Brexit: how can the logistics sector adapt to the changing face of data regulation?

Philip Bindley on 2pm2/2pm2/2pm2

The logistics industry is a driving force for the UK, employing one in 12 of the UK’s working people and contributing more than $118.3bn worldwide. As technology continues to advance, businesses within the sector have increasingly automated elements of their operations, boosting efficiency and further cementing the industry as a pillar of the economy.

But despite its growing criticality and digital transformation, the logistics industry is surprisingly not held to any standard for the exchange of data under current EU regulations.

Not only does this mean that transferring data can be inefficient, necessitating logistics businesses to manually convert data back and forth for other organisations in the supply chain, but it also has implications for the security of that data.

Importantly, regulations to govern the industry’s use of data will likely become stricter after Brexit – an eventuality that logistics businesses are currently unprepared for.

 

The impact of Brexit

Although we can only speculate what may happen post-Brexit, it’s very possible that the UK will no longer be bound by EU rulings, and will instead be responsible for enforcing its own regulations. As such, it’s plausible that new customs regulations on the transport of goods in and out of the UK will be brought in.

In this instance, it’s highly likely that these regulations will suddenly necessitate that data becomes rigorously regulated, forcing logistics businesses to adhere to a set of minimum security standards around data. Indeed, the European Commission’s recently established Digital Transport and Logistics Forum has already begun groundwork for proposed regulation on electronic freight transport information – evidence of the potential for new regulation that will affect both EU and non-EU members.

Such regulations will likely be all-encompassing and should apply to logistics businesses whether they manually convert data from one format to another using Excel macros, via a custom piece of software or by a large-scale logistics platform. Without being able to display the due diligence necessary to comply with these new regulations, logistics businesses could be at severe risk of financial penalties, and could lose out on custom to those businesses that can.

 

Ensuring compliance

With these changes to regulation on the horizon, it’s important that logistics businesses realise the importance of assurance in a post-Brexit landscape. The Bunker has been a trusted partner of businesses in regulated industries for many years, and our auditable assurance can help businesses within the sector to validate, evidence and provide sufficient guarantees of compliance should these changes come into effect.

By securing this assurance now, businesses can get ahead of the competition and hit the ground running in the event of regulation changes.

The transition to a fully regulated logistics industry will likely be rigorous, but at The Bunker we can also help businesses to achieve the basic levels of technological competence that will be necessary to facilitate this change, which will future proof your business against additional regulatory and other developments in the long term.

In addition, businesses can lay the foundations for compliance with future regulations by following existing standards that may or may not apply to their business. For example, by adhering to the PCI-DSS standard, even when no credit card details are held or processed, businesses can evidence that their services are built and held to a rigorous, recognised standard.

Again, The Bunker’s IT security and auditable assurance services can help you to achieve compliance with PCI-DSS. The wider Cyberfort Group, of which The Bunker is a part of, can also provide pen testing and compliance services from sister companies Arcturus and Agenci, ultimately providing the complete solution that the logistics industry needs to prepare itself for any regulatory changes after Brexit.

 

Conclusion

With a huge shake up to the logistics industry potentially coming in the near future, its vital that businesses get ahead of the curve today, since being able to evidence compliance could become mandatory in just a few months’ time.

By implementing auditable assurance now, logistics businesses can be placed far ahead of the competition, whilst guaranteeing basic technological competence will serve to future proof the industry for any Brexit related changes.

To find out more about we can help you on your journey, visit: https://thebunkerred.wpenginepowered.com/contact-us/

Delivering the future: what’s next for technology in the logistics sector?

Philip Bindley on 5am5/5am5/5am5

Every day logistics companies are leveraging new technologies and in no other sector are the benefits of streamlining basic operations, improving agility and creating a competitive advantage more evident.

Here, we will take a look at the direction in which the industry is moving by looking at three of the main considerations that developers and logistics pioneers need to be aware of as the sector, and the technology powering it, continually evolves.

 

The growth and reliance on data

With 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being produced every day and the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices  estimated to reach 50 billion by 2025, there’s no doubt that this data explosion will continue to expand for the foreseeable future.

The logistics ecosystem contributes a significant amount of this data as it moves towards embracing cutting-edge technologies. With the uptake in automation across the sector, and revolutionary trials of platooning technology taking place across the world, particularly in Los Angeles and the Netherlands, we can only expect it to embed itself into the fabric of the industry even more.

