Protection of Acronis BU Files
What stops hacker from simply deleting my acronis backups? I use dedicated internal hard drives as Acronis back up with password protection but I see the back up files can be simply deleted before the password is requested? If I were a victim of ransomware the first thing they would do is delete these files. Any solution? Bitlocker seems a clunky solution?
Thanks.
I agree ultimately with off-site BU storage as the best solution but I'm looking for an immediate solution, like Acronis Active Protection, using MS Windows as a workaround using current MS tools to stop hacker's access to BU files to delete/rename BU files. Acronis Active Protection falls short if it stops encryption of BU files but not their deletion. For example, what about using Microsoft's Bitlocker or Security on the Acronis BU flies? Acronis must have thought about this?
Acronis Active Protection will prevent all operations against Acronis backup archives when enabled, including copying, moving and deleting such files as well as preventing them from being encrypted.
BitLocker is typically unlocked to allow file operations so would not prevent any attack that occurs during that time.
Sam,
Back when I was using ATI for backups, I installed a cheap eSata box that sits on top of my computer.
When I am ready to do backups, I plugged in my Sata HDD, powered it up, opened TIH and started a backup process.
When I was all done, I powered down the external eSata box, removed my backup HDD and put it safely away.
I rotated 2 HDD's in my backup scheme so that I always had a fallback. I have had to rely on good suggestions from some of the forum MVPs' like Steve S several times. Believe me, a good, "tested" backup and restore method will be a life saver when you need it the most.
Steve F.
Hello Sam!
Bitlocker protects against a different type of attack: physical theft. I.e. someone takes your drive/ computer and wants to access data without booting it, since you can bypass windows logon credentials that way. Similarly, if your backup storage gets stolen the archives can be also browsed for their contents unless they are on a bitlocker enabled volume or you password protected the backups themselves. With bitlocker on the drive won't be readable without an unlock key. If you are worried about an attack while the system is in use it won't help you, as it needs to be unlocked to read/write it for anything.
I'll also add to Active Protection that this will prevent YOU from copying/moving the backup files as well.
Even as a temporary solution I wouldn't consider an another internal drive any sort of backup storage, and go for at least an external drive as already suggested. It's more useful as a cache of the most recent backups you want to be able to restore quicker and/or without loading your network / storage with the burden of recovery.
-- Peter