To support multiple archive technologies, QStar developed Archive Replicator, an enhancement of Archive Manager that allows replication of data to up to four different types of storage technology (choosing from Tape Library, Object Storage, Cloud, Optical Library or Disk Storage). The archives may be grouped together at a single site or dispersed to separate geographical locations. Archived data is replicated and written synchronously to each of the stores employed.
Another Archive Manager enhancement is Data Director, which employs physical synchronous block-level mirroring technology using its proprietary TDO media format (normally between two identical archive technologies – such as two tape libraries) and ensures that data is continually written to two storage systems located within a single or geographically-remote site(s). QStar understands that individual organizations have unique requirements for their data. By offering advanced feature options such as data replication, real-time mirroring, file encryption and digital signature, additional levels of security can be added for their archived data protection in order to create an extremely secure, disaster-proof environment. Our team understands 3-2-1 data protection, storage and solutions for your enterprise. For assistance work with QStar today.

In recent years we have seen an enormous growth in criminal activity via malware, hacking and, above all, ransomware. This last is an incredibly effective addition to the already vast category of cyber threats that have been around for some years. Sadly, criminal activity is evolving as fast as data protection. It is quite impossible to feel safe just by installing software, even of the latest generation, to protect against such criminality. These days we need top level security measures that go beyond the traditional systems. News stories abound of organizations that have spent millions of dollars in infrastructure security only to fall hopeless victims to attack. Ransomware comes in a variety of forms. Lock-screen ransomware, as the name suggests, causes the PC to freeze and show a message demanding payment, making the computer unusable until the malware is removed. While this is a nuisance for users, it generally only involves a single PC, and is usually relatively easy to remove. The rapidly emerging ransomware cryptography, on the other hand, is a gigantic threat to companies since it can permanently block the whole corporate network. Files remain encrypted until the company pays up to receive the decryption key – always assuming that the criminals actual hand it over once they have been paid. The immediate question this raises is how can we trust such people? Not to mention the worry that decryption might not even work after paying a ransom. Companies that have suffered an attack, and unfortunately there are plenty of them, as so often happens realized too late that they had underestimated this increasingly widespread danger. Backup protection is one of the most basic ways to systematically combat the threat, but it is not sufficient on its own. Today’s company backups use storage systems with data deduplication based on hard disks and usually an internal embedded Linux server to manage the actual deduplication system, that can be easily attacked, blocking all backups! Even in the most fortunate of cases, backups do not save very recent data, so data loss is in any case inevitable. QStar has developed a specific technology and 3-2-1+1 methodology to protect customers from ransomware attacks thanks to a super secure archive that does not allow direct access to its content.