Volvo Group is one leading organisation which is exploiting the possibilities of fully-automated trucks, with one vehicle in full use at a mine in Kristineberg, Sweden. The company has already uncovered some of the valuable benefits that automation brings, including increased safety, reduced fuel consumption and emissions, and it’s inevitable that many in the industry will soon follow suit.

But connected devices and automation aren’t the only innovations powering the data boom in the industry – advanced technologies such as Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are relieving the burden of data analytics and offering critical insight for businesses in the sector, whilst also adding to the data produced. Both technologies are also vital in streamlining processes across the supply chain – from tracking and transporting packages across a warehouse using robotics, to using ML and AI to predict demand in the supply chain.

Global skincare company, Olay, is a prime example of a household brand using these technologies to its advantage through its Skin Advisor app, which performs facial analysis using ML algorithms to identify an individual’s skincare needs. The helps to shed light on buying behaviour and consumer demand of skincare and beauty products, which will then feed into the supply chain by highlighting which products are likely to be most popular.

Data is the driving force behind the future of logistics, but to sustain these advancements, it’s essential that the technology underpinning them remains agile and resilient as data sets continue to grow.

 

Increased adoption of hybrid cloud

With the rapid growth of tech-savvy business and an increasing demand for flexible IT solutions, hybrid cloud is becoming an increasingly attractive option for logistics innovators. One of the main benefits that can be drawn from it is that this flexible infrastructure allows for capacity to be switched between private and public cloud when there is an increase in traffic, ensuring that interruption is kept to a minimum. This is particularly key for logistics organisations to help processes run smoothly.

Having a hybrid infrastructure also allows businesses to configure relevant processes to be fed through to either their public, private or on-premise environment – whether a dedicated environment is needed to run static and predictable workloads, or the cloud is necessary to react to unpredictable and fluctuating demands.

The necessary processes involved in utilising a hybrid environment, such as pseudonymisation – the separation of data from all identifiers – mean that it’s often a more secure way for organisations to store sensitive information. This is particularly important for businesses in the logistics sector who have to negotiate regulatory or data sovereignty requirements.

To ensure compliance, logistics companies need to use the right platforms for the right services, whether through public, private or on-premise solutions, or a combination of the three. Hybrid cloud also provides developers with good environments to carry out development, testing and proof of concept assessments in dedicated environments, which in turn can help bolster the integrity of software and platforms developed and used across the industry.

 

Emerging cyber threats

With new technology comes new security considerations, especially as the data created and used throughout the supply chain, increases. Because of this, the logistics sector is becoming an increasingly lucrative target for cyber criminals who come armed with more infectious malware and stronger methods of attack, powered by technologies such as AI.

The sector will remember the NonPetya attack all too well, which targeted organisations across the globe, including the world’s largest shipping company, Maersk, as well as logistics and postal companies, Deutsche Post and Deutsche Bahn. Attacks such as this are simply driven by a desire to compromise valuable data gathered by the industry as it propels forward on its digital journey.

As a result, security remains a prevailing issue for the industry, especially as organisations need to meet an increasing number of compliance standards as a result of holding greater amounts of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and the data accumulated across the supply chain. This is something the industry needs to have front of mind when developing and adopting any technology, whether for use internally or externally.

 

How we can support your future

Whether you were born in the cloud, or operate a combination of on-premise, private or public cloud, balancing the adoption of emerging technologies with evolving security needs is a massive challenge for forward-thinking organisations that are keen to modernise their operations.

The Bunker understands the importance of keeping up-to-date with cutting-edge technology and what is needed to ensure that all of this is continuously upheld.

With our military-grade ultra-secure data centres, alongside our industry-leading expertise, we arm you with the tools you need to scale, boost efficiencies and functionality, and also meet your necessary security and compliance requirements.

Thinking logically: future-proofing and de-risking the supply chain

Philip Bindley on 1pm1/1pm1/1pm1

The logistics industry has been completely transformed by technology in recent years. New innovations have led to huge breakthroughs and have been invaluable in streamlining processes, empowering customers and saving money, while late adopters have fallen by the wayside and been discarded as old-fashioned players in what is a fast-moving sector.

These changes have had a significant impact on the types of solutions designed for the industry. Connected devices are now rife, and are revolutionising the way that systems are integrated within the supply chain, as well as enhancing automation. The sector is also a prime example of how big data can be leveraged, with telematics software being used to distribute vehicle tracking information and improve transparency amongst suppliers and third-parties. While the efficiency gains and resource savings are obvious, these technologies are also building trust and helping to drive new business by empowering those further down the chain through the use of self-service platforms, enabling them to order, track and collect goods at the touch of the button.

