Data protection, backup and archiving

Utility supplier People’s Energy has entire customer list stolen

All 270,000 customers of People’s Energy, a renewable energy startup, have had their details compromised in a major data breach incident Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

AWS brings disaster recovery programme to Australia

Project Resilience will offer up to $5,000 worth of credits to public sector and community organisations to offset the cost of storing data on Amazon Web Services Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Five hyper-converged infrastructure use cases to watch

We look at workloads ripe for hyper-converged infrastructure deployment. These include virtual servers and desktops, SMEs/remote offices, Kubernetes, and analytics and machine learning Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Paris post-product studio uses Atempo Miria for live restores

France-based À La Plage Studio decided on tape as a medium to store its visual production work, with Atempo ADA/Miria as a means to access and restore data to work on Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

HMRC referred 11 data security incidents to ICO in 2019-20

HM Revenue & Customs shares details of a number of data security incidents that occurred during the 2019-20 financial year in its annual report Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

RAID, flash and erasure coding: What works best with solid state?

We look at RAID and flash to highlight key choices when it comes to drive data protection. What RAID levels work best with solid state and when is erasure coding a good choice? Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Download a backup testing checklist to stay prepared

How can you be sure a backup will be successful if you don't test it? Use this backup testing checklist to confirm such important steps as timing and detection of any anomalies. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

Backupify vs. Spanning: Data protection beyond SaaS backup

Learn how comprehensive cloud-based data protection and recovery services from Backupify and Spanning Cloud Apps compare, as well as which unique features set them apart. Continue Reading

By

• Robert Sheldon

Need to know: Five key things about backup testing

We look at five key things to consider when it comes to backup testing – what to test, how often, making sure backups work, whether recovery is effective and ensuring processes are consistent Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Kaspersky shuts down data-processing activities in Russia

Cyber security provider’s data storage and processing activities for customers in Europe, the US and Canada, have now been fully relocated to Switzerland Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Will we lose our treasured memories to cloud policies?

People who use the free Google Drive service for personal use to store, share and collaborate on documents, will be aware that the company has been slowly shifting consumers to pay for cloud ... Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Dutch bank set to save €5m via Veeam backup upgrade

 Continue Reading

How can I best implement an active archive environment?

Examine the major elements of an active archiving environment, including the kinds of data that you can use in one and resources to help with platform execution. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

Leaky AWS S3 bucket once again at centre of data breach

Prestige Software exposed millions of records after failing to pay attention to the security of its cloud instances Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

IT Priorities 2020: Covid-19 consolidates storage push to cloud

The emphasis on home and remote working has been felt in storage and backup as in all areas of IT, with continued evolution towards the cloud and as-a-service storage and backup Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Canada ad firm subtracts 44U with HPE and Ctera hyper-converged

Glenn Davis Group slashed its hardware estate from 48U of rack space to 4U when it ditched its SAN and tape legacy kit for flash-based Ctera X Series and cloud backup Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Quantum’s ATFS aims to classify and manage unstructured data

Quantum triumvirate now comprises ATFS for file system classification and management, StorNext for high performance with large files and ActiveScale object storage as a bulk store Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Enterprise backup as a service explained

Enterprise BaaS is a software as a service that delivers backup and recovery services that connect systems to the cloud. Learn how BaaS works, pros and cons, and best practices. Continue Reading

By

• James Alan Miller, Senior Executive Editor

Slot of the Antarctic: Tape the best option for polar survey backup

Tape deemed the best medium for backup on board the Antarctic research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough, with Quantum’s Scalar i3 chosen in a fully redundant deployment Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

NetApp boosts NVMe, QLC and container hybrid cloud offer

Storage giant NetApp unveils new AFF, FAS and E-series arrays with NVMe and QLC flash capability, plus object storage in Ontap and Spot cloud container resource management in Cloud Manager Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

British businesses need to be prepared for post-Brexit changes to our data protection laws

