Many companies spend thousands on new hardware and software to improve their business procedures and become more productive; however they may forget a vital part of this is the ability to recover from a disaster like a power cut or a hardware failure, causing data loss. We provide consultations on the right type of backup to suit your business needs to make sure your data is kept safe, and in the event of failure it can be re-stored quickly.

Any backup strategy starts with a concept of a data repository. The backup data needs to be stored somehow and probably should be organized to a degree. It can be as simple as a sheet of paper with a list of all backup tapes and the dates they were written, or a more sophisticated set-up with a computerised index, catalogue, or relational database. Different repository models have different advantages. This is closely related to choosing a backup rotation scheme.

Unstructured
An unstructured repository may simply be a stack of floppy disks or CD-R media with minimal information about what was backed up and when. This is the easiest to implement, but probably the least likely to achieve a high level of recoverability.

Full + Incremental
A Full + Incremental repository aims to make storing several copies of the source data more feasible. At first, a full backup (of all files) is taken. After that an incremental backup (of only the files that have changed since the previous full or incremental backup) can be taken. Restoring whole systems to a certain point in time would require locating the full backup taken previous to that time and all the incremental backups taken between that full backup and the particular point in time to which the system is supposed to be restored. This model offers a high level of security that something can be restored and can be used with removable media such as tapes and optical disks. The downside is dealing with a long series of incremental and the high storage requirements.

Full + Differential
A full + differential backup differs from a full + incremental in that after the full backup is taken, each partial backup captures all files created or changed since the full backup, even though some may have been included in a previous partial backup. Its advantage is that a restore involves recovering only the last full backup and then overlaying it with the last differential backup.

Should the unthinkable happen, we speed up the process of recovering from a disaster.
With the rise in information technology and the reliance on business-critical data, the landscape has changed in recent years in favor of protecting irreplaceable data. This is especially evident in information technology, with most large computer systems backing up digital information to limit data loss and to aid data recovery.

It is believed that some companies spend up to 25% of their budgets on disaster recovery planning; this is to avoid larger losses. Of companies that had a major loss of computerised records, 43% never reopen, 51% close within two years, and only 6% will survive long-term (Cummings, Haag & McCubbrey 2005).

There are many different risks that can negatively impact the normal operations of an organisation. A risk assessment should be performed to determine what constitutes a disaster and which risks a specific company is susceptible to, including:

• Natural disasters
• Fire
• Power failure
• Organized or deliberate disruptions
• Theft
• System and/or equipment failures
• Human error
• Computer viruses

Acronyms can set up a Disaster Recovery Plan to ensure against data loss.

• Backups sent off site at regular intervals
o Includes software as well as all data information, to facilitate recovery
o Use a Remote backup facility if possible to minimize data loss
• Storage Area Networks (SANs) over multiple sites are a recent development (since 2003) which make data immediately available without the need to recover or synchronise it
• Surge Protectors - to minimize the effect of power surges on delicate electronic equipment
• Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and/or Backup Generator
• Anti-virus software and other security measures

Acronyms can provide an audit of your security loopholes in wireless networks and provide solutions.
Wireless networks are very common, both for organisations and individuals. Many laptop computers have wireless cards pre-installed for the buyer. The ability to enter a network while mobile has great benefits. However, wireless networking has many security issues. Hackers have found wireless networks relatively easy to break into, and even use wireless technology to crack into non-wireless networks.

Currently there are a great number of security risks associated with wireless technology. Security threats are growing in the wireless arena. Crackers have learned that there is much vulnerability in the current wireless protocols, encryption methods, and in the carelessness and ignorance that exists at the user and corporate IT level. Cracking methods have become much more sophisticated and innovative with wireless. Cracking has become much easier and more accessible with easy-to-use Windows-based and Linux-based tools being made available on the web at no charge.

Wireless being used to crack into non-wireless networks
Some organizations that have no wireless access points installed do not feel that they need to address wireless security concerns. This is a common deceptive inference. In-Stat MDR and META Group have estimated that 95% of all corporate laptop computers that were planned to be purchased in 2005 were equipped with wireless. Issues can arise in a supposedly non-wireless organisation when a wireless laptop is plugged into the corporate network. A cracker could sit out in the parking lot and break in through the wireless card on a laptop and gain access to the wired network. If no security measures are implemented at these access points, it is no different from providing a patch cable out the back door for crackers to plug into whenever they wish.

ISA Server is an integrated edge security gateway that helps to protect IT environments from internet based threats while providing users with fast and secure remote access to applications and data. ISA Server is available in two versions: Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition.

ISA Server enables organisations to make their Exchange, SharePoint and other web application servers more secure and accessible to remote users outside of the corporate network by pre-authenticating users before they gain access to any published servers.
ISA Server also allows organisations to secure their communications to and from their branch offices. By providing HTTP compression, caching of content and site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) capabilities integrated with application-layer filtering, ISA Server helps to expand your corporate network in a more manageable and secure environment.

With a hybrid proxy-firewall architecture along with deep content inspection, and comprehensive alerting and monitoring capabilities, ISA Server helps to protect your network from internally and externally originating internet-based threats.

With an average of ten new viruses per day and the increase in exposure to these threats, it is essential to secure your systems with industry standard Anti-virus software. Acronyms can implement a site wide virus protection solution for network.

• Viruses - A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs. For example, a virus might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or wreak havoc.
• Email viruses - An Email virus moves around in Email messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the victim's Email address book.
• Trojan horses - A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk). Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically.
• Worms - A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well. We'll take a closer look at how a worm works in the next section.

More and more people are complaining that every time they open their mailbox, 80% of the contents is junk mail (spam).

We offer anti-spam solutions that operate in different ways to suit the type of spam or to catch as much as possible. Acronyms anti-spam solution, takes all of your mail, cleans it of spam, double checks for viruses and once it has all been cleaned forwards the new mail on to you the customer.
Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages, which are generally undesired. Spam is also called junk mail. Our servers have spam filters, which delete or move the spam messages to a specified folder.

Spamming is economically viable because advertisers have no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing lists, and it is difficult to hold senders accountable for their mass mailings. Because the barrier to entry is so low, spammers are numerous, and the volume of unsolicited mail has become very high. The costs, such as lost productivity and fraud, are borne by the public and by Internet service providers, which have been forced to add extra capacity to cope with the deluge. Spamming is widely reviled, and has been the subject of legislation in many jurisdictions.

Spyware is computer software that collects personal information about users without their informed consent.

Personal information is secretly recorded with a variety of techniques, including logging keystrokes, recording Internet web browsing history, and scanning documents on the computer's hard disk. Purposes range from overtly criminal (theft of passwords and financial details) to the merely annoying (recording Internet search history for targeted advertising, while consuming computer resources). Spyware may collect different types of information. Some variants attempt to track the websites a user visits and then send this information to an advertising agency. More malicious variants attempt to intercept passwords or credit card numbers as a user enters them into a web form or other applications.

A firewall's basic task is to control traffic between computer networks with different zones of trust. Typical examples are the Internet, which is a zone with no trust and an internal network which is (and should be) a zone with high trust. The ultimate goal is to provide controlled interfaces between zones of differing trust levels through the enforcement of a security policy and connectivity model. A zone with an intermediate trust level, situated between the Internet and a trusted internal network, is often referred to as a "perimeter network" or Demilitarized zone (DMZ).

A firewall's function is analogous to firewalls in building construction.

Proper configuration of firewalls demands skill from the firewall administrator. It requires considerable understanding of network protocols and of computer security. Small mistakes can render a firewall worthless as a security tool.