with a different goal from the start and then need double-checking for compliance after the fact.

Callout 2- Benefits of CaaS- 2 benefits listed with descriptions

Improved Configuration

Most compliance support services are incredibly configurable. As a result, a new business client doesn’t need to worry about developing unique or bespoke solutions for their hardware. The configurable CaaS solutions will already work with their existing IT infrastructure or platforms.

As a result, CaaS products and services are even more cost-effective and benefit from reduced long-term or lifetime maintenance. Even as regulations change and evolve, the CaaS provider will work to ensure that their services remain configurable and can easily integrate with existing technology.

Once more, the client receiving compliance support services doesn’t need to worry about much of this. The workload and costs are outsourced to the CaaS provider instead.

Automated System Updates – Guaranteed Compliance

Last but not least, compliance support services always come with automatic system updates as a result of cloud technology. Business owners or executives never need to worry about updating systems each time the industry’s regulations are changed, updated, or even entirely revised.

Instead, the CaaS provider releases updates that are hand-tuned to be firmly compliant with new regulations. Furthermore, these updates will be released automatically, then seamlessly integrated into existing technologies or solutions. This also ensures that updates are ready to go at appropriate dates and are never delayed.

Callout 4- Compliance interface- Automated System Updates-Guaranteed Compliance- 2 bullet points

Executives don’t have to spend valuable time and money overviewing these changes. Furthermore, they never have to spend time developing new solutions or frameworks reactively (i.e. as new regulations come about, leaving the company scrambling).

Main Advantages of CaaS Summary

Simply put, compliance as a service is the go-to solution for businesses that want to ensure they are never liable for major data breaches or compliance issues. As compliance becomes more important for international businesses, CaaS providers will continue to play vital roles in modern organizations.

That’s why LI Tech offers a wide range of managed services based on agile cloud technology. From full network auditing to security and risk mitigation to cloud integration and hosting the data and business intelligence and more, LI Tech offers the best managed IT services in Long Island. Contact us today for more information.

Think Beyond Basic Backups to Tackle Ransomware

litechsol on November 23, 2021

Although ransomware has long been a serious concern for business owners all over the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new opportunities for this threat to flourish, and the attack vector is likely to become even more dangerous in the coming years. We discuss the need for additional backup to tackle ransomware.

According to a report, 304 million ransomware attacks occurred globally in 2020, with ransomware affecting over 65% of global businesses. Experts suggest that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, even though SMBs continue to be disproportionately affected by these nefarious attacks, reporting and notifications rarely make the news.

When it comes to cybersecurity and ransomware, the biggest mistake SMBs make is assuming hackers only target large enterprises. This is why many SMBs still rely on simple backups and don’t have a solid strategy in place.

The truth is that hackers are counting on smaller businesses to have fewer security measures in place, making it easier for them to get into your systems. While it’s good to have a data backup, it’s high time you take its security a step further.

The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Your Business

This is an industry best practice for reducing the risk of losing data in the event of a breach. The 3-2-1 strategy involves having at least three copies of your data, two on-site but on different mediums/devices, and one off-site. Let’s examine each of the three elements and the issues they address:

Three copies of data

Having at least two additional copies of your data, in addition to your original data, is ideal. This ensures that, in the event of a disaster, you will always have additional copies. The first backup copy of data is usually kept in the same physical location as the original, if not the same physical server.

Two different mediums

Storing additional copies of your valuable data on the same server/location won’t be helpful in the event of a breach. Keep two copies of your data on different types of storage mediums such as internal hard drives, and removable storage like an external hard drive or a USB drive. If this isn’t practical for your business, keep copies on two internal hard disks in separate storage locations.

One off-site copy

Keep one copy of your data off-site, far from the rest. This helps safeguard against worst-case scenarios.

In addition to the 3-2-1 backup strategy, consider applying the concept of layered security to keep your data and backup copies secure.

Importance of Layered Security in Cyber Defense

Most SMBs have an antivirus or firewall installed, but this is usually insufficient to combat today’s sophisticated threat landscape, necessitating the application of a layered security approach.

Because no security technology or measure is flawless or guaranteed, layered security assumes that attackers will infiltrate different layers of an organization’s defenses or have already done so. The goal of this approach is to provide multiple security measures so that if an attack gets past one security tool, there are others in place to help identify and stop the attack before your data is stolen.

The THREE ELEMENTS of layered security are:

Prevention

Security policies, controls, and processes should all be devised and implemented during the PREVENTION phase.

Detection

The goal of DETECTION is to discover and notify a compromise as soon as possible.

Response

A quick RESPONSE is crucial for the detection phase to be meaningful.

Layered security is divided into seven layers by security experts. Hackers seeking to get into a system must break through each layer to gain access. If you want to keep cybercriminals out of your systems, concentrate on improving these seven layers:

1. Information security policies

Implement security policies that restrict unauthorized access because the security and well-being of IT resources are dependent on them. This will help you raise information security awareness inside your organization and demonstrate to your clientele that you’re serious about securing their data.

2. Physical security

Physical security measures, such as fences and cameras, are critical to prevent unwanted intruders from breaking in. It also helps monitor employees with access to sensitive systems.

3. Network security

All it takes is for hackers to exploit a single vulnerability to get access to a company’s network. They can easily break into computers and servers after they’ve gained access to your network. Therefore, establishing effective network security measures is essential.

4. Vulnerability scanning

Vulnerabilities that occur because of factors such as inadequate patch management and misconfigurations open the door for cybercriminals. However, vulnerability scans help detect these missed patches and improper configurations.

5. Strong identity and access management (IAM)

Because of technological advancements, acquiring passwords and hacking into networks is easier than ever. IAM restricts access to critical data and applications to certain workers, making unauthorized access hard.

