{"id":421,"date":"2021-01-03T14:33:20","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T14:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bootstrap-it.com\/blog\/?p=421"},"modified":"2021-01-03T14:33:20","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T14:33:20","slug":"it-security-and-data-backups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bootstrap-it.com\/blog\/?p=421","title":{"rendered":"IT Security and Data\u00a0Backups"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Early one recent morning my Linux workstation failed to boot. And just like that, all my work plans for the day ground to an immediate halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the Linux workstation that was host to thirty years-worth of data: The original working drafts of all my books. The master versions of my course videos. My tax records, banking information, password vault, and the access keys to my cloud infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was I surprised? Not particularly. The day before I\u2019d been struggling with a broken Python package and I knew there was a chance it wouldn\u2019t end well the next time I fired up the machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was I annoyed? Yup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did I break into a cold sweat, thinking about what was lost and whether I\u2019d ever recover? Nope. That was never a concern. In fact, from the moment I decided that the original installation was no longer worth fighting for, it would only take an hour or so to get everything back up and running. (Not counting the time it took me to remember that a known hardware conflict required I disable a non-free Nvidia driver.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me emphasise that: I erased the corrupted drive, installed a clean copy of Ubuntu Linux, and wrote fresh, reliable copies of around 20GB of data to the new installation in less than a single hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides having a fast fibre optics internet connection, what\u2019s my secret sauce? I\u2019m constantly backing up all my important data to multiple storage locations. When catastrophe hits, and I have a solid, tested recovery protocol in place. For all intents and purposes, the workstation part of that protocol involves installing my OS and then, with just two or three commands, restoring all my data to its new home. From that moment, I\u2019ll be back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure this story has left you overcome with relief and warm, sympathetic feelings. But what\u2019s it all got to do with IT security? More than you might imagine. The fact is that there many reasons backup discussions belong here, but if you had to limit yourself to just one, this common and timely scenario (adapted from my recent \u201cLinux Security Fundamentals\u201d book from Wiley\/Sybex)[https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1119781469<\/a>] would be it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine you\u2019re responsible for the IT systems powering the municipal services for your small town. Without those computers and their data, municipal workers won\u2019t get paid next month, the local library won\u2019t know where any of their books are, the 911 emergency service communication system\u2019s phones won\u2019t ring, and the town\u2019s information website will go offline.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now imagine that one fine morning you log into the main server and you\u2019re greeted by the cheerful news that all the data on your systems has been encrypted by a hacker from Eastern Europe and that they won\u2019t give you the decryption key to restore your access unless you pay them a couple hundred thousand dollars\u2019 worth of cryptocurrency. Don\u2019t think this is realistic? Major hospitals, utilities, and entire small cities have been brought to their knees by just such attacks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What are your choices?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n