By Carbonite Guest Blog

Experienced providers of IT services and solutions are well aware that one of the main benefits of cloud-based backup software is the protection it affords users from Crypto viruses and other forms of ransomware.

When ransomware strikes, all users need to do is wipe the infected drives and restore clean files from backup. It’s a great selling point for backup software. And when it comes to selling, there’s nothing more helpful than real-world testimonials.

Below are three examples of businesses that emerged from ransomware attacks unscathed. Feel free to point to these stories the next time you’re schooling current and potential clients on the value of cloud backup.

1. RE/MAX Professionals Realty
Sandler Dickson is a longtime real estate agent from Tallahassee, Florida. He and his wife work together for RE/MAX Professionals Realty, and have regularly helped buyers find homes, commercial land and other properties over the years.

Dickson has been using Carbonite cloud backup for several years, but he never needed to use the service to restore files until recently, when his computer fell victim to ransomware. The ransomware virus threatened to wipe out all of this important files if he did not pay a specified ransom.

That meant several years’ worth of files, photos and documents related to real estate deals past and present were at risk. But Dickson isn’t the type to give into the demands of criminals. Instead, he wiped his hard drive clean and restored clean files from the cloud backup system. 

“We ran all kinds of programs and we couldn’t get the malware off the computer,” Dickson recalled. “We decided that the best thing to do was to just clean the whole system, start fresh, reload the programs I had, and then bring the files back.”

2. Sleep & Wellness Medical Associates
Sleep & Wellness Medical Associates in Hamilton, N.J., is a thriving medical practice that specializes in internal medicine, sleep disorders, wellness, pulmonology, cardiovascular disease prevention, medically supervised weight management and much more.

The practice, which is headed by Dr. Mahmood Siddique, takes a holistic approach to treating patients that focuses on both the body and the mind. Sleep & Wellness Medical Associates is serious about helping its patients adopt healthy lifestyles and focus on wellness. It’s also serious about backing up and protecting data.

When a slow-moving Crypto virus infected some of the critical IT systems at Sleep & Wellness Medical Associates in late 2014, Stroud was very happy to know that he had Carbonite in his corner.

The Crypto virus began to spread when a now-former employee accidentally opened a malicious email attachment. Fortunately, the virus was confined to some non-essential, but still valuable, data that included general office documentation, letters and file templates. The virus got nowhere near any sensitive patient information, but still had to be eradicated.

Adam Stroud, who serves as the practice’s Information and Technology Support Director, deleted all of the infected files and then restored clean versions of the files from the cloud backup service. “I’m glad Carbonite was there,” he said.

3. Diverse Technology Solutions
Chad Mockensturm is an assistant systems administrator with Diverse Technology Solutions, a certified Carbonite Partner. An important part of his job is to monitor and maintain the IT systems of one of Diverse Technology’s customers, an Ohio-based healthcare facility. Mockensturm was doing just that one evening when he received a dire warning.

“We have an enterprise console that alerts us to any major problems, and I got a text message on my phone that a virus was repeatedly being blocked on one of the nursing station computers,” he said. “We later found out that one of the nurses had gone online to check messages and received a Crypto virus through email.”

When the nurse clicked the executable file, the Crypto virus found its way from the nursing station computer to the healthcare facility’s file server and began compromising important files. Mockensturm learned that the nurse had received a digital ransom note threatening to destroy the healthcare facility’s files unless money was paid. He quickly shut the computer down and proceeded to scan the file server for infections related to the virus.

“We found that there were 200 to 300 files that were infected,” Mockensturm explained. “We scanned the rest of the network as a precaution, and then used our Carbonite Server Backup account to restore good clean copies of the files.”

John Durant is Director of Channel Sales at Carbonite, a provider of powerful yet simple cloud and hybrid backup solutions for small to midsize businesses. Get to know the benefits of partnering with Carbonite today. Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of The VAR Guy's annual platinum sponsorship.