Backups are an important part of any network strategy, whether you have a home network or putting together a large corporate intranet. Backups are meant to protect you from any loss or disaster that may wipe out your data. However, few people think about protecting the backups themselves. While very rare, the backups themselves can fail. Malware and viruses can destroy networks and cause costly shutdowns.
Many companies and individuals do the necessary due diligence to make sure their computers and networks are kept safe from such programs, however, they often forget to protect their backups. They often have inadequate or sometimes even no protection for their backups. However, by the time they realize they do need to use the backups, it may be too late. Protecting backups is something everyone should do and any individual or organization can follow a few steps to ensure your backups are protected from viruses and other malware.
Install a Good Antivirus Program
The first step in solving any problem is preventing it from happening in the first place. A good anti-virus program can help you prevent the spreading of malware. Most of the time, backups get viruses from the main data they are backing up. You need to prevent these programs from coming into your system in the first place. It’s a good idea to scan your hard drive for viruses periodically and right before you perform any backup so the backup drive does not get infected as well.
Have A Firewall Installed
There are many other types of malware that aren’t just viruses. Spyware, like keyloggers, can bury itself deep in a computer and send out data to another computer. This is one way unauthorized people can get confidential information and passwords. Another way to prevent unauthorized data from coming in or out it to install a firewall program or an actual hardware firewall in the system. A firewall is like having an added shield around your network to prevent malware and spyware from using certain ports to transmit data.
Make Additional Backups
Perhaps one of the best ways to protect your backup is by making additional backups. That way, if your main backup gets infected with any virus and becomes unusable, you will still have a way of recovering your data.
Consider Off-site Backup
Cloud or tape backups are a good way to prevent viruses from spreading. Tape backups, in particular, can provide a clean backup. Although viruses can reside in a particular reel of tape, it cannot infect other archives stored on a separate reel. Some companies who offer cloud storage, on the other hand, also have their own methods of preventing viruses, as they also do not want infected data to remain in their systems and affect their other client’s backups.
If you are unsure of how to protect your network and backups from viruses, you can get a professional to help you. Find an IT consulting company in your area who can come to your site and give you solid advice on protecting your network.
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