Protecting Valuable Assets – Physical and Digital

The concept of protecting valuable assets has been around for a long time.  In fact, the oldest lockable device with keys was found in the tomb of Pharoah Ramses II of Egypt (1213 BC). Safe deposit boxes became popular in the UK and US in the late 1700s and 1800s, protecting important documents and other valuables in a secure place outside of homes and businesses.

Currently there are 25 million safe deposit boxes leased in the US, showing that people recognize the need to protect physical assets. But what about digital assets?

A safe deposit box for your data?

We are often asked about how to safely secure data files, and our common advice is to back up the most critical data offsite. Unfortunately, many companies continue to use a device on their premises, like a separate hard drive, since it’s fast and simple.

But there are still challenges with these types of backups:

  • We’ve seen many situations were on-site computers and backup drives were either burned, flooded or stolen. In many of these cases, the original files and the backup files are both permanently lost.
  • The news reports that ransomware attacks are on the rise, with the cost to businesses in the billions of dollars. In fact the average ransomware mitigation cost in 2022 was $1.85 million per incident.
    • When a hacker starts a ransomware attack, they gain access to your systems via a phishing attack, social engineering, or by some other means. Then they spend days or even weeks compromising your system. A common hacker technique is to look for your backups and to disable them. This is easiest when the backups are onsite, and you may not know when this happens. But when it’s time for the ransom demand, you’ll find your backups don’t work…and it may be weeks or months since you had a good backup. Do you really want to go back that far?
  • Virus or malware attacks often infect backup files. A good backup program makes an exact copy of your files, and if the original file is infected, the backup copy will also be infected. You may not know right away that you have a problem…until you try to restore your data. A virus-laden backup often can’t be restored at all.

You Need a Remote Safe Deposit Box For Digital Assets

The logic behind secure remote storage of digital assets is the same as it is for physical assets.  Data in a remote storage area won’t be lost if your office is lost, the data won’t be accessible to ransomware theft, and your storage vault won’t be at risk from viruses and other threats that compromise your office.

Handled properly, remote data storage can be completely safe with encryption protocols for when your data is in transit and in storage. Talk with your data professional to establish a remote backup for your files if you don’t already have one.

Article is by Mr. Chris Marshall, the founder and CEO of Verified Backups. Chris is a database expert whose experience spans three decades. His consulting clients identified a flaw in standard backup programs and asked that he address their database backup needs. Verified Backups was born from this need and Mr. Marshall’s patented solution. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, MO and uses only domestically based servers.