This is a guest blogpost by Ben Tomlinson, Personally Identifiable Information Security Officer and Marketing Manager at Atlas Cloud. Data is arguably now the most valuable resource on earth; the ... Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Commvault launches Metallic backup service in Europe

Backup giant adds backup as a service, with cloud-to-cloud backup and e-discovery functionality that can work across on-site datacentres and the AWS and Azure clouds Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Podcast: Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Covid-19 and storage

We look at how organisations can use Cybersecurity Awareness Month as an opportunity to revisit their handling of data and compliance, especially with changes brought by Covid-19 and home working Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Top five ways backup can protect against ransomware

Ransomware threatens to put your data beyond reach, so the best way to prepare is to have good-quality data you can restore from backup. We look at the key things to consider Continue Reading

Cloud data protection keeps the Crick’s medical research Covid-secure

Cloud data management services from Rubrik gave the Francis Crick Institute a data protection edge and have helped keep its vital work going through the pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CW APAC: Trend Watch – storage

Many organisations turn to cloud to cut storage bills, but the options available and potential costs are many and varied. In this handbook, Computer Weekly takes a peek at future storage technologies, such as helium and DNA, and offers some valuable tips on how to keep cloud storage costs under control. Continue Reading

Veeam bullish on growth in APAC

Veeam’s top executive in Asia-Pacific expects the company’s growth momentum in the region to continue despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and is setting sights on growth areas such as container backups. Continue Reading

Security Think Tank: Adapting defences to evolving ransomware and cyber crime

The threat of identity theft via a data breach is heightened with the rise of attacks where ransomware threat actors both encrypt and ransom, and exfiltrate and leak their victims’ data. How does this evolution in cyber crime heighten risk for the enterprise, and what steps can we take to safeguard the personal data we hold? Continue Reading

By

• Paddy Francis

Does your data backup system ensure data protection?

With so many dangerous threats in the IT landscape, make sure you protect your data backups from the likes of corruption, unauthorized access and leakage. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

Veeam buys Kasten to get a boost in Kubernetes backup

Virtual machine backup pioneer sees $150m purchase of Kasten and the addition of Kubernetes backup to its portfolio as key to becoming a ‘$2bn company’ Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Backup audit: What is a backup audit and why do we need them?

Backup and recovery are vital components to protect against data loss, whether technical or causes such as ransomware. So how can a backup audit help protect our key assets? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Erasure coding vs RAID: Data protection in the cloud era

Erasure coding has come to prominence with its use in object storage and, by extension, in the cloud. We run the rule over its pros and cons vs RAID data protection Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Swiss ISP opts for Scality object storage for backup service

Move to object storage allows Lake Solutions to cut customer backup costs by 66% while providing new S3-based bucket storage for customers based on Scality on HPE Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

In new LTO roadmap, LTO-9 features 45 TB capacity

Long-term archiving and offline data protection are two key uses for LTO-9, the latest generation of tapes from the LTO Program. The roadmap extends to LTO-12. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Crocetti, Executive Editor

Archive as a service: What you need to know

Archive-as-a-service offerings could help simplify what can be a complicated process. Make sure you do the proper research and vetting before undertaking the cloud-based platform. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

Top five ways backup can protect against ransomware

Ransomware threatens to put your data beyond reach, so the best way to prepare is to have good-quality data you can restore from backup. We look at the key things to consider Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

India’s storage market takes hit but hasn’t lost its shine

The slower growth in storage spending in India amid the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to be mitigated by digitisation efforts by financial services and manufacturing firms Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Open Data Institute explores diverse range of data governance structures

Unlocking the economic and social potential of data will require a diverse range of governance structures to meet the needs of different contexts, use cases and stakeholders Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Top five ways to benefit from tape today

We look at the benefits that tape can bring, including in backup and recovery, long-term and ‘warm’ archiving, compliance and WORM use cases and ‘air gapping’ to protect data Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

