Antivirus, Backup & Disaster Recovery, Email Security, Firewalls

Keeping reliable backups is an integral part of data management. Your personal computer, external hard drives, departmental or university servers are examples of tools used for backing up data. CDs or DVDs are not recommended because they fail so frequently. The BMS IT Solutions provides additional guidelines on data storage, back-up, and security.

Cloud-Powered Scanning utilizes real-time streaming of threat-related information from the cloud for a continual level of protection and faster scanning.

Enhanced Media Control blocks threats from entering the system via removable media, automatically prompting scans of all USB flash drives, CDs and DVDs. Create a list of permitted media to prevent data theft via insertion of unauthorized devices.

Intelligent Firewall – ESET Smart Security 5 or F Secure helps you prevent unauthorized users from accessing your computer remotely and taking control of your data.

Parental Control – an advanced feature in ESET Smart Security 5 that allows blocking of offensive material.

Gamer Mode – streamlines protection during gaming sessions by automatically switching to silent mode to conserve system resources even further.

Improved Anti-spam our anti-spam module integrated in ESET Smart Security has undergone a thorough optimization process for even higher level of detection precision.

Advanced HIPS Functionality – this one is for real Geeks – now you can customize the behavior of the system in greater detail: specify rules for the system registry, active processes and programs, and fine-tune your security posture.

Backup Your Data

Make 3 copies (e.g. original + external/local + external/remote)
Have them geographically distributed (local vs. remote depends on recovery time needed)

Data Backup Options

Hard drive (examples: via Windows backup, Mac Timeline)
Cloud Storage – some examples of private sector storage resources include:
Amazon S3 -Requires client software, no encryption support (http://aws.amazon.com/s3/#pricing)
S3-based Remote Hard Drive Services such as Elephant Drive (www.elephantdrive.com) and Jungle Disk (www.jungledisk.com)
Mozy (from EMC) Free client software, 448-bit Blowfish encryption or AES key (http:// mozy.com/)
Carbonite Free client software, 1024Free 1024-bit Blowfish encryption (www.carbonite.com)

Secure Your Data

Un-Encrypted is ideal for storing your data because it will make it most easily read by you and others in the future. But if you do need to encrypt your data because its sensitivity:
Keep passwords and keys on paper (2 copies), and in a PGP (pretty good privacy) encrypted digital file
Don’t rely on 3rd party encryption alone
Uncompressed is also ideal for storage, but if you need to do so to conserve space, limit compression to your 3rd backup copy

Test your backup system

In order to make sure that your backup system is working properly, try to retrieve your data files and make sure that you can read them. You should do this upon initial setup of the system and on a regular schedule thereafter.