Strengthening Business Continuity Is Urgent For Financial Services

strengthening business continuity is urgent for financial services

While most businesses handle at least some customer personally identifiable information on a daily basis, there is little more important than a client’s financial information which consists of what is likely a significant portion of their life savings. Firms that manage investment and savings accounts spend years cultivating relationships with their clients, with complete trust as one of the foundational pillars of these relationships. That’s why strengthening business continuity is so important for financial services organizations.

With data hacks on the rise, financial services organizations must do everything they can to ensure their client’s investments are safe and secure. This also means ensuring they are able to deliver continuous service such as deposits and withdrawals, and even simple account review 24/7/365. Financial services firms must also protect against identity theft and/or impersonation, which can even be more devastating to clients as these types of crimes affect not only their investments, but almost every other aspect of their daily life.

Business Continuity Defined  

In order to understand business continuity, it’s important to define it as it relates to data and information systems. In order for a firm to have continuity of services, they must have a complete solution, not just a plan for backup, but also recovery in the event of a disaster. This means client data is protected both on-premise and in the cloud in order to keep data safe and secure, even in the event of a device failure.

Do Your Backups Measure Up?

Companies still working under the impression that a daily back-up of all corporate data is sufficient, are at high risk for significant problems. This traditional way of viewing backups overlooks many gaps including instances such as when those in charge forget to perform a backup or the process fails in some way. Other potentially disastrous scenarios include losing an entire day’s worth of work after a failure and/or lack of backup validation, which is then discovered to be useless when needed for a restoration.

Other issues can occur from only keeping backups on-site, which means if a disaster such as a tornado, flood, or fire should occur, the backups become useless. Incomplete backups that only include raw data, rather than including other crucial data such as server configuration and application files means it could take several days to get fully back online in the event of a system failure. 

Finding the Optimal Solution

At this point, smaller financial services organizations may recognize they simply do not have the IT resources to implement the right protective strategies to safeguard their clients from irreparable financial harm. Fortunately, there is still a way to fully protect clients and their investments in the event of a disaster, whether natural or manmade. 

For smaller financial organizations, the ideal solution is to outsource their IT needs to a company that also has experience in the financial industry. By partnering with such a firm, smaller companies can be confident they are doing everything they can to protect not only all the valuable assets and information pertaining to their clients, but every online function related to operating their firm. 

An IT firm specializing in the financial industry can handle all compliance and regulatory issues that go along with protecting client data, as well as offering their expertise in the areas of timely hardware and software updates and maintenance, and ensuring the integrity of backups and their restoration process in the event that action becomes necessary. A specialized IT firm can also establish and provide continuous review and maintenance of system security practices within the financial firm. With a firm that specializes both in the IT and financial industries, financial services firms can have the best of both worlds and know they are doing everything they can to maintain the assets and the trust of their clients for decades to come.    

If you are a financial services firm and are ready to update your data backup strategy to industry standards, please contact us.

5 Reasons Your Organization Needs a Data Replication Solution

5 reasons your organization needs a data replication solution
Your Organization

In the past, companies had only data backups to rely upon in the case of a natural disaster, a data breach, or a system failure. Whether they wanted to or not, they had no other choice but to wait hours — days in some cases, for their system to be up and running again. They likely lost at least some of the data entered in after their last full backup, with no other choice but to manually re-enter the data back into their system.

Today, even smaller companies have another option available to them — a data replication solution, which is turning out to be a game changer for many businesses after a data loss. In this article, we will outline 5 reasons why a business should carefully consider whether a data replication solution is right for them. 

1. Downtime – A Thing of the Past

If your organization would become seriously crippled by a downtime period of several days, or perhaps even just one day, taking advantage of a data replication solution may be the right thing for your organization. If having your system available is absolutely necessary to your bottom line, then you simply cannot afford even short periods of downtime.

2. Recover Almost Instantaneously  

With a data replication solution, a real-time image of current (and past) data can be recovered almost instantaneously. When configured correctly, data replication can occur within seconds, with hardly any noticeable downtime for users.

3. Streamlined Backups

A data replication solution means an instant backup is continually performed, and available at a moment’s notice. In the event of a disaster, knowing you have a readily available, complete backup without all the restoration hassles typically associated with more traditional backups, is very reassuring.

4. Reduce Costs 

Consider the costs incurred if your business goes down for a few days, or in some cases, even one day or a few hours. With data replication solutions becoming very affordable for even small businesses, it is becoming more and more cost effective for companies to incorporate data replication into their IT plan.

