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Stable Diffusion and Backblaze: Create a Masterpiece from a Bucket of Your Own Images

2023-01-10 Troy Liljedahl

Post Syndicated from Troy Liljedahl original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/stable-diffusion-and-backblaze-create-a-masterpiece-from-a-bucket-of-your-own-images/

AI is really having a moment. There’s DALL-E, Lensa, ChatGPT. Your social media feed is probably full of new avatars and AI-generated haiku. Naturally, we at Backblaze were intrigued by this brave new world of AI-generated content. The technology has been wildly popular, but is not without controversy, raising questions about intellectual property, copyright law, artist disenfranchisement, possible displacement of jobs, and general fear over the rise of the machines. On the other side of that coin, there’s definitely a place for AI in the future of work and life. So, I wanted to experiment with it.

Let’s start with Stable Diffusion.

Stable Diffusion is one of the new text-to-image technologies popping up all over the internet that allows users to input words and phrases and get back amazing pictures created by its deep learning model. What makes Stable Diffusion so interesting is that it has been open sourced to allow anyone to create their own models for text-to-image generation.

Today, I’ll walk through how you can do just that using Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage.

Kicking the Stable Diffusion Tires

After playing with an online instance of Stable Diffusion, I sought out content on some more ways to use the AI tool. I found several examples of how to use Stable Diffusion with your own images like this one and this one. The most common use case for this was taking advantage of AI to create art from a model based on your own face. Sounds cool, right? But what if I also had a bunch more pictures in Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage? Could I do the same thing to create art, graphics, branded images, and more, from my content in the cloud? The answer is a resounding YES.

Use Cases for Stable Diffusion

For me, this was a fun experiment, but we see a number of different ways this set up could be used both individually and for businesses. I started with about 20 images or so as fodder for Stable Diffusion’s algorithm. But, that’s just the beginning.

Let’s say you’re a marketing team at a small company. You could use Stable Diffusion’s paid version and get access to hundreds of thousands of random images from Google, but you really only care about analyzing and generating photos that are relevant to your business. So, you run Stable Diffusion in a cloud compute instance and have it analyze a Backblaze B2 Bucket where you store your own library of images, which you’ve probably been collecting for years. Set up that way, you have your own customized AI engine that analyzes and generates only images that are pertinent to your needs, rather than a bunch of images you don’t care about.

In this experiment, I used Google Colab, which worked well for my needs. But for a real implementation, you could use a Backblaze cloud compute partner like Vultr. Egress between Backblaze and Vultr is free, so the analysis won’t cost you anything beyond what it costs to use the two services.

This could be hugely useful for marketing teams, but we also see the value for individuals or businesses who want to keep their data private but still take advantage of AI technology. This way, you aren’t serving up images on public sites.

So, how does it all work? Let’s get into it.

Getting Started with Stable Diffusion and Backblaze B2

What you’ll need:

A Backblaze B2 account. You can sign up for free here.
A Google account.
A smartphone to take pictures if you don’t have 20 or so pictures of whatever subject you want to use lying around.
Whatever software tool you’d like to use to mount Backblaze B2 as a drive on your computer. I use Rclone in this example but any cloud drive software will work.

The first thing you’ll need to do is create an account at Hugging Face. Hugging Face is the home of the modern AI community and is where Stable Diffusion lives. In your Hugging Face account, navigate to your Account Settings and go to Access Tokens—we’ll need one of these to allow our environment to use the Stable Diffusion engines.

Now as to the environment, this can be on your own computer, in a virtual machine (VM), really wherever. My favorite (and free) method I found was a Google Colab notebook created by GitHub user TheLastBen that makes the process so incredibly simple that anyone can do this. The Colab notebook also takes advantage of DreamBooth, a Google Research project that provides for incredible detail on the art and images created by a diffusion model. In short, this is the easiest way to get really good looking AI art. You can get started with the Colab notebook here.

In the Colab notebook there are a ton of different options and a great step-by-step guide that explains them, but I’ll walk you through the basic settings to get going:

First, hit the Play button next to Dependencies.
Once that’s done, copy your User Access Token from your Hugging Face account.
In the Model Download section, paste that User Access Token into the Huggingface_Token field.
Click the Play button for Model Download.
You’ll see the script run below all the fields here. You can proceed when you see “DONE!”
Finally, in the Dreambooth section, provide a name in the Session_Name field. This will be the name of the session that gets saved in your Google Drive. That name can be reused later to skip these steps next time.

