Synology has argued that companies should have a secure backup and disaster recovery plan in case of an IT operational disaster like the recent CrowdStrike incident.

On the 6th, Synology presented five key points to strengthen data resilience in situations like CrowdStrike.

On the 19th, during the update process for CrowdStrike's 'Falcon Sensor' for real-time threat detection and endpoint protection, a system crash occurred, affecting 8.5 million Microsoft (MS) Windows devices, causing IT and operational disruption worldwide.

Although this incident was not caused by a cyberattack or malware, it highlights the importance of a comprehensive and reliable backup and disaster recovery strategy to prevent business disruption.

After the incident, CrowdStrike provided technical support and distributed patches to restore systems, but many organizations' systems were unable to recover automatically, requiring IT administrators to boot into Safe Mode and manually uninstall CrowdStrike's problematic updates.

Microsoft (MS) introduced a 'process minimization' solution that automatically deletes the problematic files the next day, but it was still a cumbersome process that required individual devices to boot into WinPE via a USB drive.br />
Downtime results in operational disruption, lost productivity, additional costs, increased compliance risks, negative customer experiences, and damage to corporate reputation.

This requires a robust data protection plan to always maintain business continuity.

According to the five solutions revealed by Synology, the following methods were suggested: △Comprehensive backup △Regular recovery training △Instant VM recovery △Cross-platform recovery △Offsite backup and recovery.

Deploying a strategy to regularly back up all sources and devices is especially important for enterprises that use multiple platforms or tools, and because equipment and system failures are unpredictable, it is important to continually test the recoverability of backup data to verify the effectiveness and availability of your disaster recovery plan.

Additionally, services must be virtualized and operations restored as quickly as possible to reduce downtime and ensure business continuity.

In the case of this CrowdStrike incident, only one platform was affected, but it is important to ensure that all data, applications, and systems can be recovered and reinstalled across multiple environments to minimize the risk of data loss.

Finally, in addition to onsite data backups, implementing offsite backups can help mitigate the risk of data loss.

Companies that deployed offsite cloud backups during the CrowdStrike event were able to easily resume services from their offsite backup sites.

“Having a secure backup and disaster recovery plan is key to data resilience and is a critical step for any business pursuing digital transformation. The CrowdStrike incident clearly demonstrates the importance of having a robust backup strategy and regularly testing backups to maintain continuity in the event of unexpected events,” said a Synology representative.