4 ms·

Have a good backup system which keeps every version of a file for at least a few months - or is that too obvious?

by fbomb 10y ago

TeMPOraL 10y ago
Not just not obvious, also expensive and quite a PITA to set up. Also, you have to make sure the backup is done through a network - some ransomware will happily encrypt any removable media you happen to plug in to your computer.
- acdha 10y ago
  > Not just not obvious, also expensive and quite a PITA to set up. Unless you have petabytes of storage, a very slow internet connection, or need to operate at an enterprise scale, this really hasn't been true for years: 1. Go to CrashPlan.com 2. Download and run the installer 3. Pay your choice of nothing to $12.50/month depending on how many computers you have and whether you choose to backup to their cloud, a friend's computer, an external drive, or any combination of the three. 1. Go to Backblaze.com 2. Download and run the installer 3. Pay $5/month 1. Pick one of the many AWS Glacier backup tools 2. Set a minimum retention policy in Glacier 3. Pay for your total storage usage The key part is the use of a service for which you do not have admin rights and which has some sort of minimum retention period. Even Dropbox has that now.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    Thanks for the outline. I guess it's time for me to get off my butt and actually set up some automated backups beyond Dropbox and Github (which, combined, store about 90% of files that are actually important for me) :).
    - acdha 10y ago
      You might be fine simply with Dropbox since they added an extended history plan which seems perfect for this: https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/113 https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/113 The main thing I'd worry about is locking down your default browsing profile & otherwise making it less likely to be compromised in the first place. I would imagine for most people on HN, the greatest inconvenience would be dealing with the mess if malware got access to your employer/customer's servers, data, etc. That's harder (e.g. rigidly separate accounts or computers, reducing the amount of access you operate with normally, etc.) but avoiding that mess is worth it.
nl 10y ago
It is just as obvious to ransomware authors. Many ransomware variants target network attached backups, eg [1]. They often target USB attached storage too. [1] https://www.cert.gov.au/advisories/ransomware https://www.cert.gov.au/advisories/ransomware
- cjensen 10y ago
  Yep. One of our tech support guys managed to get infected and it encrypted significant parts of our Synology NAS. Offsite backup ftw. We restored from Glacier.
CaptSpify 10y ago
You are correct, as that solution does work when users backup their stuff. Users don't keep good backups though. Despite every attempt to tell people, they still don't do it.
cyphar 10y ago
Or use a filesystem that has immutable snapshots so you can just roll back the "encryption".

Have a good backup system which keeps every version of a file for at least a few months - or is that too obvious?

by fbomb 10y ago

Have a good backup system which keeps every version of a file for at least a few months - or is that too obvious?

Not just not obvious, also expensive and quite a PITA to set up. Also, you have to make sure the backup is done through a network - some ransomware will happily encrypt any removable media you happen to plug in to your computer.

acdha 10y ago
> Not just not obvious, also expensive and quite a PITA to set up. Unless you have petabytes of storage, a very slow internet connection, or need to operate at an enterprise scale, this really hasn't been true for years: 1. Go to CrashPlan.com 2. Download and run the installer 3. Pay your choice of nothing to $12.50/month depending on how many computers you have and whether you choose to backup to their cloud, a friend's computer, an external drive, or any combination of the three. 1. Go to Backblaze.com 2. Download and run the installer 3. Pay $5/month 1. Pick one of the many AWS Glacier backup tools 2. Set a minimum retention policy in Glacier 3. Pay for your total storage usage The key part is the use of a service for which you do not have admin rights and which has some sort of minimum retention period. Even Dropbox has that now.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  Thanks for the outline. I guess it's time for me to get off my butt and actually set up some automated backups beyond Dropbox and Github (which, combined, store about 90% of files that are actually important for me) :).
  - acdha 10y ago
    You might be fine simply with Dropbox since they added an extended history plan which seems perfect for this: https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/113 https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/113 The main thing I'd worry about is locking down your default browsing profile & otherwise making it less likely to be compromised in the first place. I would imagine for most people on HN, the greatest inconvenience would be dealing with the mess if malware got access to your employer/customer's servers, data, etc. That's harder (e.g. rigidly separate accounts or computers, reducing the amount of access you operate with normally, etc.) but avoiding that mess is worth it.

nl 10y ago

It is just as obvious to ransomware authors. Many ransomware variants target network attached backups, eg [1]. They often target USB attached storage too. [1] https://www.cert.gov.au/advisories/ransomware https://www.cert.gov.au/advisories/ransomware

cjensen 10y ago
Yep. One of our tech support guys managed to get infected and it encrypted significant parts of our Synology NAS. Offsite backup ftw. We restored from Glacier.

CaptSpify 10y ago

You are correct, as that solution does work when users backup their stuff. Users don't keep good backups though. Despite every attempt to tell people, they still don't do it.

cyphar 10y ago

Or use a filesystem that has immutable snapshots so you can just roll back the "encryption".