An air-gapped backup alone won’t get you there. Part 1

Certainly an air-gapped backup is a good idea and a safe way to have a backup in case of a disaster. But is that enough to sit back? It’s a good first step, but in the case of a cyberattack by hackers, you need something more. In this as well as our next blog, we’ll tell you more about it.

We’ve said it often enough: to protect against hackers with ransomware, you must have an air-gapped backup. But that does not mean that this completes the protection. You need this backup, for example, if there is already a ransomware attack. The air-gapped backup is then the last life preserver, but more is needed to properly prepare for this situation.

Consider cyber insurance

What is important in addition to this backup is cyber insurance. Our advice is to purchase such insurance. Not even to cover the expenses of the disaster, but mainly because you need cybersecurity specialists after the attack. And they are almost without exception with these insurance companies. Finding good staff yourself is a crime in the IT world anyway, let alone such a specialist. If you want to get back to work quickly, such insurance is essential. However, you can have a wonderful air-gapped backup, if no one can help you, you won’t get anywhere.

Consider communication channels

Those who face a ransomware attack are also suddenly deprived of all kinds of communication tools. E-mail? Does not work. Internet or your website? Neither. Phone? Most of the time, they don’t. You can’t get in touch with cyber insurance, or your IT vendor. So make sure you always have communication tools and channels through which you can communicate. A gmail address, for example. A cell phone. Please also remember that these numbers and email addresses are also known to the aid agencies!

Consider the hardware

Make sure you have the ability to be able to restore your air-gapped backup. Your servers and hardware may be infected or need to remain available for further research, so you cannot use them. Then you have nothing to restore your backup to. So make sure you have something from hardware or possibly a cloud service to restore your backup to so you can access your data.

Want to know more?

In our next blog, we will explore this matter in more detail. After this preparation, we will then discuss what you can do in the event of an attack. Want to know more? Ask us!