Interviewer – John Gilroy – Host, Federal Tech Talk Podcast from the Federal News Network
Interviewee – Chris Bayne – Infrascale, Chief Solution Architect
A Conversation about Endpoint Backup with Chris Bayne, from Infrascale
John Gilroy, host of the Federal Tech Talk Podcast sat down with Chris Bayne, Chief Solution Architect at Infrascale to discuss how businesses should protect their laptops and desktops using an endpoint backup and recovery solution. During the interview Chris defines endpoints, describes endpoint backup, and discusses why endpoint backup is important for businesses and business risk managers – especially given the increase in remote work environments and looming threat of ransomware.
What is an Endpoint?
John Gilroy: Hi Chris. It is a pleasure to meet you and thank you for taking time to speak with me. With the current pandemic and the increase in work-from-home employees, there has been a lot of discussion about endpoint protection. Please help me understand. What is an endpoint?
Chris Bayne: Thank you, and that is a good question. Simply put, an endpoint is any device that is physically at the “end point” of a network – I.e. a device that communicates back and forth on the network to which it is connected. Laptops, desktops, mobile phones, tablets, servers, and virtual machines can all be considered endpoints.
With workforces becoming more mobile and users connecting to corporate networks from endpoint devices all over the world, data is everywhere. Companies need to protect this data, even when it resides outside the four walls of an office building. Due to the increase in remote work environments and the proliferation of endpoint devices, any endpoint represents a vector for cybercriminals, where attackers could execute code and exploit the vulnerability of whatever protection the endpoint may or may not have. In addition, the data on these endpoint devices such as Android and iOS phones/tablets, Windows and MAC desktops/laptops, or/and Windows servers, must adhere to more stringent corporate retention requirements.
What is Endpoint Backup?
John Gilroy: Thank you for defining endpoints. Now help me understand what endpoint backup is?
Chris Bayne: The SANS Institute, the most trusted and largest source of information security training and certification in the world, recently found that 44% of respondents admitted that one or more of their endpoints had been compromised in the past 2 years. The risk associated with the rapid rise in connected endpoint devices has highlighted the critical need to protect important endpoint data. Forward thinking organizations are adopting solutions to address this risk, such as deploying an endpoint backup solution.
Endpoint backup solutions enable the transmission of data from an endpoint — whether Android and iOS phones/tablets, Windows and MAC desktops/laptops, or Windows servers — to the cloud for safekeeping. These solutions then provide restoration of that data to help protect businesses against lost information due to malicious or accidental deletion, solve for insufficient device data retention policies, detect, and/or prevent cybersecurity threats including ransomware attacks.
Why is Endpoint Backup Important?
John Gilroy: Why is endpoint backup so important and what is driving the increased interest in endpoint backup?
Chris Bayne: Let’s start with two givens:
- Data is Mobile, Data is Everywhere: With workforces becoming more mobile and users connecting to corporate networks from endpoint devices all over the world, data is everywhere. Companies need to protect this data, even when it resides outside the four walls of an office building.
- Backup is Good: Why? Backing up data is just good sense to combat accidental or malicious deletions, hard drive crashes, lost/stolen laptops, and retention requirements.
With a given of data proliferation, the ugly trend is: bad guys are paying attention and using new vectors of attack on endpoints and remote workers – via malware and ransomware.
By all indications it appears that remote work is here to stay, and it’s not a passing trend that will go away when society reopens. It is a new way of life for businesses and their employees, and it is, therefore, very important that they have a secure, easy to configure, and easy to manage endpoint protection solution in place. The pandemic has certainly brought that all to light.
The large increase in work-from-home environments and increased use of BYOD (bring-your-own-device) in corporate work has had a significant impact on IT departments. IT departments have a lot less security control over off-site devices, and the infrastructure protecting those endpoints. Unfortunately, the bad actors know this, as seen by the almost 400% growth in ransomware over the last two years. During a ransomware attack, malware encrypts a victim’s files, and then payment is demanded to restore access to the victim’s data. Research shows that every 14 seconds a business falls victim to a ransomware attack, and that 60% of SMBs close within six months of being a victim of a cybersecurity breach.
Endpoint Backup: A Ransomware Case Study
John Gilroy: These trends are very interesting. Can you provide an example of a business that was impacted by ransomware, and how they responded?
Chris Bayne: Absolutely. One of our MSP partners provides a point-of-sale solution to their end customers. Five of their customers were impacted by ransomware attacks within a couple of months of each other. Of those five customers, three had deployed the Infrascale Cloud Backup (ICB) endpoint backup solution, and two were running a competitor’s solution. From the Infrascale backups, the three ICB customers were able to restore their data very quickly from backups taken prior to infection, and their business was back to full, pre-infected productivity within hours! The customers that were not running the Infrascale solution were down and unable to process credit card transactions for several days! This downtime resulted in significant lost revenue. Based on a recent Infrascale survey, conducted with over 500 C-level SMB executives, the average per hour downtime cost for an SMB customers is between $20,000 and $50,000. Thus, each ICB customer saved an estimated $320,000 to $800,000 in potential costs by deploying an effective and reliable endpoint backup solution.
What is Infrascale Cloud Backup (ICB)?
John Gilroy: Please tell me more about your Infrascale solution for endpoint backup and recovery
Chris Bayne: Infrascale Cloud Backup (ICB) is our direct-to-cloud endpoint backup solution that protects business devices including laptops and desktops – as well as servers such as Microsoft Exchange and SQL databases. ICB provides simple backup, fast restore, and protection (detection and mitigation) from ransomware for their endpoints. Optionally, it can also support Windows bare metal systems on virtual and physical machines. There are three foundational elements that sets ICB apart as a cloud endpoint backup solution:
- Ease of Use
- Security
- Ease of Management
Our goal is to arm IT administrators with robust ransomware detection, monitoring, and management tools — while still providing end-customers with an easy-to-use and robust backup solution. With just a few clicks, it can be up and running on a Windows, Mac, IOS, or Android device. ICB protects the most critical data, including files and folders, SQL databases, Exchange data files, and QuickBooks and other accounting files. Equally as important, it makes recovery and the restoration of the critical data and business processes fast and easy – both for end users and for administrators.
The ICB ransomware detection capabilities identify when an attack occurs, so you know the optimal recovery point. In addition, Infrascale Cloud Backup keeps an unlimited number of versions of the files that we are protecting. Therefore, if a data corruption occurs, you will be able to quickly restore your data. The ICB management tools are designed to help administrators and IT managers. A single pane-of-glass management interface enables customers to remotely manage, remotely restore data, build polices and deployment rules, as well as manage reporting and alerting to monitor backup operations. ICB also provides granular monitoring and automated reporting – as well as integration with Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)/Professional Services Automation (PSA).
How can I find out more about Infrascale Cloud Backup?
John Gilroy: Chris, this interview has been great, and I really appreciate your time. How do I find out more about Infrascale Cloud Backup?
Chris Bayne: The best place to get more information about Infrascale Cloud Backup is from the Infrascale Cloud Backup product page. I also recommend watching our live-streamed video recording from Cloud Field Day 8 and/or a visit our YouTube channel. Lastly, the Infrascale documentation portal provides a wealth of information on our endpoint backup solution – or you can contact a Infrascale sales representative for more information and to schedule a demo.
