【Business Hack】Safeguard your reputation by having a backup & disaster recovery solution

To remind you guys of the importance of having appropriate managed security services in place, today I have to share my very own stupid experience about being not secure enough with my clients’ data.

Back in the days when I was a fresh grad, I got hired as a Salesman at a medium-sized company. That time I was so naive that I didn't believe my computer would ever be hacked by bad guys, therefore, I took little to no safety precautions when handling sensitive data. And of course, no backup and disaster recovery solution was installed.

A few months later, a disastrous incident happened to me. I could still remember it was a rainy day and I was 5 minutes late to work. When I opened the door, my managers were waiting for me with a flouncing face. I thought it was because of my unpunctuality, thus, I looked into their sdwan eyes and said “Good Morning”, planning to walk back to my seat and open the computer as soon as possible.

But something unexpected came up. One of the managers who was responsible for multi cloud asked me the question I will never forget in my entire life, he asked, “Hey Jimmy, did you give out our clients’ contacts and IDs?”

I was in so much shock as I knew how serious it can be if I really have done that. 

I firmly denied.

Next thing they did was to open a file in front of me. And oh my goddess, the excel showed countless angry clients complaining about their data being commercially used without their permission. While I was looking at the file trying to figure out what exactly was happening, the SASE sd-wan representative explained the whole thing to me.

Turns out, all of my clients’ details were leaked out to a third party a few days ago. Although it was supposed to be difficult to trace, one of the victims happened to be an IT guy who was familiar with the technical trace and track procedures. That was how he found out the source was from me, or should I say, my computer.

I guess we could call it lucky since the only citic telecom consequence I got is a fire letter instead of a lawsuit. Still, I have learned a really big lesson from it.

Now, everytime I start my first day at a new company, I must check detaily the setup of the company’s sd wan solutions. Not being crazy, but I believe I can never be too careful about it.

What is a SD WAN solution you ask?

As time passes by, the traditional firewalls have been evolved into advanced protective software - namely the SD WAN solution.

Unlike OSPF, MPLS and other protocols, SD-WAN is not a technical standard, it is a "concept" that allows enterprises to have more flexibility in using diversified WAN lines. By partnering up with the MPLS VPN network, the protectiveness of SD WAN solutions is further enhanced.

However, SD-WAN is based on pre-conditions given by users to determine which line to take, such as how much voice quality should be maintained? How much packet loss rate, how much latency should not exceed, etc. Therefore, SD-WAN is about line quality, not the user's service experience.

Though a dedicated WAN might sometimes be very expensive. For technology that promises to mitigate this ict solution cost is worth considering, which is why SD WANs have become so popular. The privacy provided by MPLS was important because hardware devices that could encrypt high-speed traffic were still very expensive. If you used MPLS, you didn't necessarily have to spend extra money to encrypt your traffic. Today, the general-purpose SD WAN solution goes way beyond the traditional landscape and rendering companies with much more security benefits. 

Read and Know more about my expertise:

How to enhance cybersecurity as a layman? Tips and Hacks for Start-ups

What is Cloud Data Center and why is it trending? Complete Breakdown