MetaPack is one example of a company that has taken advantage of technology to deliver completely new ways of working, helping the logistics industry operate as fast and efficiently as possible. Its Carrier Mapping tool harnesses data from over 200 countries to allow retailers, brands and carriers to gain an understanding of which distributers are available at a given time – joining up activity to create a seamless delivery experience.

 

Potential challenges with transforming the sector

 

The benefits of digital transformation within the sector are almost endless. However, where there is rapid adoption of technology, there is always increased risk.

Efficiency is key when it comes to logistics, which is why technology service providers need to ensure their systems are robust enough to process large volumes of information in real-time in order to keep up with the fast pace of the market. Applications and platforms also demand an agile way of working to allow them to adapt with the changing landscape, which is why IT teams often adopt a DevOps culture to keep the wheels turning and optimise their platforms as and when needed.

These challenges are made even more complex when you consider the amount of sensitive data being processed by the sector, and the fact that it is a prime target for cyber criminals. At every point of the software development process, and for every business in the supply chain, security needs to be a focus – particularly given the complexity of the environment and the strict compliance mandates for companies to adhere to, including PCI DSS, GDPR, ISO27001 and the CPNI guidelines.

Issues at any point can lead to devastating consequences, sending ripples of damage throughout the supply chain. In fact, last year’s BCI Supply Chain Resiliency Report revealed that three of the top causes of supply chain disruption are telecommunication outages, cyber attacks and data breaches – with any of these disruptions causing a 55% loss in productivity and a 46% increased cost of working.

These stats serve as an apt reminder that if one aspect of a supply chain isn’t working at an optimal level, it can affect all other parties involved. Ensuring that any software you develop or use has solid infrastructure and robust platforms in place will therefore avoid any weak links in the chain and will mean you reap the benefits in terms of your bottom line.

 

Creating a competitive advantage

 

Clever use of technology is the facilitator to overcome these obstacles. The key to de-risking the supply chain is to make software as efficient, resilient and secure as possible, as well as ensuring that infrastructure is audited to guarantee compliance. Whether software is developed in-house, is off-the-shelf, or modified off-the-shelf, making sure that it is built and hosted in a flexible, secure and compliant way is vital in order to avoid disruption and give end-users confidence in the services you provide.

For software developers, this means making the development, hosting, and proof of concept assessment of their applications bespoke. Facilitating a DevOps way of working is important to allow for rapid changes to be made, while investing in security and ensuring compliance is essential at every stage. Or, if you’re taking advantage of these applications and new innovations rather than developing them, it means choosing a solution based on these requirements and hosting your applications in an environment that delivers these benefits.

Our market-leading technology expertise is complemented by our UK-based, unique and ultra-secure data centres, which are housed in state-of-the-art ex-military facilities. We specialise in partnering with technology service providers to de-risk their operations and support the delivery of applications and IT services to end users who demand security, resilience and compliance in the solutions they use. By holding security at the core of everything we do, we can ultimately help the service providers that keep the supply chain running to establish a competitive advantage when selling their services.

Get in touch if you’re interested in finding out more about how we can help you by clicking here.

Encryption FAQs: Breaking down the building blocks of encryption

Philip Bindley on 4pm4/4pm4/4pm4

What is encryption and how does it work?

Encryption is a fundamental security measure used to safeguard sensitive information.

Almost every business holds or processes some sort of sensitive data or personally identifiable information (PII), and if a cyber criminal attempts to gain access to this, encryption ensures that it remains unidentifiable.

It works by transforming data into an unreadable form whilst it is being transferred and stored. This data can then only be decrypted back into plain text by the intended user, preventing any unauthorised access.

 

Why do I need to encrypt my data?

It’s important to remember that it is your responsibility to implement the right defences to prevent the data you hold and process from being compromised. Encryption should therefore be one of the first measures outlined in your organisation’s security strategy.

Primarily, data needs to be encrypted in order protect your customers, employees and suppliers.  Customers, staff and third-parties trust that their data is kept safe by organisations they associate with, and as a bare minimum they expect adequate measures to be in place to safeguard it from falling into the wrong hands.

Despite encryption being around for decades, many modern data breaches can still be traced back to a lack of encryption, which is massively damaging for the brands affected. Implementing the correct level of encryption therefore also helps to protect your organisation’s reputation and avoid falling victim to non-compliance and any associated fines.

 

What level of encryption do I need?

