Friday, 23 February 2024 ‍‍

Hello John‍,

We've got a bunch of new stuff to cover in this newsletter.

Most importantly are the Critical VMware updates; exploits have been seen in the wild, so patch your VMware products as soon as conceivably possible.

The single best way to protect your Organization from Ransomware and other disasters is with Offsite Backups to a Secure Cloud. Increasingly, Insurance providers and underwriters are also requiring verification/certification of your Offsite Backups. VMsources is now providing a Certificate of Compliance for all Offsite Backup and Disaster Recovery services that we provide.

I'd also like to highlight the fact we have an entirely new website! We have focused our mission and made everything more readable. This was a team effort, but please let me know personally how you like it: john@vmsources.com

Other important topics we cover this month are (contents):

1. Who are we?
2. Our Team
3. Critical VMware updates
4. Offsite Backups protect your Organization from Ransomware
5. Intelligent Security: Training, Prevention, Recovery (TPR) - Whitepaper
6. VMware Best Practices - Whitepaper
7. Offline Backup as a Service (OBaaS)
   

Our intent is not to spam users, but rather to provide useful information, and then let you decide to apply that information yourself, go to a competitor, or if VMsources can partner with your Organization to provide Cloud, Business Continuity, or Infrastructure Services. If you don't want to receive future newsletters, simply: Unsubscribe ‍

Sincerely,

John Borhek

CEO, Lead Solutions Architect

Mobile:                        +1 928.606.0483

Office:                         +1 215.764.6442 X1001

Email:                         john@vmsources.com

Website:                     https://vmsources.com

Support Portal:           https://support.vmsources.com

Email Support:           support@vmsources.com

About VMsources

‍OUR TEAM

We are a dedicated team of mission-focused USA-based individuals who never lose sight of the customers goals.

Critical VMware Updates

‍In Q1 2022, VMware released critical updates for almost its entire suite of products including VMware vSphere, Horizon View, and more. If you are running VMware vSphere, NOW is the time to update your environment to secure against the Apache log4j vulnerability and more.

• Read more about VMware Security Advisories: Advisories (vmware.com)
• Patch your vCenter / VCSA: Patching (update) VMware vCenter Server Appliance VCSA and Platform Service Controller PSC through Appliance Management Interface VAMI (84322)
• Patching your ESXi Hosts: About vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vmware.com)
• Patching VMware Horizon View: Log4j CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046 in VMware Horizon and VMware Horizon Agent (on-premises) (87073)

VMsources can patch, update and upgrade your VMware environment for you as a Managed Service. We can usually schedule one of our VCP Certified consultants within a week of your engagement.

Offsite Backups protect your Organization from Ransomware

The unfortunate reality most of us deal with is the fact that it's not IF, but rather WHEN your Organization is going to be hit with Ransomware. Today, the threshold for success is not just simply looking out for threats, but being able to recover rapidly when things do happen!

One of the best ways you can protect your Organization from Ransomware and Cyber Attacks is to have a solid and tested offsite backup plan which follows the "3-2-1 Backup Rule."

VMsources Offsite Backups can provide your Organization the following advantages:

1. Secure Cloud Offsite Backups with Immutable Repositories
2. Fail-over directly to our Secure Cloud in the event of a Cyber Attack, Ransomware or Disaster
3. Restore directly to your own environment with assistance from the VMsources Team
4. Keep long-term GFS backups for auditing and archival purposes
5. We include Backup and Disaster Recovery Compliance Certificate for proof-of-compliance and Insurance requirements

Backup Certificate of Compliance Included

Our Offsite Backups are simple, affordable and fully-managed:

Intelligent Security

We specialize in helping Organizations prepare for, combat and recover from Ransomware and Cyber Attacks. One of the most important things to remember is that no one approach to security will make you successful.

It is only with a multi-faceted approach to security that that you can ensure Business Continuity for your Organization. We have developed our own approach to security which we call TPR (Training, Prevention, Remediation)

• Train your Organization to recognize and avoid Ransomware
• Prevent issues before they happen, utilizing active technologies to stop hackers
• Remediate and recover quickly when events do happen

VMware vSphere Best Practices

It is often said that there are many "wrong" ways to do things in VMware vSphere, but only one "right" way. We prefer to think about things in terms of Best Practices, and have created a list of 46 DO's and 8 DO NOT's.

As always, we believe putting the information directly in your hands is the best policy. If you would like to engage VMsources for a complimentary health check, simply call one of our VCP Certified Consultants and we'll schedule an appointment.

True Offline Backup as a Service (OBaaS)

VMsources is introducing the world’s first Offline Backup as a Service (OBaaS), offering your Organization total protection against Malware while completely eliminating the possibility of Insider Threats. For the ultimate in Data Protection, nothing beats VMsources OBaaS, fully compliant with Veeam’s own 3-2-1-1-0 Rule!

Risks of current offline backups:

While many vendors and providers allude to the possibility of “virtual offline” backups using connected devices and Big-Cloud systems (think: Virtual Tape Library -or- S3 Immutable Bucket), what happens if the device or vendor itself gets hacked? The reality is: once a Threat Actor gains root, account, or device access, it’s all over!

Let’s also consider internally-managed offline backups, such as a true tape library. While these offline backups have traditionally been considered the “gold standard,” they cannot be considered to be truly safe from Insider Threats. Moreover, what happens if the device or system fails or is not maintained on schedule?

VMsources OBaaS Solution:

VMsources OBaaS solution is safe, secure, effective, auditable, and reportable because we have designed it using our motto: “Simplicity is elegance.” 

We created OBaaS using enterprise commodity software (Veeam Backup and Replication) targeting rotated media, which is then stored in a secure, audited facility. VMsources OBaaS provides the ultimate in protection and security by actually removing the media after a backup/restore cycle and placing it in a secure location.

Here’s how it works:

1. We start with a secure backup to one of our audited Data Center facilities – SV4 or VA1.
2. We assign dedicated removable media to your Organization with sufficient capacity to store the Offline Backups.
3. We configure a Veeam Backup and Replication job targeting your Organizations dedicated rotated media.
4. An independent (certified) and auditable contractor rotates the media on a schedule of your choosing.
   

Why choose VMsources to perform Offline Backups?

1.  It is a true Offline Backup, rendering your data safe from Malware and other forms of security breach.
2. It is a true Offsite Backup on separate media, providing an essential part of the 3-2-1-1-0 Backup Rule.
3. It is managed within a secure, audited facility by independent contractors, rendering your data safe from Insider Threats and maintenance oversights.

VMsources goes one step beyond, by not only removing the process from your internal staff but ours as well! We contract exclusively with CoreSite as a completely independent service (with supervision and accountability) to perform the rotation of media, so you can be assured of secure, offline backups!  

‍Contact us