Blog Header Banner

Archive for the ‘turnkey vault’ tag

4 Best Practices For Backing Up Your Data   1 comment

Posted at Sep 14, 2021 @ 9:00am backup

Data BackupData corruption, hardware failure and malicious attacks are just a few of the threats that can harm your personal or business files, and if you failed to properly back up your data, you will be out of luck. Taking the right steps when backing up your data will give you peace of mind because you will know that your files are not in danger. No matter if you are trying to safeguard family pictures or business contacts, the following information will help you reach your goals.

1. Utilize The Cloud

When protecting your data is your No. 1 goal, you might feel as though creating a local backup is enough, but it’s not. If all of your files are stored on the same server, then you will still lose everything if that server gets destroyed. The good news is that you can combat this problem by utilizing a Cloud Backup solution. This option involves uploading the data that you want to protect to ‘The Cloud’ – a cluster of servers located in a remote, secure data center.

If something happens to your main or local storage server, cloud backups enable you to still have access to the files that you need. Best of all, your data will be available anytime, anywhere, and from nearly any device.

2. Set a Schedule

After learning about the importance of keeping backups, many businesses either dedicate a server to secure their files or rent one. At first, they put in the effort to create backups on a regular basis, but they don’t remain dedicated to the process. As time goes on, they often stop using their backup servers. To avoid that situation, you can determine how often you need to create backups and set a schedule.

When you do so, staying on track will be that much easier. Some people backup their files one time each week, but others do so every night. The number of backups that you want to create will depend on several factors, but the important part is to remain consistent.

3. Set a Retention Limit

Once you have a backup system in place, you want to decide on the amount of time that you will store your data. Many businesses will delete some backups every few months or years, but you might need to keep some records for as long as you can. For example, tax records should be saved for seven years if you don’t want to encounter problems.

Although deciding which files to keep is not always an easy task, prioritizing your data can help. The length of time that you will keep each backup will also depend on the amount of storage space that is available to you. So if your current solutions are not meeting your needs, then it could be time to consider upgrading.

4. Use Encryption

Backing up your data is a smart move, but you also need to protect your files from unauthorized individuals. Criminals try to target servers that have the least amount of protection because they want to access data easily. If you don’t secure your files, then you could become a victim. If you own or manage a business, then you are also putting your customers’ data at risk, which is not acceptable.

When you encrypt your data, you scramble the code in a way that makes it all but impossible to read. Even if someone can obtain your files, they will not be able to do anything with them. Only those authorized with the decryption key will be able to actually view your data.

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring the threats that can destroy your data. If a business loses its clients’ contact information, then that business could fail. Even if a company can recover from data loss, the fallout could have a lasting impact on its reputation. If customers don’t think that a business takes steps to keep their digital information safe, then they will find a company that does.

Looking for the easiest way to protect your data while utilizing all of the best practices mentioned above?  Look no further than TurnKey Internet’s next-generation Cloud Backup solutions.  What makes us the absolute best Cloud Backup solution on the market is our system was built from the ground up with business users in mind. From encryption so strong that even we can’t see your data, to the most advanced features on the market – like Live Cloud Replication, bare metal recovery and the ability to restore a server, PC or even an entire office of computers, live, in real-time, into a fully functional, cloud-based virtual environment accessible from anywhere over the Internet.

TurnKey Internet’s next-generation Cloud Backup technology offers true Business Continuity and peace of mind through cloud-based redundancy that allows you to restore anything, anytime, anywhere. For more information, visit TurnKeyInternet.net

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by admin on September 14th, 2021

Tagged with , , ,

Business Continuity: How The Cloud Can Help   no comments

Posted at Jun 15, 2021 @ 9:00am cloud,disaster recovery

Business Continuity - How The Cloud Can Help

For many, the cloud is simply where you store your personal files with the ability to access them from anywhere. However, let’s say you wanted to backup your company’s important data and have it stored offsite, especially for your Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery plan. Until rather recently, the main option for backups were to do it all locally or on-premises. The backups were usually stored on a disk or even an additional tape drive. Larger businesses may have had another tier that sent backups off site for archiving.