Training the Stable Diffusion Model

Now the pictures: You’ll want at least 20 pictures or so for your AI model to analyze in order to avoid creating a bunch of generic person art or nightmare fuel. So bust out your phone and take some selfies! If you have a friend to throw in two or three full body pictures this will help as well. A few optional tips:

Use different expressions and angles.
Use different backgrounds if you can.
Use a square or 1:1 ratio setting. By default, Stable Diffusion’s default image size is 512 x 512 pixels, so using square images makes your input more similar to your desired output.

If you’re an iPhone user, you will need to take one extra step here to save your files in JPEG format. You can find a guide for that in this article.

As you save your photos, make sure the file names include the name you’re going to use when generating your AI art. For example, my photos were all named troy (1).jpg, troy (2).jpg, troy (3).jpg, etc. This is important so that the AI understands what to call you (or your subject) when generating your images.

Once you have your photos, it’s time to upload them to a Bucket in Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. You can easily do this in the Backblaze mobile app or on the Backblaze website.

With your selfies safely in Backblaze B2, make sure you make them accessible on your computer using a tool such as Rclone mount. If you don’t have an account yet, you can check out our guide on how to set up and configure Rclone mount.

You might be wondering why you should upload the photos to a Backblaze B2 Bucket and then mount the Bucket so that we can access it locally, rather than just saving the files to a local folder?

The answer is simple. In this example, we’re working with a few images representing a single subject, so you likely won’t have issues working from your local drive. As you further experiment with more subjects and more images of each subject, you’ll likely outgrow your local drive. Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage scales infinitely so you won’t have to worry about running out of space.

Now, back to the Colab notebook, hit the play button on Instance Images and click the button that shows up to Choose Files. In the pop up, choose your mounted instance of your B2 Bucket and select the photos.

Once they are uploaded, skip the Concept Images section and click the play button for Training. If you’ve done everything right, you should see some ASCII art like this:

Depending on how many photos you selected, this can take some time. So grab a coffee, go for a walk, listen to a podcast, or perhaps all three.

Creating Your Own AI-Generated Masterpieces

Once complete, click the Play button under Test the Trained Model. This will launch a temporary instance of Stable Diffusion with your new custom model in Gradio, which is an open-source Python library for running machine learning apps. Click the Gradio link generated and we’re ready to start making some AI art.

Again, there are a ton of options and configurations but all you really need to do at this point is enter some text into the Prompt box and click the big Generate button.

Creating prompts for AI art is quickly becoming its own art form. There are tons of resources out there to inspire you, but here are a few prompts I used along with the resulting art.

Pro Tip: You may need to click the Generate button a few times if something looks off. This is totally normal—your new AI friend is learning over time, and it does this by repeating the generation process.

Prompt: “Photo of troy digital painting”

Prompt: “Photo of troy person digital painting”

Prompt: “Photo of troy person digital painting asymmetrical headshot smiling”

And finally for something fun…

Prompt: ”photo of troy person hand-drawn cartoon”

It even has an artist signature! Although I’m not sure who fRny Y is?

So, there you have it. Your very own AI engine, customized to generate versions of your face (or your library of images).

Good luck to all the budding AI artists out there. If you give this a try, we’d love to see your images on social media. You can find us @backblaze on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I look forward to seeing what you all create!

The post Stable Diffusion and Backblaze: Create a Masterpiece from a Bucket of Your Own Images appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

What’s the Diff: Image-Based Backup vs. File-Based Backup

2023-01-05 Kari Rivas

Post Syndicated from Kari Rivas original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/whats-the-diff-image-based-backup-vs-file-based-backup/

When you’re planning your backup strategy, one important decision to make is whether to use image-based or file-based backups. Both methods have pros and cons and both are useful in different situations. Think of it like packing for a trip: Sometimes you need to take everything plus the kitchen sink (image-based), and sometimes you only need the essentials (file-based). It’s not a perfect metaphor, but it will make more sense once you understand the differences between these two backup types. Let’s dig in.

The TLDR: What’s the Difference Between Image-Based and File-Based Backups?

The short answer is this: An image-based backup (also known as a bare metal backup, which is a deeply cool name) is a backup of an entire machine or server, including the operating system (OS) and applications as well as all of the files. A file-based backup only includes the files. We’ll dig deeper into the implications of each below, but that should give you a good base of knowledge to start.

First, Some Basic Backup Best Practices

In addition to understanding the difference between file-based and image-based backups and when to use them, there are a few key elements of a backup strategy you should have in your playbook:

Setting up a 3-2-1 plan for your backups. A 3-2-1 strategy means keeping three copies of your data on two different media with one offsite and preferably geographically distanced from your other backups.
Configuring frequency of full (or synthetic full) and incremental backups. Nailing this cadence can also help you optimize your cloud storage usage and costs.
Organizing your backup plan according to grandfather-father-son. This approach helps you plan your approach to creating full and incremental backups to further optimize your costs.