A peek into the future of storage

Flash-based storage is here to stay and will continue to be enhanced, even as helium and DNA are being primed for use in the distant future Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Scality aims at high-performance object with Ring 8 all-flash

Object storage specialist – with file storage capability – aims at tier-1 use cases such as AI/ML, content delivery and some backup tasks with all-flash upgrade to Scality Ring 8 Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Dutch bank set to save €5m via Veeam backup upgrade

Rabobank ditched legacy backup where patching took months and restores took hours. Those times are now cut down massively and the bank has a readily available test environment Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Pure aims at unified file and object and launches new QLC storage

Flash storage maker says unified storage in file and object is what is needed for contemporary analytics and AI workloads, while it launches a new all-QLC version of FlashArray//C Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Double extortion ransomware attacks and how to stop them

As ransomware attacks increase, hackers are diversifying their tactics to get victims to hand over larger sums of money. We investigate the rise of double extortion attacks Continue Reading

By

• Nicholas Fearn

TikTok takes Trump to court

Under-fire video app TikTok files a formal complaint in the federal courts challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to ban it in the US Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Getting physical with datacentre security

Whether it is natural disasters, terrorism or break-ins, datacentres will be vulnerable to a range of risks unless they are physically secured. Here’s how you can improve the physical security of your datacentre Continue Reading

By

• Nicholas Fearn

Veeam to add CDP, plus Google cloud as a target

Backup giant set to add continuous data protection for the most critical workloads, plus Google cloud as a target – all on the back of a storming quarter during the pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Reports Oracle to enter TikTok bidding war

Oracle may be about to make a bid to acquire the US operations of TikTok from its Chinese parent ByteDance, according to the FT Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How Covid-19 elevated the datacentre

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine how datacentres and their workers became part of our critical national infrastructure due to the pandemic. Firms considering upgrading to SAP S/4 Hana face hefty bills – we look at how to keep costs down. And we analyse the increasing rate of applications being migrated to the cloud. Continue Reading

Pure and Cohesity launch FlashRecover for flash-speed restores

Flash market pioneer links up with scale-out backup product maker to provide bundled backup plus super-fast recovery based around Pure FlashBlade storage arrays Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Cloud storage costs: How to get cloud storage bills under control

Many organisations look to the cloud to cut storage budgets, but the potential costs are many and varied. So what are the key ways to cut cloud storage costs? Continue Reading

By

• Rene Millman

Freezing digital history in the Arctic Circle

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out why GitHub is storing its historical open source code repositories on analogue film in the Arctic Circle. Our buyer’s guide examines modern software development practices. And we hear how virtual reality technology helped the UK build more ventilators to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Majority of organisations at risk of cloud data exposure

Report casts doubt on the effectiveness of the shared responsibility model of cloud security Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Backblaze takes aim at ‘costly and complex’ AWS cloud storage

Backblaze offers free transfer to its S3-based cloud storage – which it claims costs a fraction of AWS et al – as long as it’s more than 50TB and you commit to at least 12 months Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

A question of trust: University and supplier on the hook for data breach

Data on students at the University of York was stolen in a ransomware attack on a supplier two months ago, and the response of both parties raises serious questions Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Commvault refreshes HyperScale backup appliances with Hedvig

Backup player set to replace Fujitsu/Red Hat-based backup appliances with new hardware and storage software from Hedvig, which it bought late last year Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Enterprises need to rethink how end-of-life equipment is dealt with

Electronic waste is a massive and growing problem, but many companies are not recycling or reusing IT equipment, instead opting for physical destruction of the assets Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Clearview AI faces ICO investigation over facial recognition

Controversial company that scraped data from the public internet to build its facial recognition algorithm faces a joint UK-Australian investigation into its practices Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Fujifilm software allows S3 access to LTO tape libraries

Fujifilm Software Defined Tape allows tape libraries to act as an S3-based object storage archive accessible as a tier of storage on-premise or in the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

