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Protect against data center downtime with cloud disaster recovery

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As technology becomes a bigger part of people's everyday lives, the systems and facilities that house the data we need are more important than ever. So when these things experience problems that cause downtime, the effects can be catastrophic.

Such was the case last week when the generator room of a Maryland State Police building had a small fire and caused an outage of the force's data center. According to the Baltimore Sun, the downtime denied state troopers access to central crime databases and caused the state police website to be offline for an afternoon. In an interview with the Sun, a police spokeswoman said that the outage made it impossible for police officers around the state to access shared documents, making it difficult for work to continue as normal.

The fire occurred while the data center was operating on generator power during a planned IT maintenance period. A small fire started in the generator room which caused the sprinklers to activate and the water shut the generator down.

While fires are a rather rare occurrence, they do still occur in data centers around the world. In 2013, Michigan's Macomb County lost IT services after its data center facility had a fire. More recently, a Samsung data center in South Korea experienced a fire in April that affected access to the network used by Samsung device users across the globe.

Severe weather biggest data center threat
Instead of a fire, most companies are more likely to experience data center connectivity problems due to severe weather conditions or unreliable power supplies. It doesn't matter what causes the downtime if a response plan isn't in place ahead of time. According to a recent federal IT survey by SolarWinds, more than 20 percent of participants admitted they didn't have a disaster preparedness strategy in their organization.

In order to avoid the downtime and mitigation costs that come along with a data center disruption, it is important for organizations to back up their information at a remote site or in the cloud to maintain access during an outage. Utilizing the cloud as a disaster recovery solution enables companies to access remote network management. This allows IT managers to remotely manage and fix the problems affecting a network so they don't have to brave the same storm that knocked out the data center in the first place.

Maintain winter business continuity with UC solutions

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As the new year fast approaches, it will bring with it colder weather and snowier conditions. While many love some snow in the wintertime, it can spell trouble for commuters and make business continuity a major struggle. For example, according to a recent report by telecom provider Daisy Group, an estimated 3 million workers in the U.K. are prevented from completing their normal work duties each year due to adverse weather conditions.

With employees stuck in the house and clients unable to fly in from other cities, maintaining an easy and continuous method of contact is necessary to keep normal business operations running smoothly.

“Businesses [must] be ready to respond in any imaginable scenario-even when your systems get knocked offline or your staff is unable to get to the office due to inclement weather,” said telecom expert Lindsay Kintner, in a blog post. “The good news is that by taking proactive steps and putting a comprehensive in place prior to disaster striking, you ensure that your business is able to handle all client concerns.”

Beat the weather with UC solutions
While no one can control the weather, enterprises can control their responses to it. Modern companies operate in an environment that is increasingly utilizing IP-based tools, and they are the best defenses against the unpredictability that winter brings. Implementing unified communications tools within an organization enables workers to access a business communication solution that integrates voice, email, video, instant messaging and presence into a single interface. This way, work can continue from anywhere, whether it’s in the office or snowed in at home.

With cloud-based communications, employees are able to collaborate on necessary projects and receive responses from one another in real time. Conferencing tools allow large groups to gather together from multiple locations and discuss topics just as they would in an office, meaning no time is wasted and business isn’t halted.

Client inquiries can also be easily handled with the use of a UC suite. Calls to an office phone can easily be re-routed to a mobile device with distributed workforce functionality, meaning a client call will never be missed because an employee is working remotely. This attention to detail and level of service helps to increase client satisfaction and brand loyalty.

“In today’s ultra-competitive business world, you can’t afford to compromise on the caliber of the client service you deliver,” said Kirtner. “By planning ahead and leveraging modern communications tools, you guarantee that you’re able to respond to your clients immediately-even when the weather interferes.”

Don’t be left in the cold when it comes to disaster recovery

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David Thiemecke, co-founder of Web consulting company Algonquin Studios based in Buffalo, New York, took the time last year to prepare for the inevitability of a damaging winter storm by migrating the company's critical operations to the cloud and allowing issues to remedied remotely.

"We would use those services as our backup data center for quickly moving virtual machines, and have previously planned for the process to migrate what few production services remain in-house," said Thiemecke in an interview with CSO. "We can also move our development and test platforms if necessary."

Luckily for Thiemecke, he planned ahead. Late November brought a storm that slammed parts of Buffalo, dropping more than seven feet of snow over the course of three days. Multiple businesses were disrupted due to the storm and now rising temperatures are causing the giant mounds of snow to become flooding risks. Due to the arrangements already in place, Algonquin Studios experienced zero downtime and employees were able to work remotely, avoiding the dangerous conditions on the roads.

Keep data safe by planning ahead
Disaster recovery is an important step for any business working to avoid wasting the time and money associated with enterprise data loss. Stephen Bigelow, senior technology editor for TechTarget, has noted that while organizations face a variety of risks on a daily basis, data loss is one of the most serious. Any company operating today needs to be concerned about protecting critical information and reducing downtime to as close to zero as possible.

"Disaster planning and preparation are a critical aspect of any business plan," said Bigelow. "But there is no single approach to disaster preparedness and the emphasis on disaster response is changing."

When implementing a disaster recovery solution, it's important to do an audit of all the enterprise information that will need to be replicated and stored in order to assess storage priority. Disaster recovery and business continuity operations must be periodically tested and practiced in order to ensure a smooth transition to backup processes in case of an emergency.

By deploying disaster recovery operations in the cloud, businesses are able to not only save money, but a third-party service provider can manage and oversee testing to reduce the time and hassle of doing it in house. Many cloud-based disaster recovery providers also take steps to encrypt privileged enterprise information, so it is protected at rest.

Creating a disaster recovery plan is a good teaching tool for employees as well as a reliable way to ensure business continuity. Organizations can use the migration of information to the cloud as an opportunity to tell their workers about the importance of data security and to back up sensitive files.

Winter is coming – Time to think about disaster recovery

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As the weather begins to turn colder and the snow and ice of winter starts to creep closer, it’s important for enterprises to think about their disaster recovery solutions before severe weather and downed power lines cause serious network outages. Last year’s polar vortex brought with it record snowfalls and massive disruptions, leaving people without power for days at a time. Modern businesses can’t afford to be offline for even a few hours, let alone days. This is where a cloud disaster recovery solution comes in. By hosting duplicate information in the cloud, organizations can still make the necessary networks and systems available even if their primary facility is experiencing downtime. Cloud-based disaster recovery solutions are useful to companies of all sizes, and capacity can easily be scaled up or down to meet an organization’s changing needs.

There are a variety of cloud-based technologies that can assist businesses in their disaster recovery operations. Cloud storage services have made great advances in recent years, allowing enterprises to duplicate sensitive data, control multitenancy operations and improve the speed of site-to-site replication. Virtualization is also a helpful tool for companies looking to enhance a disaster recovery solution. Through the use of virtualization, organizations are able to share, replicate and back up sensitive data, which can span global data centers if necessary.

Utilizing third-party DR services
Disaster recovery-as-a-service is another option available to companies, in which a cloud service provider will maintain and operate an enterprise DR solution. This option, along with other types of cloud-based disaster recovery services, is extremely cost-effective. Instead of organizations having to invest heavily in hardware and maintenance of a private data center, information is stored in the cloud and maintained by a third-party provider. Hosting disaster recovery operations in the cloud also enables enterprises to frequently test their backup systems without disrupting regular business processes, ensuring backup operations will work properly when they are needed.

Despite the increasing use of cloud services among enterprise clients, some organizations still have concerns about information security in the cloud. However, the cloud is actually one of the safer places a company could store its data. Cloud service providers treat security as one of their core competencies, and are tasked solely with maintaining and securing the data they host. Any organization that keeps its information in house will not be as prepared to defend against a cyberattack as a provider that has data protection as a main focus.

IT pros encourage desktop virtualization for improved mobility

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A recently released Forrester report has found that 63 percent of IT professionals believe competitive advantage can be improved by companies increasing focus on employee mobility. Those surveyed suggested it could help employees respond quicker to client needs and provide more effective service. When asked how to improve employee mobility, more than half of the respondents said organizations should implement desktop virtualization within the organization.

As the consumerization of IT gains strength, employees have more opportunities than ever to choose their own applications, devices and even operating systems.

“The consumerization of IT has enabled workers the freedom to choose their own devices,” says Paul Parke, vice president of product and corporate marketing at 1E, a specialist in IT operations management tools and solutions. “IT needs to become more user-centric in order to embrace users that really have gotten rather indifferent to the services and technology provided by IT.”

Because of this, a rising number of organizations are enabling their workers to participate in bring your own device, or even bring your own PC, programs. As this trend grows, desktop virtualization is gaining new adherents.

Improve BYOD, remote workers with virtualization‘s mobility
Virtualization provides employees with mobility as well as seamless access to their office desktop, which allows businesses to adopt BYOD programs while still ensuring data security. Through the use of virtualization, a desktop can be manifested on any endpoint while reducing operational costs and the complexity of managing traditional desktop hardware.

Among the respondents of the Forrester survey, local desktop virtualization, or client-hosted virtualization, seemed to be the most popular option. When using local desktop virtualization, an entire desktop environment is hosted within a protected system on an employee’s device, allowing programs to operate without relying on a high-performance network. Utilizing this type of virtualization enables workers to run business applications from an existing operating system, providing them with the flexibility to work anywhere while still offering a secure way to access sensitive data and personal files.

“IT can fully manage and secure the data and applications using the same policies that govern physical devices, making it easier to manage and support frequently traveling employees or those who work offline,” explained CIO contributor Thor Olavsrud.

Businesses are also able to be more agile when hiring new employees by utilizing virtual desktops, as new hires can be added to networks with just the click of a button, reducing the hassle of creating a new environment. New applications can also be provided to all employees with the same ease as they are part of a centralized management interface.

As well as offering greater mobility and agility, virtual desktops also provide cost-effective disaster recovery solutions that can be employed quickly and easily. Implementing this type of technology gives companies built-in resiliency at every level of the enterprise and ensures that business-critical systems and data are protected and will keep working if a data center is compromised.

California breach report highlights need for secure data storage

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The California attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, recently released a study revealing the state’s current cyberthreat landscape.

According to the investigation, 167 data breaches were reported in California last year, jumping 28 percent from 2012. Those breaches exposed the information of more than 18.5 million residents, significantly more than the 2.5 million compromised in 2012.

The retail industry appears to have borne the brunt of the damage last year. Breaches targeting retail companies affected 84 percent of the total records compromised in 2013. The financial services sector came in a distant second, accounting for 20 percent of total breaches.

Theft of payment card and Social Security information also increased this year, resulting in financial losses for victims. While the report did not provide exact numbers on how much California residents have lost or what number have experienced fraud as a result of a breach, it did cite a Javelin Strategy and Research study that estimates more than one-third of breach victims will suffer financial fraud as a result.

In an interview with The New York Times, Harris said that 2014 is shaping up to be even worse for client data than last year, as breaches have already increased 30 percent in the first 10 months.

“We are increasingly adopting technology that is putting our data in systems that are ripe for penetration,”said Harris. “We have not sufficiently inoculated ourselves. The bad guys have figured out where the vulnerabilities are and learned there is much to be profited and gained from exploiting them.”

Organizations looking to protect sensitive personal information stored on their servers can implement cloud storage services to keep privileged data secure and private. Records kept within a cloud environment can be easily encrypted and kept off enterprise networks, increasing security and reducing the risk of hackers discovering sensitive data during a breach of a company system. Cloud services also provide organizations with enhanced business continuity, as records kept in the cloud are safe in case of a disaster or network outage.

Aid workers fight Ebola with unified communications

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As Ebola continues to spread across West Africa, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is partnering with Airtel, an Indian service provider, and the government of Sierra Leone in order to send health reminders through widespread text messaging campaigns.

Since last April, when the Ebola outbreak first began, officials have been utilizing the Trilogy Emergency Relief Application system to send nearly 2 million texts a month in the country. The messages provide the citizens of Sierra Leone with important health information and facts about Ebola to help educate the public, such as to avoid physical contact with others if they believe they have been infected, not to resist the aid of health workers in the area and other potentially life saving tips. The system is designed to send messages at off-peak hours to prevent network overload and recipients can opt out of the messages at any time.

Messages received by cell phone users include "People with Ebola who go to the health center early have a better chance of survival" and "Healthcare workers who take of Ebola patients have to wear protective clothes, do not be afraid of them." The service also allows text recipients to reply with basic health questions and receive and automated response regarding information about medical help, cleaning tips or treatment options.

Unified communications solutions have proved to be extremely effective in disseminating critical information during times of crisis. The TERA messaging system was also used in Haiti after the country's devastating 2010 earthquake and was first brought to Sierra Leone in 2013 to educate citizens about a cholera outbreak. Similar programs are used in the U.S. to send out information about severe weather or on college campuses to alert students about dangerous situations. 

Text messages reach a wider audience than emails
The messaging system was set up by the IFRC and is capable of sending a text to any cell phone that is turned on within a certain region. In areas like Sierra Leone, Internet access is not nearly as widely available as cell phone service and mobile phones are a vital lifeline for those trying to communicate with a large audience in the midst of a crisis. More than two-thirds of those in Sierra Leone have cell phone service, while only 9 percent have access to a 3G or cellular Internet plan, NPR reported. Because the messages are sent to cell phone users located in specific regions, the IFRC and Sierra Leonean Ministry of Health can tailor the texts to certain populations and provide regional advice.

In an interview with NPR, IFRC mobile operator relations officer Robin Burton noted that the system can also be used to make aid services more effective through feedback from recipients.

"We hope this will empower people to help themselves," said Burton. "They could send a message back to us saying, 'Thanks for the rice, but we have no way to cook it,' or, 'We don't eat pork here.' We call it beneficial communications because it helps everyone do better."

Burton also noted that the information sent in texts is saved on the phone and can be used for later reference, unlike information shared through the television or radio which is often quickly forgotten.

So far, more than 4,000 people have died as a result of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and the rapid pace at which is has been spreading in the region has spurred the Red Cross into expanding the messaging program to seven other countries in the area; Tongo, Mali, Benin, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso and Gambia. Once the Ebola outbreak subsides, the TERA system will remain in use in those countries during natural disasters or times of conflict. 

Growing digital health market highlights need for secure data storage solutions

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A recently released study by Juniper Research revealed that the digital health market is making dramatic gains, especially in the area of wearable tech and mobile phones. According to the report, applications targeting healthcare will be a driving factor behind the digital market for that industry reaching more than $3 billion over the next five years. The market is rising so fast, in fact, that other research has suggested it may grow to more than twice that size in an even shorter amount of time, with Visiongain predicting the market will be worth $6.7 billion by the end of this year.

Wearable technology has found its way into a variety of industries, but healthcare shows the biggest opportunity for success, according to the study. Healthcare apps are being widely adopted because of the myriad benefits they offer. Wearable health devices can collect a massive amount of user data that can then be analyzed to track trends in a variety of healthcare populations. Having the ability to connect smartphones and tablets to medical devices like heart rate monitors and blood pressure cuffs offers a variety of benefits, like improved in-home monitoring and an enhanced ability to screen for related health issues.

The report suggests that the advancement of electronic health records will create an enhanced and widened digital health environment, as the records can provide a baseline for mobile health databases.The data collected through healthcare applications can also be used to help reduce the price of medical insurance for users. Existing federal laws allow information gathered by wearables and mobile devices to influence the price of health insurance as long as they meet a predefined set of requirements that constitute an employee wellness program. However, now that the growing amount of personal medical data can be integrated into insurance information, it's only a matter of time before more modern frameworks is developed to utilize this new data.

Protect sensitive medial data in the cloud
As more hospitals and healthcare providers adopt the use of wearable medical devices, the ability to store and protect the vast amounts of information created will become a top priority. A reliable way to increase the security of sensitive patient data is to employ cloud storage services. Storing sensitive information in the cloud provides organizations automatic encryption, as well as disaster recovery solutions that ensure necessary data will be available even a primary system were to fail or be damaged. Cloud services are also a cost-effective solution, as they are easy to scale to meet needs. 

Increase in healthcare data breaches highlight need for improved storage solutions

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While much of the news on cybersecurity and data breaches has been focused on attacks aimed at retail stores, security experts are increasingly warning healthcare organizations that hackers are more frequently going after targets in this $3 trillion industry.

In the underground market where cybercriminals sell their stolen goods, medical information can go for more than 10 times what credit card numbers are worth. Due to the high price medical records can fetch, attacks are increasing at an alarming rate. Just last month the FBI warned healthcare providers to be on high alert after Community Health Systems, one of the U.S.'s largest hospital operators was hacked and the information of 4.5 million patients was compromised. A recent study by the Ponemon Institute found that the number of healthcare organizations reporting a data breach is rising, with 40 percent of providers reporting an intrusion in 2013 as opposed to 20 percent in 2009.

Lack of awareness makes healthcare great target
As opposed to retail data breaches or personal identity theft, fraud involving medical information is rarely detected in a timely manner, making it more worthwhile for hackers to go after healthcare records instead of credit card numbers.

"As attackers discover new methods to make money, the healthcare industry is becoming a much riper target because of the ability to sell large batches of personal data for profit," said Dave Kennedy, CEO of TrustedSEC LLC in an interview with Reuters. "Hospitals have low security, so it's relatively easy for these hackers to get a large amount of personal data for medical fraud."

According to an FBI estimate, one medical record can sell for as much as $50 in an underground marketplace, in stark contrast to the few dollars a stolen credit card might bring in. Stolen medical information commonly on sale on the black market includes names, dates of birth, billing information, diagnosis codes and policy numbers. This data is then used by cybercriminals to create fake IDs in order to purchase prescriptions or medical equipment that can be resold, or to make phony insurance claims.

Low funding, high risk
One of the major drivers in the increase in healthcare data breaches is the recent switch to electronic medical records. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CIO John Halamka said that IT departments in the healthcare industry commonly receive between only 2 and 3 percent of an organization's budget, compared with the 20 percent offered to those in retail and financial industries, yet organizations are being forced to rely on technical solutions. Perhaps because of the lack of funding, a recent study by security firm BitSight Technology found that healthcare providers respond more slowly to data breaches than any other sector, compounding the problem.

The Ponemon Institute report found that the healthcare industry loses $5.6 billion a year due to security incidents. As cybercriminals continue to find more sophisticated attack methods and target larger amounts of information, healthcare providers will have to find a more secure way of storing their electronic medical records. A reliable way to protect patient data is to utilize cloud storage services. Data saved in the cloud can be easily encrypted and kept in a separate place from other enterprise information. Business continuity procedures are also improved by keeping health records in the cloud, as duplicate data can be stored offsite and kept safe in case a system is compromised or a disaster were to occur. Cloud services are a cost-effective storage option as they are highly scalable and require healthcare providers to only pay for the amount of service being used. This allows cash-strapped organizations to protect sensitive information without breaking the bank. 

Companies find increased reliability, flexibility with desktop virtualization

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As bring-your-own-device policies and remote working have become increasingly popular and resource optimization has become more necessary, keeping enterprise IT current and efficient is growing more complex all the time. Between PCs and each employee's personal devices, upgrading the applications and operating systems on individual endpoints can consume time and resources that most companies just don't have. Luckily, desktop virtualization and remote application delivery have emerged as reliable alternatives to traditional network delivery.

As Tech Radar contributor David Howell noted, moving to a virtual desktop environment offers small- and medium-sized businesses dramatic gains in control, as well as being an effective way to future-proof IT systems. A recent study by VMware found that 90 percent of enterprise IT departments spend at least half of their time completing routine administrative tasks. SMBs that have implemented virtualization, however, reported experiencing an increase in productivity and 73 percent said they witnessed significant improvements in the amount of time spent completing administrative tasks.

When an office transitions to a virtual desktop environment, it means that the computers employees use have desktops delivered and controlled directly from a central server room. This offers centralized management of the office's desktops, since each one is virtualized and provided in an isolated state, creating a highly secure network environment. 

"Desktop, or endpoint, virtualization enables a centralized server to deliver and manage individual desktops remotely," according to Symantec. "While users enjoy full access to their systems, IT staff can provision, manage, upgrade, and patch them virtually, instead of physically. This also means that users can access files and applications on a central server. Companies might also opt for a hybrid scenario where users can access some applications through a central virtualized server and others through their local computers."

Enterprises see a variety of benefits with virtualization
Transitioning to a virtual environment and leaving behind traditionally installed OSs and applications enables businesses to be more flexible and agile, as virtual desktops can change in real time to reflect the work at hand while all being managed from a single, central location. Virtualization also allows companies to offer their employees more mobility, being able to access data and applications from the same work environment no matter where they are. Workers can easily connect to servers from multiple devices as all the necessary components are available at login.

Adopting desktop virtualization is also cost-effective and provides a high return on investment, as it offers a customized user experience that is more scalable and reliable than traditional options. Business continuity is improved with the use of desktop virtualization, with all data saved in an off-site data center that prevents lost, stolen or damaged devices from having a damaging impact on the organization's daily processes. At the same time virtualization makes for a logical addition to any enterprise disaster recovery plan, as desktop applications are being offered through an off-site server, so power outages or extreme weather won't affect business. Running operating systems and applications through a virtual machine increases enterprise security by allowing employees a safe way to access sensitive corporate information.