Research conducted by technology research firm of Gartner Inc, shows that backups in an onsite server room or office only worked about 85% of the time. Remote offices were even worse at 75% of the time. Making matters worse, is that you do not know if you have a bad backup until you attempt to restore it. With the introduction of the cloud, the game has changed. You can now backup fast and secure to a hybrid cloud backup via cloud replication.

The hybrid cloud backup or disk-to-disk-to-cloud, allows you to maintain an initial disk backup, which is still stored in house, but has an additional tier that stores the backup in the cloud. The data can be sent in real time to a cloud based server which allows you to have a full copy of your data instantly. For example, say you have a server at your office that experiences a hardware failure, which results in 100% data loss. Since you have cloud replication enabled in your backup, you can simply download your backup from the cloud or redirect traffic to your cloud server. Since the cloud replicated your data in real time, the cloud backup, will match 100% with your dying server.

This tends to be the best of both worlds as the cloud tier is scalable, easy to manager and guarantees data restores properly. Also, restoring from the cloud is perfect for remote offices that aren’t near the local disk backup. With TurnKey Internet’s on premise cloud infrastructure, your data is available instantly and can be accessed remotely from anywhere in the world via our multiple redundant 100 gigabit fiber connections. This removes the bottleneck of your local internet service provider’s bandwidth availability, and saves potentially hours of business critical time waiting for your systems to be back in working order.

Should a disaster occur in which your infrastructure is no longer available or accessible to be restored, the need to purchase new hardware can be completely eliminated. Utilizing our existing cloud infrastructure you can be back online in minutes, not days. Employees can continue their work from home, remotely accessing images of their old workstations running live in the cloud, ensuring your business does not skip a beat.

This type of business continuity is truly invaluable, industry exclusive, and available 24/7/365. For more information and a FREE Disaster Recovery consultation, go to TurnKeyInternet.net/myplan

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by David Maurer on June 15th, 2021

Tagged with , , , ,

Moving your Business to the Cloud – Why it Makes Sense   no comments

Posted at Oct 6, 2020 @ 9:00am cloud

cloudknife

Today’s fast-paced and competitive business market demands that you keep up with the latest technology if you want to outperform your rivals. One of the greatest challenges with running a business today centers on storing your business’s information securely and efficiently. Rather than get bogged down with costly, time-consuming, and outdated IT infrastructures, you can increase your profits, expand your brand, keep your information secure, and outpace your business competitors by moving your small business to the cloud today.

 

Serving Your Customers Better

Time is money when it comes to serving your customers. When your IT infrastructure goes down, you are unable to help your clients and thus end up losing money that your business needs to survive and grow. You could even lose sales and profits to your competitors.

Because it is not prone to costly, time-consuming outages, the cloud proves to be the better, more affordable option for your business. You avoid losing time and money and your business can grow and profit at a pace that is not available with outdated database technology.

 

Growing Your Corporate Brand

Onsite or in-office data centers only allow your business to grow and expand so far in the market. When you want your company to go beyond your current limitations, you can go just about anywhere when you move your business to the cloud.

With its mobility, easy access, and user-friendly design, the cloud does not limit you to a physical location or within a specific boundary in the local market. You can access your company’s information from any location as well as send out projects to your employees regardless of where they are when you move your company’s operations to the cloud. This mobility puts you on target to reaching more customers and getting your business’s brand before an even larger audience.

 

Staying Up with the Latest Trend

You are not alone in your decision to move your business to the cloud. In fact, you will find yourself in great company as more business owners likewise decide to take advantage of this technology.

The latest studies show that more companies of all sizes are deciding to switch to cloud technology and away from outdated, costly, and time-consuming IT databases. By the end of 2020, close to 80 percent of all businesses worldwide will have made use of cloud technology. Why be one of the last ones to take advantage of the newest and most innovative technology when you can make the switch today to the cloud? By moving your business to the cloud, you stay on top of your competition and make available technology that will let you serve your customers better and increase your profits to even higher levels.