Veeam bullish on growth in APAC

Veeam’s top executive in Asia-Pacific expects the company’s growth momentum in the region to continue despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and is setting sights on growth areas such as container backups Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Security Think Tank: Securing containers needn’t be taxing

Adopting containers promises great organisational efficiency advantages, but the fast-evolving technology can be problematic for security teams. What do CISOs need to know to safeguard containers? Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Morris, Turnkey Consulting

EU judges GDPR an overall success, but changes still needed

Two years after its implementation, an EU report says that the GDPR is achieving what it set out to do, with a few reservations Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Malaysia’s data protection practices still have some way to go

Some Malaysian firms are not using data protection tools to the fullest potential, while others only think about data protection after a breach. Continue Reading

US buildings firm saves big on HDDs with Nasuni cloud NAS

APi Group dumps first-generation file sharing for Nasuni, which allowed it to save ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ with standard hardware deployments and cutting local storage Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Cloud storage on-site hardware: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud

We look at the big three cloud vendors’ on-site offerings: AWS’s Outposts, Gateway and Snow hardware, Azure’s Stack and Arc appliances, and Google Cloud’s software-defined Anthos Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Virtual VeeamON 2020 seeks interactivity, cloud focus

VeeamON seeks to overcome the challenges of virtual conferences that have become common in 2020. Veeam also released a report that details the challenges in data protection. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Crocetti, Executive Editor

Unsecured Elasticsearch server breached in eight hours flat

Comparitech’s Bob Diachenko wanted to find out how long it would take for hackers to find and attack an unsecured, public internet-facing database, so he set up a honeypot Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Container security is evolving, so must CISOs

Adopting containers promises great organisational efficiency advantages, but the fast-evolving technology can be problematic for security teams. What do CISOs need to know to safeguard containers? Continue Reading

By

• Petra Wenham

Churchill gets Ctera hybrid cloud NAS and dodges 3PAR disk spend

Potteries-based ceramics maker faced the choice between expanding its HPE SAN at great cost or deploying Ctera hybrid cloud NAS. It saved thousands by heading for hybrid cloud Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

AS Roma to develop video tracking with Acronis AI expertise

Italian football club will get variable-price ticketing using artificial intelligence expertise to develop systems. It has also deployed Acronis cloud backup Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Poorly-secured AWS buckets used to launch Magecart attacks

Cyber criminals are exploiting misconfigured AWS S3 buckets to run credit card fraud and malvertising campaigns, according to new data Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Digital transformation held back by lack of skilled people

Veeam survey finds digital transformation a hot topic, but 44% of firms are held back by skills shortages. Meanwhile, the cost of downtime is found to be $67,651 per hour for the most important apps Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Singapore’s contact-tracing app tops privacy study

Singapore’s TraceTogether is least intrusive in terms of privacy communications compared with similar apps in the region, study finds Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Cloud storage 101: File, block and object storage in the cloud

We run the rule over file, block and object storage from the big three public cloud providers: AWS, Azure and GCP. We look at what’s on offer and the use cases they are aimed at Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Portworx to add application profiles to persistent container storage

Kubernetes persistent container storage that runs from inside the cluster will add application storage profiles for applications such as Apache Kafka, Elasticsearch and Postgres Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Storj app builds QNAP NAS into its Uber-like cloud storage network

QNAP NAS users can use the Storj app to configure spare capacity as part of the Tardigrade S3 cloud, which offers storage at half the cost of the main providers Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Malaysia’s data protection practices still have some way to go

Some Malaysian firms are not using data protection tools to the fullest potential, while others only think about data protection after a breach Continue Reading

By

• Edwin Yapp

CW APAC: Trend Watch – business response to coronavirus

With countries the world over reeling from the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, which has meant sweeping changes both economically and socially, Computer Weekly looks at how firms in the Asia-Pacific region have adapted to what has so quickly become the new normal. Continue Reading

Data backup plan template: A free download and guide

Download our free backup planning template to help you get started or improve your current plan. It's important to have critical information laid out in a document. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan

Podcast: UK SME planning and compliance for ‘the new normal’

We look at how UK SMEs face a “new normal” following the coronavirus lockdowns and how they can plan for compliance with more remote working and a new data landscape Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

APAC firms still coming to grips with data protection

More governments in Asia are implementing data protection regimes, but challenges such as checkbox compliance and the lack of effective staff training remain Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

How Australian firms can plug data protection gaps

Australian organisations can address data protection challenges by creating roles such as a data governance lead, classifying data and improving employee awareness of cyber hygiene Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Withers

What are the security priorities for the post-coronavirus world?

The Covid-19 pandemic is forcing massive change across the business world and things may never go back to normal. What does security look like in this new world, and what will buyers be prioritising? Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Add tape backup in 2020 to boost a data protection strategy

Tape has never really gone away. But it can be useful beyond long-term archiving. Learn why IT professionals may want to consider reintroducing tape backup into their data centers. Continue Reading

By

• George Crump

Storage 101: Replication vs backup, and synchronous vs asynchronous

Storage 101: Can replication replace backup? What are the pros and cons of synchronous and asynchronous backup? What’s the best way to mix backup and replication? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Pure Storage FlashBlade OS v3.0 brings protected snapshots

Pure also adds remote replication and aims at storage use cases for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence workloads in its all-flash NAS and object nodes Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

Contact tracing: The privacy vs protection debate

The Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated extreme measures not seen in peacetime for over 100 years. Contact-tracing apps are being developed as a tool for managing the pandemic, but are they a step too far? Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ray Allison

Storage 101: Crash-consistent vs application-consistent snapshots

We look at crash-consistent and application-consistent snapshots and backup, how they are defined, the pros and cons of each and the benefits and limits of Windows VSS Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

NHSX contact-tracing app needs legislative oversight

Legal experts have told Parliament’s Human Rights Committee that legislation is desirable to ensure public trust in the data security of the Covid-19 coronavirus contact-tracing app Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Podcast: How to get cyber accountability on the board agenda

We look at how boards should carry out strategic and operational risk profile assessments and plan for compliance on an ongoing basis to avoid fines and damage to the business Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Snapshots 101: Array vs backup software

We run the rule over snapshots in storage arrays and backup software and find a range of capabilities that go from mere support to fully snapshot-centric approaches Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Dark data is contributing to carbon emissions

Almost six million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be pumped into the atmosphere this year as a result of dark data, Veritas research finds Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

A carrot-and-stick approach to fixing cyber security complacency

With a majority of IT decision-makers holding the opinion that their employers are complacent when it comes to data protection, we look at what needs to be fixed, and how to fix it Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Storage 101: Snapshots vs backup

We go over the basics of snapshots. They are a quick and accessible way of protecting data, but they are not a substitute for backup. So how do you combine the two? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Podcast: Remote compliance assessments and how they are done

Remote working adds to IT compliance risks, but doesn’t remove the need to assess compliance. How are remote compliance assessments carried out and how can you prepare for them? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

When data protection is not enough

Organisations should take a holistic approach to data protection and cyber security in what the CEO of Acronis deems a “cyber protection” strategy Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Check Point sounds alarm over double extortion ransomware threat

Researchers say double extortion ransomware attacks are likely to increase in frequency, and warn organisations to be on guard Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Small business cloud backup includes range of services

Cloud backup is a good option for small businesses, especially for a remote work environment. Choices range from file syncing to a more comprehensive feature set. Continue Reading

By

• Nick Cavalancia, Techvangelism

Podcast: Ruthlessly prioritise applications during Covid-19

We talk to Alex McMullan, CTO international at Pure Storage, about scaling up storage and compute for remote working and why that means prioritising applications Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

NAS backup: Which suppliers have gone post-NDMP?

NAS backup with NDMP has many drawbacks so some vendors have moved to a data management approach that tracks changes and allows for incremental forever protection Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor