Backup

Ashampoo has released Backup Pro 27, an updated version of its backup software designed to help prevent data loss caused by drive failure, malware, or accidental deletion.

Aimed at both home and small business users, the new Ashampoo Backup Pro 27 improves how users create and manage backup plans, and offers faster performance and better support for modern Windows features.

Synchredible 9 is the latest version of the popular free Windows backup and synchronization tool that aims to make managing files and folders less of a chore.

The program has long been known for its flexible scheduling and detailed sync options, and this latest release brings a series of updates designed to improve speed, usability, and reliability.

Berlin-based O&O Software GmbH has unveiled a major new release -- and edition -- of its backup software for Windows. O&O DiskImage 21 Premium is a new entry into the DiskImage family, aimed firmly at home users.

The application, which can back up everything from individual files to entire drives, is relaunched with a brand new interface as well as several new features. As with previous releases, the app is sold with a lifetime license as opposed to a time-limited subscription.

New research from Object First shows 81 percent of IT professionals say immutable backup storage built on Zero Trust principles is the best defense against ransomware, and 54 percent view target backup appliances as more secure than integrated appliances.

The report, produced with Informa TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, finds two-thirds of organizations have suffered an attack, and 45 percent experienced multiple attacks. Moreover, 49 percent of affected organizations took up to five business days to recover, and most could not recover all of their data.

Today -- which of course you knew already -- is World Backup Day, an idea that began in 2011 as a reminder from a group of Reddit users who had seen too many people lose their important files. They deliberately picked the day before April Fool's to get across that you’d be a fool not to backup your data.

Although it started a bit of a joke it's become a useful reminder that backups are important and figures in the industry now see it as good for raising awareness. Here’s what some of them think.

Users of Google Maps have been complaining in growing numbers that their Timeline data has mysteriously vanished. Now Google has confirmed that this was down to a “technical issue” rather than user error, and warned that there will be no way to recover this data for some people.

The Timeline feature of Google Maps stores location history, and is used by many people as a way of keeping track of places they have visited. Now, for those who were unaware of a recent change to the way Timeline data is stored, the technical SNAFU means that these memories are lost forever.

With enterprises relying increasingly on data stored on the cloud existing ransomware solutions designed for in-house storage often fall short. That can mean longer recover times which in turn can prove devastating for the business.

Cloud backup platform Eon is launching a new cloud-native package designed specifically to provide protection and recovery from ransomware attacks. Engineered for immediate recovery, Eon's platform is able to restore clean data in minutes, offering greater efficiency than other current market offerings.

Looking for a way to protect your PC from the dreaded specter of data loss or system corruption? The most effective strategy involves backing up both data and your Windows system, and the best free tool for the job is Hasleo Backup Suite 5.2 Free.

Windows’ own backup tools aren’t really fit for purpose, while our previous backup tool of choice -- Macrium Reflect -- dropped its free tier a few years ago. That was forgivable, but we draw the line at switching to a subscription model. Thankfully, Hasleo Backup Suite offers a comprehensive -- and completely free -- alternative.

Data security company Druva is adding to its platform with a new threat hunting capability that empowers IT and security teams to search their global data footprint for indicators of compromise (IOCs).

The company is also announcing the expanded global availability of Managed Data Detection and Response (Managed DDR), a service that uses a combination of technology and human expertise to proactively monitor customer backups for faster detection of and response to threats.

Ransomware remains an ongoing threat for organizations and is the largest single cause of IT outages and downtime as 41 percent of data is compromised during a cyberattack, according to the latest Veeam 2024 Ransomware Trends Report.

The report, based on 1,200 responses from organizations that have faced a security incident, reveals that only 57 percent of the compromised data is usually recovered, leaving organizations vulnerable to substantial data loss and negative business impacts as a result.

In the event of a data emergency -- say, a cyber attack or a natural disaster shutting down a data center -- no organization wants to worry about whether they have secure, up-to-date backups, and whether they can be easily recovered.

But without the help of artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML), fewer organizations are able to protect their backups against attacks, meet the necessary backup workload, or meet the defined service level agreements (SLAs) for the availability of information, applications, and infrastructures (or do so quickly and recover efficiently). 

It remains essential to make copies of the most important data, World Backup Day has rightly been calling for this for years. But today the biggest risk to our data isn’t the traditional business continuity and disaster recovery scenarios for which World Backup Day was originally envisioned to cater for. The biggest threat to data today is destructive cyber attacks in the form of ransomware and wipers.

Tackling these threats by simply making copies and recovering the data after an incident is not enough, instead we need a World Resilience Day, where cyber incidents are investigated, the threats mitigated and systems hardened before being recovered to prevent recurrence and further impact.

In today's digital landscape, where data is omnipresent across various platforms and devices, maintaining efficient backup processes has become increasingly critical. Yet, despite the inherent risks, a surprising number of organizations continue to deploy their infrastructure without adequate backup measures in place.

According to a poll conducted among IT professionals, only a mere 25 percent of them adhere to industry best practices concerning data backup, creating potentially dangerous data gaps in production and employee risk management. Initially enticed by the allure of cost-saving, many companies overlook the necessity of investing in backup solutions, only to face dire consequences in the long run.

Almost half (48 percent) of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK have lost, or lost access to, company or customer data in the last five years.

Research, carried out by Censuswide for business ISP Beaming, shows businesses with between 10 and 250 staff have borne most of the data loss, which has cost UK companies more than £5.3 billion since 2019.

As the volume of data continues to increase and the threat landscape continues to evolve, it is increasingly important for organizations to protect backup data from unwanted deletion. Threats today can take the form of a malicious insider deleting backup data or a targeted cyberattack on the backups themselves. Modern ransomware attacks often first seek out and destroy backups before moving on to encrypting production data. However, companies will benefit from implementing immutability, the act of making data writable but noneditable for a defined period of time, as part of their data protection arsenal to help avoid or recover from a loss of production data situation.

The rise in cyber incidents, which according to the Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2023 is the leading cause of outages over the past three years, is bringing the need for immutability to the fore, particularly as most organizations reported having fallen victim to cyber incidents, on average, twice a year.