Running a business of any size today requires that you make use of today’s most innovative and affordable technology. Whether it’s to improve performance or Disaster Recovery planning, utilizing cloud-based servers and backup solutions is essential. When you want to expand your brand without putting a lot of money into a restrictive and outdated IT infrastructure, you can stay at the top of your competitive game by moving your company to the cloud today.

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by David Maurer on October 6th, 2020

Tagged with , , , ,

Disaster Recovery in the Cloud   no comments

Posted at Mar 17, 2020 @ 9:00am cloud

Disaster Recovery in the Cloud

The cloud has changed the way that many businesses handle disaster recovery and business continuity planning. One of the biggest changes the cloud has brought to the business world is the ability for smaller organizations to use the type of data recovery systems that historically were only available to large organizations.

Now, any business’ disaster recovery plan can include complete data backups that are off-site and redundant. Prior to cloud backup systems, businesses were often limited to storing data backups on-site. If a fire broke out or servers were damaged in some other way, on-site data would be lost. Off-site backups frequently required manually making copies of data and/or moving storage media to a different location before cloud computing streamlined the backup process.

The cloud now allows data to be saved automatically, and many businesses are working off of cloud-based systems at all times. Another major benefit of using the cloud for backups is that many other types of data storage have significant failure rates. Tapes, in particular, were used for decades as a method of storing backup data, but it has been found that they have about a 10 percent failure rate.

Cloud computing offers redundant file storage, so unlike with tapes or even hard drives that could potentially fail, data saved to the cloud is almost guaranteed to always be available. Systems can be set in place to backup data automatically, and cloud storage allows you to keep multiple copies of records with different time-stamps.

Another major benefit of using these types of backup systems is that they can be used almost anywhere. So long as an employee has access to the internet, they should be able to log into the cloud and access business files and applications.

The Cloud is helping businesses recover their most critical systems and data faster, while also avoiding the expensive infrastructure costs of onsite or in-office data centers and server rooms. Leveraging a cloud backup solution is by far one of the best, most cost effective ways to protect your company and ensure business continuity when disaster strikes.

TurnKey Internet combines advanced technologies with an easy-to-use graphical interface that allows the scheduling and configuration of the backup of your critical data. Entire operating systems, whether it be physical or virtual, databases or individual files and folders can be safely and securely replicated to TurnKey’s state of the art, secured data center facility. Data can then be restored into our on-site cloud environment or quickly and securely pushed back down to your location.

Protect anything, anytime, anywhere.

Contact TurnKey Internet today for a FREE consultation regarding cloud based disaster recovery solutions for your business. Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by David Maurer on March 17th, 2020

Tagged with , , ,

Ransomware, Careless Employees, and IT Gremlins – Better Have Backups   no comments

Posted at Oct 2, 2018 @ 9:00am disaster recovery

Better Have Backups

From buying insurance policies to installing security cameras, you take every possible step to protect your business from disaster. But you power on your computer and are met with a screen that claims to have encrypted all of your files. Unless you pay a fee before the timer expires, the program will delete your files forever. Although each situation will be different, this is what will likely happen when ransomware strikes your business.

If you store your customer data, tax information, contracts or any other important files on your network, your business can suffer. Not only will ransomware lock your files, but it can also destroy your reputation if your customers find out that your servers are not secure. When the future of your business is on the line, you can’t afford to leave yourself exposed to the threat.

Taking preventative steps to minimize the effects ransomware is a lot easier than trying to remove it. Once the ransomware takes over a computer, you won’t be able to recover your files without paying the ransom. To ensure your business is ready for a ransomware attack, you should focus on some key areas:

 

Employee Education

Criminals and hackers will use a range of tactics to infect a business or organization with their malicious software, including sending an email containing an infected link to one of your employees. The infected email can even be made to appear as if it came from one of your company’s email addresses. The moment your employee clicks on the link, the ransomware will jump into action and hold your files hostage. Also, if a member of your team is infected at home and brings a flash drive to work, you could have a problem on your hands.

Teaching your employees how to stay safe online is one of the top ways to protect your business from such attacks. If you want to avoid taking unneeded risks, prevent your employees from using personal devices on your network. Ensure that each person who works for you knows not to click on links unless they are sure that no danger is present. When someone from your company sends an email, have your team call the person to confirm that the email is legitimate. In addition to showing people how to stay safe when they use your network, consider putting policies in place to add an extra layer of protection.

 

Cloud Backups

Ransomware can easily spread across your office network, encrypting and possibly deleting all of your company’s files. If you want to do everything that you can to avoid such a disaster, consider getting an off-site dedicated server or cloud backup solution for your business. Doing so will allow you to store copies of your files outside of your infected office network, so that you can recover them after an attack.

One thing to keep in mind when searching for a cloud backup provider is storage limits. If your business has a large amount of data that will need to be backed up into the cloud, consider looking for a provider that offers an unlimited storage option.

 

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)

No matter how prepared, you can never totally eliminate the threat of ransomware. Even if you have taken the step to backup all of you company’s critical files, you can still be left with the daunting task of restoring all that data as well as needing to recover your company’s entire IT infrastructure. This is where Disaster Recovery as a Service or DRaaS comes in.

With a DRaaS solution, you can have a complete backup of your business’s vital IT infrastructure at an off-site datacenter. Entire operating systems, whether it be physical or virtual, databases or individual files and folders can all safely and securely be replicated to a datacenter. Data can then be securely pushed back down to your office location, or it can even be restored into a virtual cloud environment, utilizing Cloud Replication.

 

Cloud Replication

DRaaS solutions that feature Cloud Replication allow for the restoration of data to a virtualized server. Utilizing an off-site datacenter’s cloud infrastructure, data can be made available instantly, then accessed remotely from anywhere in the world over multiple, redundant, high speed networks. This removes the bottleneck of local internet service providers bandwidth availability, and saves potentially hours of business critical time by bypassing the need to wait for your onsite systems to restore and be back in working order.

Should a disaster occur in which your infrastructure is no longer available or accessible to be restored, the need to purchase new hardware can be completely eliminated. Utilizing a DRaaS solution can have your business back online in minutes, not days. Employees can continue their work from home, remotely accessing images of their old workstations running live in the cloud, ensuring your business does not skip a beat.

 

Be Prepared When IT Disasters Strike

TurnKey Internet is Upstate New York’s only Tier IV featured Data Center providing 100% Guaranteed Uptime. We offer Colocation, IT Infrastructure, New York to California replication, on-premise 24×7 expert local staff, and the Cloud solutions to help your business succeed.

TurnKey’s DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service) solution offers live Cloud Replication for your on-premise IT infrastructure to our Tier IV featured Data Center in a secure virtualized hybrid environment that is instantly available and securely accessed remotely from anywhere.

Don’t gamble, call TurnKey Internet at 518-618-0999 or visit turnkeyinternet.net/myplan to receive a FREE consultation of your company’s Disaster Recovery Plan.

  Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by David Maurer on October 2nd, 2018

Tagged with , , , , , ,

Best Practices For Protecting Your Data   no comments

Posted at Oct 25, 2016 @ 10:34am backup

Protecting Data

When businesses save files to their hard drive or another storage device, they often feel as though their data will always be available when they need it. That assumption, however, is dangerous and can cause any company to lose their important files. Data corruption, hardware failure and malicious attacks are just a few of the threats that can harm your files, and those who fail to back up their data will be out of luck. Confused and frustrated, these individuals often find out the hard way that they should have taken action.

If you don’t want to repeat the same mistake, then it’s time to take a look at the different ways that you can protect your data from being destroyed. Taking the right steps will give you peace of mind because you will know that your files are not in danger. No matter if you are trying to safeguard family pictures or business contacts, the following information will help you reach your goals.

 

Cloud Backup

When protecting your data is your No. 1 goal, you might feel as though creating a local backup is enough, but it’s not. If all of your files are stored on the same server, then you will still lose everything if that server gets destroyed. The good news is that you can combat this problem by utilizing a Cloud Backup solution. This option involves uploading the data that you want to protect to ‘The Cloud’ – a cluster of servers located in a remote, secure datacenter.

