• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    622 years ago

    Time and time again, data hosting providers are proving that local backups not connected to the internet are way better than storing in the cloud.

    • IWantToFuckSpez
      link
      fedilink
      12
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Any redundant backup strategy uses both. They both have inherent data loss risks. Local backups are great, but unless you store them in a bunker they are still at risk to fire, theft, vandalism and natural disasters. A good backup strategy stores copies in at least three locations. Local, off-site and the cloud. Off-site backups are backups you can physically retrieve. Like tapes stored in a vault in another city.

    • NumbersCanBeFun
      link
      fedilink
      11
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I just picked up a 7 port USB hub with I/O switches for each one. I got this for my backup drives. It’s also powered so that’s cool.

      You can’t hack my personal shit if it’s not even turned on to begin with.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        12 years ago

        The only downside to something like this would be electrical surges if you leave the drives plugged.

        • NumbersCanBeFun
          link
          fedilink
          42 years ago

          I’ve got a bunch of high capacity SD cards that i converted into little storage drives. I throw movies and tv shows I download onto them and it’s great for handing off to a friend or throwing into a device real quick.

          I got these individual usb SD card readers but they get really hot if you leave them on all the time. So it’s nice to only turn it on when I need to read or write to them. The added security benefit is that when they are off you literally can’t hack them.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            32 years ago

            Oh ok. So you’re using them effectively like cold storage backups? I was scared you were going to tell me that you were running an ZFS pool off a USB hub, lol.

            • NumbersCanBeFun
              link
              fedilink
              22 years ago

              I’d say that’s an accurate summary of my activities. It’s nice to plug in one usb and hit the buttons as needed. I hate fiddling around with it since micro SD cards are super easy to lose track of.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                12 years ago

                I dunno about that. If you actually were using a USB hub for ZFS, then I have a 10 petabyte flash drive to sell you.

                • NumbersCanBeFun
                  link
                  fedilink
                  22 years ago

                  My budget is only about one jillion dollars, so I hope you’re willing to negotiate 😅

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      402 years ago

      The 3-2-1 backup strategy: “Three copies are made of the data to be protected, the copies are stored on two different types of storage media and one copy of the data is sent off site.”

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    232 years ago

    Danish hosting firms CloudNordic and AzeroCloud have suffered ransomware attacks, causing the loss of the majority of customer data and forcing the hosting providers to shut down all systems, including websites, email, and customer sites.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    62 years ago

    How is that even possible? What kind of hosting company runs in a way that they would lose all the data with ransomware?

    • @[email protected]OP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      6
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Sounds like they had all their backups online, instead of keeping offline copies. It’s a reminder that everyone needs at least one backup that isn’t connected to any computer. It’s also a reminder that “the cloud” should not be the only place you keep your data, because hosting providers are targets for this stuff and you don’t know how careful they are.

  • Treczoks
    link
    fedilink
    102 years ago

    Put all the data in the cloud, they said. It will all be save and handled by professionals!

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1242 years ago

    What’s the point of primary and secondary backups if they can be accessed with the same credentials on the same network

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      82 years ago

      What’s the correct way to implement it so that it can still be automated? Credentials that can write new backups but not delete existing ones?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        302 years ago

        I don’t know if it is the „correct“ way but I do it the other way around. I have a server and a backup server. Server user can‘t even see backup server but packs a backup, backup server pulls the data with read only access, main server deletes backup, done.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          22 years ago

          Similar with Promox Backup Server. While Proxmox actively writes the backups to PBS, it’s PBS that decides what to do with the data and how many versions to keep.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        12 years ago

        i use immutable objects on backblaze b2

        from command line using their tool is something like b2 sync SOURCE BUCKET

        and from the bucket setting disable object deletion

        also borgbase allows this, backups can be created but deletions/overwrites are not permanent (unless you enabled them)

      • rentar42
        link
        fedilink
        72 years ago

        Fundamentally there’s no need for the user/account that saves the backup somewhere to be able to read let alone change/delete it.

        So ideally you have “write-only” credentials that can only append/add new files.

        How exactly that is implemented depends on the tech. S3 and S3 compatible systems can often be configured that data straight up can’t be deleted from a bucket at all.

      • VerifiablyMrWonka
        link
        fedilink
        142 years ago

        For an organisation hosting as many companies data as this one I’d expect automated tape at a minimum. Of course, if the attacker had the time to start messing with the tape that’s lost as well but it’s unlikely.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          32 years ago

          It depends what’s the pricing. For example ovh didn’t keep any extra backup when their datacenter took fire. But if a customer paid for backup, it was kept off-site and was recovered

          It might be even pretending to be a big hosting company when they’re actually renting a dozen deds from a big player, much cheaper than maintaining a data center with 99.999% uptime

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      162 years ago

      They weren’t normally on the same network, but were accidentally put on the same network during migration.

  • DigitalDilemma
    link
    fedilink
    142 years ago

    I feel really bad for everyone involved - customers and staff. The human cost in this is huge.

    Yes, there’s a lot of criticism of backup strategies here, but I bet most of us who deal with this professionally have knowledge of systems that would also be vulnerable to malicious attack, and that’s only the shortcomings we know about. Audits and pentesting are great, but not infallable and one tiny mistake can expose everything. If we were all as good as we think we are, ransomware wouldn’t be a thing.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      52 years ago

      I think that people generally overestimate how much money tech companies like this one actually make. Their profits are tiny. A lot of the time, tech companies run on investment money, and can’t actually turn a profit. They wait for the big acquisition or IPO payday. So if you think you’re actually gonna get 100k off them, good luck. Sometimes they’re barely keeping the lights on.

  • Max_Power
    link
    fedilink
    English
    33
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Now that you mention fucking incompetence, I need to verify my 3-2-1 backup strategy is correctly implemented. Thanks for the reminder, CloudNordic and AzeroCloud!

      • exu
        link
        fedilink
        English
        62 years ago

        I think they’re aware of that

        Martin Haslund Johansson, the director of Azerocloud and CloudNordic, stated that he does not expect customers to be left with them when the recovery is finally completed.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          102 years ago

          The customers are already lost:

          1. pay the expensive ransom, if the bad actor gives them the decryption key, customers are relieved but still pissed, will take the data and move to somewhere else with a big FO. Go out of business.

          2. don’t pay the ransom, customers are pissed and move to somewhere else with a big FO. Go out of business.