There are several levels of encryption that can be deployed depending on the size of your business and the value of the data that you handle.

It’s advisable that you begin at least at disk level and increase this as your business and data sets grow in terms of value. But whether it’s disk, file, database or application level encryption you need, it’s important to select a solution that provides you with the right protection to mitigate the specific threats your business faces.

 

How flexible is encryption?

Whatever stage your business is at, it’s important that you have an encryption solution which can scale as your grow and evolve.

A good solution will allow you to implement various levels of encryption to meet changing data set demands across a range of platforms. These can be deployed across physical, virtual, cloud, container and big data environments, meaning that no matter how much you grow as a business, the data you’re responsible for remains encrypted.

 

How does encryption ensure compliance for my organisation?

Industry standards and data protection regulations aren’t there to scaremonger businesses – rather, they ensure that best practice is achieved and, in many cases, that data is protected to the correct level.

If your business hasn’t encrypted its sensitive information, from a compliance point of view this is often clear evidence that you’re not taking data security seriously. This would be true for the likes of GDPR, PCI DSS, ISO27001 and NIST for example.

Although many industry standards and compliance mandates are open to interpretation, encryption should be thought of as a vital element that shouldn’t be ignored if you want to be in the regulators’ good books.

 

What is the first thing I should look for when choosing an encryption solution?

When looking for encryption solutions, it’s important to choose one that is underpinned by strong, standard-based encryption protocols such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), or elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) algorithms to ensure a robust level of security, whether data is stored in physical or virtual environments, your data will be safeguarded.

 

How easy is it to install encryption solutions across my business?

Encrypting your data shouldn’t cause operations to grind to a halt. Automation is a big feature of many solutions these days, meaning that encryption and access controls can be enabled without requiring changes to infrastructure, systems management tasks or business practices.

Many solutions are both sophisticated and user-friendly, so there’s no longer any excuse.

 

What is Vormetric Transparent Encryption and how is it delivered through The Bunker?

Vormetric Transparent Encryption is an advanced solution designed by Thales to protect data with file and volume level data-at-rest encryption, strict access controls, and data access audit logging without re-engineering applications, databases.

The robust, scalable and flexible encryption solution is available for Windows, Linux and Unix platforms and can be used across physical, cloud, container and big data environments to offer robust data protection and assist with meeting strict compliance standards.

At The Bunker, we offer this as a service, meaning that you will not only benefit from Vormetric’s advanced capabilities, but we also design a bespoke and costs-effective solution that can flex as your needs change and your business evolves. Our military-grade facilities and the support of our dedicated team also add additional layers of security to safeguard your most important assets.

 

To find out more about how we can help you implement Vormetric Transparent Encryption-as-a-Service across your business, click here.

What 2018’s biggest breaches have taught us about encryption

Philip Bindley on 1pm1/1pm1/1pm1

Encryption in its modern form has been around for decades, but it’s still something that companies are failing to implement. Encryption is often neglected when it comes to corporate cyber security, despite the fact that it forms the cornerstone of any robust security strategy.

Data has never before been so valuable, or so widely targeted – this isn’t just due to the increasing complexity of attack methods, but also due to the range of ways that we transfer sensitive data every day.

Encrypting data is a basic way to protect sensitive corporate and customer data, and so far this year, many large companies have learned this lesson the hard way.

  1. Carphone Warehouse
    The phone retailer started the year in an unpleasant way with a £400,000 fine from the ICO. Not only were attackers able to use login credentials to access the company’s system via out-of-date WordPress software, but they also were able to locate the credentials of more than 3 million customers in plain text, including names, dates of birth, addresses and phone
  2. The Crown Prosecution Service
    The Crown Prosecution Service’s £325,000 fine in May serves as a stark reminder of why organisations should take encryption into account with all forms of data. In this instance, unencrypted DVDs holding interviews with victims of crimes, as well as sensitive information about the perpetrator, victims and interviewing officers, were left in an unsecured area of a building for anyone to view.
  3. Yahoo
    Yahoo’s UK arm suffered significant reputational damage over a data breach which took place in 2014 – not to mention the £250,000 fine that it was subsequently slapped with from the ICO. The breach saw state-sponsored hackers transfer multiple files from the main Yahoo servers – many of which included names, emails, and unencrypted security questions and answers affecting more than 500 million users.
  4. University of Greenwich
    The continuing existence of an unsecured microsite built in 2004 led to the personal data of 19,500 University of Greenwich students being placed online by hackers – including names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, signatures, and, in some cases, details of physical and mental health problems. The breach, which resulted in a £120,000 fine for the University, acts as yet another reminder to organisations to make sure all data that they hold is processed and stored securely in order to avoid significant reputational damage.
  5. The Bible Society
    Earlier this year, the charity was hit with a £100,000 fine after its IT network was compromised, and the personal data of its 417,000 of its supporters – including some payment card details – were accessed through an account which was only secured with an easy-to-guess password. In this case, the attackers deployed ransomware and transferred some files out of the network.

From these breaches, and many others, it’s clear that encryption – or the lack of it – is a huge factor in the size of the consequences of a data breach.

Securing data with encryption is not only a simple way to keep data safe, but is also of vital importance under GDPR. If you get it right, you won’t get fined – but get it wrong, and you can face significant reputational and financial damage. And now, with so many clever and easy to adopt solutions, there’s no longer any excuse not to have encryption in place.

Keeping your data safe with Vormetric Transparent Encryption from Thales and The Bunker

Philip Bindley on 1am1/1am1/1am1

Encryption has been utilised since WWII to safeguard data from potential threats, and although the methodologies employed may have changed, the basic premise is the same: encryption renders your data unusable should it fall into the wrong hands. This means that even if potential attackers manage to get through your cyber security safeguards, your data will still remain protected.

The other advantage of encryption is that it can support your business in achieving compliance with strict industry standards, helping you to avoid fines and reputational damage should you suffer a data breach. And although it is a basic preventative measure, it is important to remember that encryption is a fundamental precaution that every business should take in order to safeguard their most valuable assets.

When it comes to the right encryption solution then, it is vital to choose one that’s easy to deploy and maintain, whilst offering continuous protection. That’s why we opted for Vormetric Transparent Encryption from Thales as our chosen partner.

Adopting this robust encryption solution is easy. Downtime is alleviated during the set-up process by automating deployment configuration. The ongoing management and monitoring of the solution can then be automated and managed by our in-house experts, keeping things simple and making sure that your business can continue to run smoothly.

Vormetric has established itself as one of the best solutions in the market thanks to its cost-effectiveness and flexibility. This coupled with the fact that The Bunker offers this solution as a service, means that it can grow and adapt to meet your data needs as your business scales and requirements change. Not only does the Vormetric solution work hand-in-hand with our secure data storage, to provide best-in-class robust protection for your data, the product can also be applied to a number of different environments and offers a wide range of functionality that we’re able to adapt to each client’s individual needs.

With encryption based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) for key exchange, Vormetric is FIPS 140-2 Level 1 validated, offering peace of mind that your sensitive data is properly safeguarded to the correct level at all times. Not only that, but Vormetric Transparent Encryption also leverages the AES hardware encryption capabilities on modern CPUs, delivering encryption with optimal performance even in virtual and cloud environments. It’s available on a broad selection of Windows, Linux and UNIX platforms, and can scale to meet your needs if you choose to opt for physical, virtual, cloud, container and big data environments. SAP has also reviewed and qualified Vormetric Transparent Encryption as suitable for use in SAP database management solutions, meaning important data at all levels and across all environments is properly safeguarded.

As a company that lives and breathes security day in, day out, we fully understand the importance of controlling who can access your data, even within your own company, and know that this cannot be understated. Fortunately, the Vormetric solution features granular access controls that can protect your data from potential external attacks or misuse by privileged users. You can tailor your policies to meet the needs of individual users by process, file type and time of day giving you control over every aspect of your data. On top of this, Vormetric’s security intelligence feature helps to identify and stop threats faster by providing detailed access audit logs, offering total peace of mind.

Utilising Vormetric alongside The Bunker will provide your business with everything it needs to keep your data safe, and ensure it stays that way. Vormetric’s automated maintenance and intelligence capabilities work alongside our ultra-secure ex-military facilities to provide a complete data storage and security solution. Our team of experts are also on hand to ensure you benefit from a tailored solution that best suits your needs and tech requirements, meaning you can be certain that your data will remain encrypted and safe whatever happens.

Everything you need to know about backing up Office 365

Philip Bindley on 3am3/3am3/3am3

  1. Is Office 365 already backed up?
    Put simply, no. As a platform, Office 365 is secure, but your data is not backed up in a way that most organisations require.

    Typically, there’s only a 30-day retention period inbuilt into Office 365, and Microsoft SharePoint Online is only backed up every 12 hours, with just a 14-day retention period. It’s no use relying on the recycle bins, either – there are no true backups here, meaning that once data is gone, it’s gone.

  2. Why do I need to back up Office 365?

    Ultimately, it’s up to you, the user, to safeguard data. Many companies don’t realise that Microsoft is not responsible for the protection and retention of user’s data – and this can have serious consequences.

    Just imagine if you lost access to all the information in your Office 365 environment. With so much data distributed amongst Office 365 programmes – whether that’s spreadsheets, Word documents, emails and even calendar details – backing everything up is vital.

  3. How do I back up Office 365?
    With many solutions available, backing up Office 365 is easy, as long as you choose the solution that works best for you. With functionality such as automatic backups, backing up is simple, and many solutions offer the fast recovery of applications and data.
  4. How does backing up help my business to become compliant?
    If you’re wary of losing access to crucial data, you’re not alone – compliance is one of the key reasons behind the adoption of Office 365 backup for many organisations.

    Many Office 365 backup solutions are incredibly flexible, meaning that you can keep your email data for as long as you need, and tailor it to meet the compliance needs of your business. Ensuring the constant availability of data is also key to meeting the requirements of many compliance standards, including GDPR.

  5. How easy is it to install Office 365 backup?
    Installing Office 365 backup is now a straightforward task. Many solutions can be implemented within minutes, and without disrupting day-to-day operations.
  6. Will all of my data be covered if I back up Office 365?
    Fortunately, Office 365 backup solutions can safeguard all information on the platform – from large attachments to calendar dates. The best solutions on the market, such as Veeam backup for Microsoft Office 365, also supports Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business – meaning that you can rest assured in the knowledge that all of your data is available whenever you need it.
  7. Is it easy for me to recover data with an Office 365 backup solution?
    The best Office 365 backup solutions make it simple to find and restore specific data sets.

    Many solutions offer tools to enable the quick search and recovery of items, whether that’s entire mailboxes, folders, messages or tasks, in both existing or archived mailboxes, making it far easier to access data whenever this is required.

  8. Will backing up make using Office 365 more difficult?
    Definitely not – backups run in the background and don’t impact how you use the platform. However, they do act as a safety net and mean you’ll have peace of mind that you’ll be able to access and restore any data that has been accidentally deleted, changed or stolen.
  9. How often should I back up my data?
    It’s advisable to backup data regularly, but what this means in real time might depend on which compliance mandates you need to adhere to, the kind of data you hold, and what you use this data for.

    Most solutions have different options for how often backups are carried out, and many are carried out automatically, so that you won’t even have to think about it.

  10. How flexible is Office 365 backup?
    Most backup solutions are easily scalable, and can grow along with needs of your business.

    What’s more, you can often restore information directly to the form that you require, whether that’s an Office 365 mailbox, an on-premises Exchange mailbox, a PST file, or an email attachment, making it easy to access data wherever and whenever you need it.

How Veeam Office 365 backup helps to protect your data

Philip Bindley on 3pm3/3pm3/3pm3

For most businesses, data is now at the heart of everything they do, and there is no doubt that it will continue to be their most valuable asset in the future. In fact, Digital Reality’s 2018 data centre report revealed that the data industry could be worth £101 billion by 2025.

Microsoft Office 365 has become almost ubiquitous within business, but the fact that a lot of critical data is stored on the platform is often overlooked. Business contacts, email content and attachments are often vital to the smooth-running of an organisation and therefore need to be safeguarded in the event of a system outage or data breach, or the accidental deletion, loss or alteration of the information.

Since Microsoft clearly states that users are ultimately responsible for their own data on the platform, it’s important that organisations have secure backups in place to avoid operations grinding to a halt, and enabling them to bounce back quickly should the worst happen.

Choosing the right backup solution is therefore essential to ensure it offers comprehensive protection. Veeam Office 365 backup is currently the best option on the market, which is why The Bunker selected Veeam as a backup partner. In fact, this technology has now been installed by 29,000 businesses to protect over 2.7 million mailboxes. It eliminates the risk of losing access and control over your Office 365 data, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business, offering complete protection.

Veeam offers automation with full PowerShell and RESTful API support capabilities to ensure that backups are always being created and that all information is continuously up-to-date. It also provides protection for hybrid-cloud email deployments and comes with a multi-repository, multi-tenant architecture to safeguard larger Office 365 deployments with a single installation.

