How This Simple Network Task Could Save Your Construction Company Thousands of Dollars

Imagine logging into your computer first thing in the morning and nothing works. You and your coworkers can’t open your software or files on the server, bringing essential tasks like payroll processing to a screeching halt. Then, a pop up appears on your screen that says you need to pay to release your files.

You call your trusty IT provider and she finds malware encrypting all your server data. She immediately jumps into action to stop the malware from spreading across your entire computer system.  

After preventing the malware encryption from spreading, her next step is to restore the data from backup — hopefully your company has a data backup system in place or it could be a disaster. If the malware hacker was able to access your backup files, it could be bad news for your construction company.

What Could Happen to You?

The longer you wait to resolve a malware attack, the longer you go without the ability to complete essential tasks, like process payroll for your hardworking construction workers.

Your backup files are essential to restoring data. However, if your backup software has an error, your backups might not be running as scheduled. When the backup files are unreliable and you’re in the midst of a malware attack, there’s no guarantee your files will be recovered. To combat this, your backup files should be updated and tested frequently.

If you think this situation couldn’t get any worse, think again!

If the servers suffer from a failed hard drive, your servers might not boot up properly. You would no longer be able to print and access the remaining files on the server. Manual adjustments can be made so users can print, but they’d limited to accessing applications and files on local computers, rather than shared drives.

All of these problems could bring your construction business to a standstill.  

To Pay or Not to Pay?

Malware hackers often demand a ransomware fee to release your files. In an extreme case like this, you may be forced to pay the ransom fee to release your essential files and computer systems from the hacker. But even by meeting the malware hacker’s demands, there’s no guarantee that paying a fee would result in getting your data restored. That’s why our cybersecurity team is so adamant about protecting your system before you’re trapped by a malware hacker.

How Do You Avoid Paying a Malware Hacker?

Antivirus and anti-malware companies are working hard to defend against evolving threats to data and networks. In a Datto poll of IT service providers, 25% of the companies that paid the ransomware fee were not successful in recovering their data. The ransomware fee ranged from $100 to $20,000+ with an average cost of $500 to $2,000.

The only way to truly protect your data from malware, hardware failure, environmental disasters, accidental or deliberate deletion is to have a working, reliable file and image backup solution in place that is regularly tested.

To make it hard for a malware hacker to access your backup data, backups should not be easily accessible and you should have a copy of your backup files securely stored offsite.

A good backup solution (we love Datto) provides a multilayered backup solution to securely store your backups locally AND offsite in the event of a disaster.