If something happens to your main or local storage server, cloud backups enable you to still have access to the files that you need. Best of all, your data will be available anytime, anywhere, and from nearly any device.

 

Set a Schedule

After learning about the importance of keeping backups, many businesses either dedicate a server to secure their files or rent one. At first, they put in the effort to create backups on a regular basis, but they don’t remain dedicated to the process. As time goes on, they often stop using their backup servers. To avoid that situation, you can determine how often you need to create backups and set a schedule.

When you do so, staying on track will be that much easier. Some people backup their files one time each week, but others do so every night. The number of backups that you want to create will depend on several factors, but the important part is to remain consistent.

 

Set a Retention Limit

Once you have a backup system in place, you want to decide on the amount of time that you will store your data. Many businesses will delete some backups every few months or years, but you might need to keep some records for as long as you can. For example, tax records should be saved for seven years if you don’t want to encounter problems.

Although deciding which files to keep is not always an easy task, prioritizing your data can help. The length of time that you will keep each backup will also depend on the amount of storage space that is available to you. So if your current solutions are not meeting your needs, then it could be time to consider upgrading.

 

Use Encryption

Backing up your data is a smart move, but you also need to protect your files from unauthorized individuals. Criminals try to target servers that have the least amount of protection because they want to access data easily. If you don’t secure your files, then you could become a victim. If you own or manage a business, then you are also putting your customers’ data at risk, which is not acceptable.

When you encrypt your data, you scramble the code in a way that makes it all but impossible to read. Even if someone can obtain your files, they will not be able to do anything with them. Only those authorized with the decryption key will be able to actually view your data.

 

Final Thoughts

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring the threats that can destroy your data. If a business loses its clients’ contact information, then that business could fail. Even if a company can recover from data loss, the fallout could have a lasting impact on its reputation. If customers don’t think that a business takes steps to keep their digital information safe, then they will find a company that does.

As technology continues to improve, you will start to depend on it more and more each day, and the dangers involved with not protecting yourself will only increase. Backing up your data right now could be a choice that saves your business from failure, and you should keep that fact at the front of your mind when you are making your decision.

Looking for the easiest way to protect your data while utilizing all of the best practices mentioned above?  Look no further than TurnKey Internet’s next-generation Cloud Backup solution – TurnKey Vault.  What makes TurnKey Vault the absolute best Cloud Backup solution on the market is our system was built from the ground up with business users in mind. From encryption so strong that even we can’t see your data, to the most advanced features on the market – like Live Cloud Replication, bare metal recovery and the ability to restore a server, PC or even an entire office of computers, live, in real-time, into a fully functional, cloud-based virtual environment accessible from anywhere over the Internet.

TurnKey Vault’s next-generation Cloud Backup technology offers true Business Continuity and peace of mind through cloud-based redundancy that allows you to restore anything, anytime, anywhere. For more information, visit TurnKeyVault.com

  Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by David Maurer on October 25th, 2016

Tagged with , , , , ,

It’s 2016 – Is Your Office Server or Web Site Being Held Hostage?   no comments

Posted at May 5, 2016 @ 6:07am cloud security

ransomwareThe latest wave of computer security news may sound like the headline of a new Bruce Willis movie – but Ransomware is now part of the daily conversation between not only security experts, but unfortunately by office managers and PC users across the globe having to deal with the ramifications.

This year malware infections, more specifically ransomware, have seen an exponential growth. They are also becoming more sophisticated, using newer methods that are not only harder to detect, but also require less user interaction.

Security researchers report attackers are not only upgrading their malware to make it more unbreakable, they are also using unique methods of distribution. In some cases, these methods require no user interaction at all.

In the past, most ransomware infections occurred via phishing attacks, which required a user to click on a malicious website or email link. But these newer attacks are less dependent on user interaction and more dependent on unpatched vulnerabilities or poor security practices.