When it comes to the recovery of data, we know that having the flexibility to search for specific information and data records saves masses of time, and may also be required in order to adhere to compliance standards. Together with Veeam’s technology, we provide this by offering self-service restore capabilities of individual mailbox items in either archived Office 365 content, including SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business, or on-premises Exchange backups. This helps to improve recovery times and reduce costs. Our offering also comes complete with an eDiscovery tool, which leverages advanced search capabilities and allows for data in archives to be identified and selectively restored on a granular level, without disrupting normal business operations.

In partnership with Veeam, we help businesses get back online quickly after a data outage by helping to recover applications and critical information in less than 15 minutes. Not only that, but we’re able to restore information directly to an Office 365 mailbox, an on-premises Exchange mailbox, saved as a file, emailed as an attachment or exported as a PST.

Adopting Veeam technology through The Bunker removes the risk of losing your data, makes it efficient and simple to restore important information, and offers ongoing support to ensure backups are always happening in the background. This not only enables you to handle any data loss situation, but also helps you meet legal requirements and boost compliance with the strictest industry standards.

Taking you back to where it all began

Philip Bindley on 3pm3/3pm3/3pm3

At The Bunker, we’re extremely proud of our history and our roots. We might be a technology company, but it’s people that have made the company what it is today – the UK’s most secure data centre, dedicated to helping our customers navigate a continuously shifting compliance and security landscape.

But to understand how we got here, we need to go back to where it all began…

The early days

In 1994,  Dominic Hawken and Ben and Adam Laurie made it their mission to meet the increasing demand for secure web applications. They were already technology and cryptography gurus, and Ben Laurie would later go on to write Apache-SSL, which would fundamentally change internet security.

They set out to look for a location to house their web app business venture, and opted for a former military bunker in Ash, Kent. Acquired from the UK Ministry of Defence, the place must be seen to be believed – boasting reinforced concrete walls and steel doors to the nuclear bomb-proof corridors that lie 30 metres underground. With security built in to every centimetre of the site, it perfectly reflected the culture of complete security that the brothers wanted to create with their business.

Once Dominic, Adam and Ben got started, they quickly noticed a gap in the market. While the web apps they created had security baked in, there was nowhere to securely host them. They took on this challenge, creating a cutting-edge data centre that had security at its core, locating it at the military-grade bunker they already operated from. The Bunker – as we now know it – was born.

This drive to find solutions to security issues and focus on innovation has been at the heart of our company ever since.

A growing family…

From a three-man band – Ben, Adam, and Dominic Hawken to an almost 80-strong workforce, we’ve enjoyed successive year-on-year growth in terms of employees, revenue and clients. To cater for this demand we acquired our second ultra-secure Newbury site from the US Air Force in 2004, a former command and control centre used to protect both people and technology from a nuclear attack. It now protects our clients’ data from the ever-changing threat landscape, with monitoring and management from our expert staff around the clock. We have also established a sales hub in London to better serve our clients in the capital and beyond.

Our customer base has grown from just two businesses to hundreds of organisations, from some of the most highly regulated businesses in the world to organisations providing vital blue light services. Our capabilities have grown too thanks to our in house experts – from ultra-secure colocation to secure managed cloud services and GDPR-compliant back-ups.

Our success comes down to having security and innovation at the very core of our business. It’s in our DNA.

… That’s getting even bigger

Joining the Cyberfort Group was the next step in our journey. We now sit alongside other innovative and forward-thinking security businesses, including penetration testing specialist, Arcturus, and cyber security consultant, Agenci. With these additional capabilities, we can together deliver a truly end-to-end security service for our customers.

With security at the heart of every aspect of our business – from the mission of our founders, to our sites, to every single decision we have made over the last 20 years – we’ve become the UK’s most trusted and secure data centre partner.

Now part of a unique offering from the Cyberfort Group, we’re setting out to grow the business even further and continue to transform customers’ businesses.

It was brilliant people that made The Bunker what it is today, and it’s our brilliant people that will continue to drive us forward into the future.

Avoid the downsides of downtime: three steps to ensure your Office 365 data stays safe

Philip Bindley on 4am4/4am4/4am4

It has become the default cloud platform for the day-to-day work of most businesses. Losing data from Office 365 would no doubt put a dent in the operations of many organisations, as well as causing significant compliance issues, but despite this, many still assume that data is automatically backed up by the platform.

This simply isn’t the case – and Microsoft is very clear that, although it provides the infrastructure, the tech giant doesn’t take any responsibility for the data stored by Office 365 users.

It’s therefore crucial to build on the basic security measures provided by Office 365 in order to avoid the disruption that data loss or outages can cause. Below are some helpful tips for businesses to protect themselves from data loss:

  1. Consider all bases – big and small

    With such a broad suite of products, it’s important to ensure that all Office 365 platforms and data are protected – from SharePoint online to OneDrive, and from contact information to presentation notes.

    Although ensuring that all data is covered might seem excessive, even the seemingly least significant file or piece of information might need to be retrieved at some point. For example, not backing emails up can make finding information for compliance reasons an expensive and time-consuming task.

  2. Ensure organisational processes are in place

    It’s crucial for businesses to constantly ask themselves whether they could be handling data in a safer way. Since Office 365 users are still responsible for their data held in the cloud, individual organisations need to ensure that processes are in place to keep data safe.

    This can range from small measures that individuals can take – such as not to relying on the recycle bin for data recovery, as data can easily be lost – to introducing company-wide strategies to change the way that documents are shared and accessed, so that staff all work from the same version.

  3. Use reliable software

    Streamlining organisational processes and achieving visibility over business-critical data can protect Office 365 information up to an extent, but it’s also important for businesses to consider implementing third-party software in order to keep data safe from external threats, malicious insiders and unexpected outages.

    When choosing a third-party provider, it’s worth thinking about whether the solution offered bolsters your organisation’s ability to meet compliance standards, as well as ensuring that it is scalable in line with storage requirements.

    For example, solutions offered by organisations such as Veeam can back up all company data in just 15 minutes, and offer advanced search capabilities to help with compliance by enabling the fast recovery of data.

    To find out more about Veeam Backup-as-a-Service, download our factsheet

    4.  

Securing Office 365

Philip Bindley on 3am3/3am3/3am3

Office 365 has, understandably, become a key fixture in almost all offices; as well as plenty of time and investment dedicated to optimising user experience, Microsoft has put a lot of effort into helping businesses secure their Office 365 tenancy, as more organisations completely migrate their exchange infrastructure to the cloud.

It makes sense, then, to assume that security comes as a guarantee with all Office 365 software. Unfortunately, this is simply not the case. In fact, Microsoft is very clear that Office 365 customers are ultimately responsible for protecting and controlling access to their own data.

The platform is only offered alongside very basic security measures and doesn’t provide sufficient disaster recovery options. Like any other software, Office 365 is not infallible, so it’s important to note that, without having a third-party backup solution in place, data could be at risk if is it deleted by mistake, breached or made unavailable for some reason. With that in mind, it’s advisable to have dedicated products in place to maintain a strong security posture.

We recently heard a story from a client that serves as a good reminder: the company had migrated to Office 365 some time ago and recently discovered that two members of the board’s email accounts had a rule set-up to forward all emails to an unknown Gmail account. They had no idea how long these accounts had been compromised, and subsequently performed an investigation. Needless to say, the compromised accounts had very weak passwords, such as the organisation name appended with a number.

Of course, even if this organisation had enforced a reasonable password policy, this is a very viable attack vector. Threat actors often make several unnoticed login attempts to Office 365 every day, putting sensitive data at risk. A successful breach could lead to a whole host of issues. For example, it could alter datasets or make important data unavailable and pause daily operations. Another possibility might be that a breach might cause data to be permanently deleted or held to ransom.

Authentication and access controls have come a long way, but protection like multi-factor authentication can sometimes impact on productivity in the workplace. It’s therefore crucial to have a basis of strong organisational security awareness and dedicated security solutions throughout your organisation. This ensures your most important assets and sensitive data are safeguarded, while enabling employees to remain productive.

Our Office 365 backup solution, powered by Veeam, protects your business-critical information and enables the continuous availability of sensitive data, in line with GDPR requirements. To find out more about how we can help to you work safely and office peace of mind that your Office 365 data is always available whenever you need it, click here.

5 Challenges To Adopting AWS

Philip Bindley on 3pm3/3pm3/3pm3

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a secure public cloud service and everyone wants a part of it. Offering on-demand delivery of compute power, database storage, applications and other IT resources through its cloud services platform via the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing, it is a commercially viable option for start-ups, Fintechs and other companies not looking to make large upfront investments in hardware.

How To Migrate From On Premise IT And Into The Cloud

Philip Bindley on 3pm3/3pm3/3pm3

We’re said to be entering a radical new world of outsourcing for technology-related services. But for those organisations that don’t feel ready to make the leap, it’s possible to chart a more measured path to the Cloud via colocation and managed hosting.