Authority_October_2020

40 October 2020 - The Authority ware, or other malicious attacks, customers may need to recover envi- ronments to previous points in time. Granular point-in-time recovery is critical as it protects and recovers data and IT environments that have been corrupted. Currently solutions allow you to select either the latest state or an earlier state from a list of points in time. Automated Failback Once a disaster is over, automatic failback to the source infrastructure can be initiated. Because the failback technology utilizes the same agent- based block-level Continuous Data Replication engine, failback to source machines is rapid and data is con- tinuously synched in real-time. This automated failback supports both full as well as incremental restores. Putting your Plan to the Test with Disaster Recovery Drills If you don’t test your DR Plan, how do you know if it will work during a crisis? Best Practice is for a business to run a DR drill at least quarterly. With continuous replication, DR drills can be scheduled at any time with the results of drills formalized and avail- able for future reference. One of the most crucial benefits of this continuous replication approach is that you can conduct disaster recovery drills without disrupting your source environment or risking data loss. During drills, the application spins up machines in complete isolation to avoid network conflicts and perfor - mance impact. Because you are using an offsite version of your data, there is no need to provision or pay in advance for the resources needed during the disaster recovery drill, plus you can avoid the expenses associated with manually testing your backup. Critical Questions When planning your disaster recovery strategy, there are several questions you should ask yourself (and your IT partner): • How may critical applications do you rely on to run your authority? • How long could you operate without these critical applications? • How quickly could you get to your data in the case of a drive failure, ran- somware attack or other disaster? • When is the last time you ran a full disaster recover drill—and recovered using the back up of your data? • When is your last accessible data backup point? • How quickly could your authority recover from a ransomware attack? • What will the public relations impact be if you are unable to quickly recover from a ransomware attack? Conclusion Ransomware is a significant threat to us all and it’s not likely to go away any time soon. Thankfully, there are strong, affordable and effective solutions available now that can give Authorities the tools they need to fight against the criminals that perpetrate these crimes. When it comes to ran- somware, a strong offense is the best defense against this threat. About 1MARK TM An endorsed member program that provides specialized solutions to tech- nology issues faced by Authorities and other municipal government organiza- tions. Our flagship product 1MARK 811 offers a complete One Call Ticket Management Solution for the Damage Prevention Industry. We also offer 1MARK DR TM , a disaster recovery solution that significantly improves how Authorities handle cyber security, including building a defense against ransomware attacks and providing routine testing of data backups. For more information about 1MARK TM and 1MARK DR TM , please visit PMAA’s website and find us under Endorsed Member Programs or contact us at 1-866-935-1533 or support@1mark.org . When it comes to ransomware, a strong offense is the best defense against this threat.