These new breeds of ransomware are utilizing more advanced methods to attack computers and encrypt their files, before you even realize what’s happened. You are then forced to either pay the ransom or hope you have a backup recent enough to prevent any lost data.

To protect yourself you need to follow best practices, such as

  1. backup your servers and PC’s
  2. backup your servers and PC’s
  3. see item (1) and (2) above (seriously!)
  4. keep your software and systems patched and up-to-date
  5. Have a corporate gateway firewall with advanced threat protection
  6. Have / Install / Update local AntiVirus and Malware Software protection
  7. Always avoid opening un-expected emails or attachments
  8. Avoid clicking to web sites you don’t recognize (especially if sent in email)
  9. if you aren’t backing up your servers and PC’s already – stop reading and visit https://turnkeyvault.com/

It’s pretty simple – the same things that protect your office data and servers from most threats apply here, but the damage of ransomware encrypting and disabling all your corporate data within seconds or minutes is real and has lead to some high profile cases including hospitals being locked out of all their data due to ransomware!  Don’t let your business fall victim to the bad-named villain of a Bruce Willis movie – ransomware is among the most costly cyber threats actively attacking businesses right this very second.

Make no mistake – backing up your data is a must have in any security policy, and utilizing a secure remote cloud based backup solution such as  TurnKey Vault is ideal.  Make sure whatever backup solution you deploy offers data encryption, supports both desktop PC’s and Macs, as well as Linux and Windows based servers.  A backup solution like TurnKey Vault offers live cloud replication which will get you back on your feet in minutes in case of a true disaster by creating a live cloud-based copy of any PC workstation or Server accessible from anywhere over the Internet to get you access to your data and applications quickly.  If ransomware takes over your office network you can spin up a backup live copy of your servers and PC’s with TurnKey Vault from a time before the ransomware took over your office – and will have you saying “Yippee Ki-Yay” just like Bruce Willis as the ransomeware data hostage takers wont ever see a dime, and you will have all your data safe and secure.

  Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

No April Fools – World Backup Day Was March 31st   no comments

Posted at Apr 1, 2015 @ 12:01am backup

worldbackupday1You know, one thing that has become apparent about March is that a lot of  people celebrate birthdays. It seems everyday that I login to Facebook  there is another 8 people born on the same day. I don’t think I can recall  any other month has as many celebrations as  this past March, however, for  this post, we will be talking about one day in particular, March 31st.

Besides being the last day of the month, this day has a particular meaning  to it. Quick, what is the most important commodity of your business?  Anybody? No? Your data. This data could be anything from accounting records  to credit card numbers, tax records, phone numbers or even a Facebook calendar with  everyones’ birthday. Your data is among the most important commodities to your company. We all know this, but yet, why do so many of us  fail to protect our data?

You may  be saying, ‘I protect my data. I have a firewall!!!’ That’s not  the type of protection that I’m referring to and as any reader of this blog  knows, I best illustrate by providing examples. So, lets say you had been  working on a project for months. You had spent hours in development.  Tinkering until the site was the exact setup you want and then, BAM,  diaster strikes. Your hard drive dies and you lose all of your work. How  could this of been prevented? Backups, which brings us to the importance of  March 31st.

You see, March 31st is the World Backup Day. No, it’s not an offically  holiday, but that doesn’t diminish the importance on the day. We all have  data that is very important to us. This data takes many forms and if we  lost it, could greatly affect our businesses. World Backup Day, March 31st,  is a day set to remind us to backup our data. If you haven’t already, why  not? Have you seen the backup options over at turnkeyvault.com? Something  to fit everyones situation.

So April 1st comes around, with March now in the rear view mirror – and people shout April Fools – but if you don’t want to be the subject of a tragic April Fools day gone bad we hope you took a moment to make sure you business has a backup plan, and that its working.  Every year we replace computers, servers, laptops and more – so its easy to forget to make sure each new device is being backed up – but March 31st is a great day to remind yourself each year to double check them all in your office. Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by Jeremy on April 1st, 2015

Tagged with , , , , ,