5. Greater Accuracy

Anyone who has ever had to reconstruct and re-enter data after a system failure is likely to tell you that the process is painstaking, time-consuming, and difficult. With a replication solution, there is no data to reconstruct or re-enter. A complete and accurate data set is ready for immediate access.

If you would like to know more about what data replication can do for your organization, please contact us.

What Is The Best Way To Protect Your Business From Hackers

what is the best way to protect your business from hackers

According to Small Business Trends online 43 percent of all small businesses across the United States face a cyber attack. In fact, over half of those businesses that suffer a cyber attack eventually fail. These known statistics make it necessary to protect your business from hackers. A hacker gains unauthorized use to your business data through your computer. The question is, what can you do to protect your business against a cyber attack?

What Does The AE Technology Group Do To Protect Your Business? 

IT Support Services

What is IT support services? Our IT services provides tech support against cyber bullies. When your operating system is under the threat of an attacker, we’re there to help. Our customers receive efficient monitoring of their operating system against hackers and other technical issues. We understand how effective IT support can keep your business productive. 

24 Hour Support 

There is no set time for a hacker to attack your operating system. The AE Technology Group is there to support your needs around the clock. Our customers receive 24/7 IT security, backup data services, disaster recovery, monitoring, and customized support IT software. 

Unfortunately, a hacker will go through great lengths to infiltrate your business data. Businesses that operate financial services are at a greater risk of a cyber attack. Cyber bullies are after data that can help them financially gain from your business. Basic anti-virus software isn’t enough to stop malware and the threat of spy software used by hackers. Get the backup and recovery services your business needs when you need it. We also provide in-office IT support services with Office 365 and VoIP. 

Amazingly, the AE Tech Group has proudly served the New York City area for over 17 years with a worldwide audience. We specialize in backup and recovery for small and medium size businesses. We’re there to protect you against ransonware, SQL injection, and worms used by hackers. You’re invited to contact us for more details on an exemplary 90 day trial to protect your business from unwanted hackers today. 

Computer Tip of the Day: Backing Up Your Data

computer tip of the day backing up your data

Backing Up Your Data

In the workplace, backing up your data and keeping your sensitive data secure is important. Even if you’re under the impression that there’s only a slim chance of losing your files, never take a risk.

Whether it’s a natural disaster, or someone in the workplace looking to steal your info, there are numerous scenarios where your data can be lost or compromised. With that said, one of the best ways to secure your information, is by backing up your files. Speaking of which, here are some important backup tips you should consider.

Have Multiple Backup Methods

Whether you’re using a flash drive or cloud backup services, make sure you have several contingency plans. While there’s no doubt that cloud is one of the best services around, having a USB flash drive is beneficial as well.

Not only is it portable, but all you have to do is plug the device into any computer, and upload all your files from there. Having multiple backup plans is also beneficial in case you’re temporarily unable to access one option.

Know Which Files Are Important

Before backing up your data, also be sure to know which files are important, and which aren’t. For the former, especially, there’s nothing worse than discarding sensitive data that you thought no longer had any value. Not only should you double-check, but also create a folder on your desktop for your important files. That way, when it’s time to back up your data, you already know what needs to be secured.

For more information, contact us today at AE Technology Group. We look forward to hearing from you.

Computer Tip of the Day: An Extra Layer of Backup

computer tip of the day an extra layer of backup

aedeskcomp

You can never have too many backups. A standard backup plan should follow the “3-2-1” rule; have at least three copies of your important files, keep them on at least two different media, and store one of them offsite.

The offsite copy will usually be with a backup service provider on the Internet.

With critically important files that don’t change very often, an additional copy provides extra insurance. This can take the form of an external disk drive, a USB stick, or a DVD-ROM that you lock away in a safe place away from your installation. A disk drive gives the most storage but costs more; a DVD or USB stick is less expensive and easy to store in a small space.

  • Since the point of this is to store the device offsite, you should always encrypt it.
  • Make sure to save the decryption key, but don’t store it with the device.
  • Label your backup.
  • For a DVD, use a CD-safe marker; some markers can damage the disc, which is most vulnerable on the label side.

All devices have a limited life, even with good storage. Keep the backup in a place that won’t get too hot, cold, or humid. Don’t count on its lasting more than five years. Send a note to your future self to copy it to new media after four years.

Choose your files carefully for this. You can’t usefully store anything that’s subject to change this way, but it can help to guarantee that you won’t lose critical documents even if everything else goes wrong.

Please contact us for IT support, backup, and other services.