6. Proactive protection and reactive backup + recovery

Proactive protection detects and fixes security risks before they lead to a full-blown breach. The goal of reactive backup and recovery is to recover quickly after an attack.

7. Continual monitoring and testing

Failure to regularly monitor and test your backup and disaster recovery strategy is a major oversight and can result in a breach.

While it’s your responsibility to make sure your business doesn’t get sucked into the quicksand of data loss, it’s easy to become overwhelmed if you’re attempting to figure out everything on your own. Working with data protection backup providers at LI Tech gives you the advantage of having experts on your side. We’ll make sure your backup and security postures are capable of tackling ransomware threats. Li Tech Solutions offers clients in Long Island and Brooklyn the mission-critical services every business needs to succeed. Reach out today to schedule a consultation.

What Is a Proxy Server and Do I Need One?

litechsol on November 18, 2021

What is a Proxy Server?

In a nutshell, a proxy server is an “intermediate” server that stands between an original server and a destination server. When one computer sends information to another, that information may need to pass through a third server – the proxy server. This article covers what a proxy server is, how it works, and benefits it provides.

Most Internet traffic is routed through proxy servers (with very few exceptions). Individuals use their terminals to query other computers for information, and their requests and responses are sent through proxy servers.

But why use proxy servers if they’re just in-between two computers exchanging information? The majority of modern proxy servers do a lot more than simply traffic web requests or data, ranging from filtering web traffic to offering shared network connections to storing or caching data to improve network speeds.

In truth, individuals and organizations alike both benefit from proxy servers and they may occasionally decide to use proxy servers for specific purposes.

How a Proxy Server Works

Each terminal connected to the Internet (including computers or mobile devices) has an IP or Internet protocol address. A given terminal’s IP address is essentially the “street address” of that terminal. The IP address allows other computers to find it and helps proxy servers send traffic to that terminal when needed.

For most Internet traffic flow, a proxy server is another computer connected to the Internet with its own unique IP address.

When a user sends a data request, the request goes to the proxy server. The proxy server then makes the data request on behalf of the original requester. When the responding terminal sends data back, the proxy server collects the data and sends it to the first computer.

Of course, proxy servers can make changes to the data they collect or store because they are in-between the beginning and end computers in data exchange. For example, proxy servers can change the IP addresses of originating terminals, encrypt data, and more.

Callout 1- close up of proxy server- what is a proxy server with 3 bullet points

When is a Proxy Server Useful?

Proxy servers are useful in a variety of situations for both individuals and large organizations or enterprises.

When You Need Improved Network Performance

Proxy servers may first and foremost improve loading speeds and bandwidth savings. By caching data for popular websites, such as Wikipedia or a company’s home site, the load time for those websites goes down.

Proxy servers can essentially save copies of frequently visited websites and only need to update the saved data occasionally. This, in turn, reduces network traffic and may lead to network performance improvements as well.

In some cases, this can save organizations time and money.

When You Need to Control Internet Usage

Proxy servers may also be used to monitor and control Internet usage. As the servers between originating terminals and recipient computers, proxy servers may allow:

Administrators to observe Internet traffic and see how employees are using the Internet. For example, most companies don’t want employees to be serving social media while on the clock
Administrators or parents to block certain websites, including websites with inappropriate material for work or a child’s age
Anyone to monitor and log web requests to check web traffic and gather data
And more

This aspect of proxy servers is important for businesses, marketing agencies, parents, schools, and other institutions or individuals.

When You Need Increased Privacy/Security

Proxy servers furthermore provide benefits for privacy and security. For example, individuals can use proxy servers to change their IP addresses so that other individuals or organizations can’t tell where their web requests came from. This is a form of identity protection and is a major part of VPN (virtual private network) security.

A VPN can protect identities by:

Masking IP addresses or countries of origin
For example, a network user sends a request for information from a recipient terminal. The terminal, while sending the data, also sent a tracking cookie after the information request
However, the tracking cookie only encounters the proxy server/VPN IP address. It reports this IP address back to its sender
As a result, the original requester of the data has their identity protected and their IP address remains anonymous

Additionally, companies and individuals alike can configure owned proxy servers to encrypt web requests. This may prevent malware sites from getting access to the proxy server, prevent spying or capturing of user traffic/data, and more.

Companies may also use proxy servers and VPNs for the same privacy benefits as described above. Proxy servers can protect employees from accidentally giving hackers or cyber criminals access to sensitive corporate information or passwords.

Callout 3- When is a proxy server useful? with four descriptions listed

When You Need to Access Restricted Data

Lastly, proxy servers may allow users to access restricted or blocked resources. For example, an individual who wants to watch a TV show that is restricted in their country may be able to get around government firewalls by logging into a proxy server from another location.

When they query a recipient website for the TV show’s stream, they receive the data since it flows through the proxy server and never encounters the national firewall.

Thus, proxy servers are an important part of information freedom and allow citizens in restrictive countries access to more information or media than they would have otherwise.

Do You Need a Proxy Server?

In the end, proxy servers are an important part of the Internet overall and play a major role in all the web traffic that flows throughout the World Wide Web each day. In most cases, you never choose to use a proxy server intentionally.

But your organization may intentionally decide to leverage proxy servers for several of the advantages above, including increased security and better monitoring of your employees’ workplace habits.

Proxy servers can help you save money and make better use of company time by giving you more direct control over the traffic that flows to and from your company’s computers.

Fortunately, LI Tech Solutions can help you both set up and maintain proxy servers for the health of your organization and any other data or traffic-related goals you may have. As experts in data protection, server management, and more, we are well-equipped to help you benefit from proxy servers linked to your organization.