Backup Security Best Practices

Network and mobile data breaches get much of the publicity www.mcafee.com/activate today, but there’s another www.mcafee.com/activate product mcafee.com/activate product key key less publicized avenue susceptible www.mcafee/activate to both insider www.mcafee.com/activate download and outsider attacks: backup. In early April, for example, Emory Healthcare in Atlanta lost the personal information.

Threats to backups come from external hackers, company insiders, loss or theft of backup data and media in transit www.mcafee.com/activate, and the employees of services you entrust your backup data and media to. Threats are not just about data theft www.mcafee/activate, but inattention to proper procedures, and intentional destruction of backup media and data that www.mcafee.com/activate download suddenly become critical in the www.mcafee.com/activate product key event of a disaster.

Threats can mcafee.com/activate product key also come from unregulated personal backups, including the use of personal file storage services.

That’s why your organization should make sure that its security professionals, not just the storage folks www.mcafee.com/activate download, are involved in crafting and monitoring www.mcafee/activate backup strategies and procedures. For the storage www.mcafee.com/activate folks, the focus is likely to be on convenience and speedy recovery, perhaps sometimes at the expense www.mcafee.com/activate product key mcafee.com/activate product key of security. Here are some important security best practices to consider when crafting a backup strategy.

1. Perform a security risk assessment of your www.mcafee/activate entire backup process. Examine every step for vulnerabilities and remedies.
2. Run a comprehensive risk analysis of the data you back up regularly to determine its sensitivity and appropriate www.mcafee.com/activate www.mcafee.com/activate measures to protect www.mcafee/activate it. Some data might need a lot of protection and have compliance mcafee.com/activate product key implications while other data is public anyway and doesn’t need much security.
3. Make sure you set up your backup software so the backup client and server authenticate each other www.mcafee.com/activate before a backup is performed www.mcafee/activate. You don’t want a thief setting up a mcafee.com/activate product key rogue backup server and initiating www.mcafee.com/activate download his or her own backup. The same goes for recovery.
   
4. Encrypt sensitive backup data www.mcafee.com/activate product key in transit and at rest to prevent prying eyes in the event of man in the middle attacks or media theft. Encryption www.mcafee/activate can affect performance mcafee.com/activate product key and backup volume www.mcafee.com/activate download, which www.mcafee.com/activate is why you want to encrypt only the data that needs it and why it’s important to perform Step 2.
5. Make sure your backup software offers lots of granularity in assigning administrator roles, so one administrator www.mcafee.com/activate product key does not have access  www.mcafee/activate to all your data. Ensure that sensitive data can only be accessed by those who absolutely need it, and that mcafee.com/activate product key they have the www.mcafee.com/activate download trust and authority www.mcafee.com/activate to do so. Make sure backup configuration files are only accessible to authorized users.
   
6. Keep track of known backup software security flaws and updates.
7. Make more than one copy www.mcafee.com/activate product key of your backup data www.mcafee/activate and assign different staff mcafee.com/activate product key to perform and manage each backup www.mcafee.com/activate download.
8. Institute a tracking and chain of custody system for  www.mcafee/activate backup media to ensure you’re always aware www.mcafee.com/activate of its location and any media that should be destroyed