Want a Deeper Dive?

Check out “Server Backup: A Comprehensive Guide to Protecting The Data on Your Servers” for an in-depth look at creating a bulletproof backup strategy.

Why Is Your Backup Configuration Important?

Properly configuring your backups, including when to use file-based versus image-based backups, is important for a couple reasons. First, it enables you to optimize your cloud storage usage and costs. Image-based backups are typically larger than file-based backups, so they’ll cost more to store. File-based backups are smaller and cost less to store, but they’re also not as robust. Finding the right mix is important as you’re planning your cloud storage strategy.

It’s also important to properly configure your backups so that you can recover more effectively in the case of a disaster. Restoring from an image-based backup will allow you to bring your entire operation back online. Understanding how each type of backup works will help you decide which to use when (and when you should use both).

What Is a File-Based Backup?

A file-based backup, sometimes called a file backup or a file-level backup, is a backup of a single file, multiple files, or even all the files on your system. The biggest distinction from an image-based backup is that it does not include a backup of the OS.

When configuring a file-based backup, you can choose which files you want to back up. For instance, you might choose to back up only certain file types, like Word documents or databases. Or you might choose to back up a particular set of files for one department, such as accounting files.

To understand when to use a file-based backup, it helps to know the pros and cons. We’ll dig into those next.

Advantages of File-Based Backup

File-based backups are simple and straightforward—you just need to back up files versus the entire system. Advantages of this type of backup include:

More control over what gets backed up. You can choose specific files or folders that get backed up or sent to cloud storage.
More control over what you recover. You can be more granular when it comes to choosing which files you need to restore should you need to.
Less storage utilization and faster backups. Since file-based backups are typically smaller in size than image-based, they take up less storage space and can be faster to run.
Ability to customize. Some backup applications allow you to set customized backup cadences for different types of files. For example, you could back up accounting files daily, but other project files weekly. Or, you could back up all files on a specific schedule.

Disadvantages of File-Based Backup

There are two main disadvantages of file-based backups:

The files are saved, but not the applications that created them. If you need to restore files to a different machine, you need to make sure that machine has all of the appropriate applications to read and use the files.
File-based backups are very limited in a disaster recovery scenario. If you need to restore an entire environment after a natural disaster or a ransomware attack, you would need to recover all of your files, then spend additional time reconstructing your OS, reinstalling all of your applications, reconfiguring them, etc.

What Is an Image-Based Backup?

An image-based backup, also known as a bare metal backup, disk backup, disk image backup, or mirror backup, allows you to back up all of the volumes on your server, creating a copy of your whole system.

As opposed to a file-based backup, an image-based backup backs up your entire OS, including settings, applications, configurations, and executable programs.

An image-based backup is more robust, which makes it larger. That comes with some advantages and disadvantages as well.

Advantages of Image-Based Backup

Image-based backups are comprehensive. Going back to our packing metaphor, this is the kitchen sink method. Advantages of this type of backup include:

The ability to restore a server in its entirety. This is great when you need to protect your entire server, including the OS.
The flexibility to restore individual files or the entire system. With an image-based backup, you get the same restore capabilities as a file-based backup, but with the added option to restore the entire disk if needed.
Faster recoveries. If you need to meet specific recovery time objectives (RTOs), image-based backups can save you time. You don’t need to reinstall and patch the OS.

Disadvantages of Image-Based Backup

There are a few disadvantages of image-based backups, including:

More time-consuming and bandwidth-hogging during backup. Since you’re backing up everything, image-based backups are going to take longer and use more internet bandwidth when you’re saving them to cloud storage. Backing up after work hours is typically recommended.
More expensive to store. Image-based backups take up more cloud storage space and hence cost more to store.
Could be overkill for day-to-day recovery needs. When you only need to recover a file that’s accidentally been deleted or corrupted, you don’t need a full image-based backup.

Image-Based vs. File-Based: How to Choose?

Now that you know the difference between image-based and file-based backups, how do you know when to use each type? Here are a few basic guidelines.

Choose a file-based backup for the following scenarios:

If you have a virtualized environment. When you can reimage a new OS quickly in a virtualized environment, you may not want or need to back up the full OS.
To back up employee workstations. Employees will most often need to restore individual files, and a file-based backup will cover this use case. If you ever needed to do a full restore, chances are good that you can just reinstall the OS easily.

Choose an image-based backup for the following scenarios:

For servers with mission-critical data. If you can’t function without it, you should do a full image-based backup.
For anything that would take a long time to configure. In a recovery situation, you don’t want to be spending time reconfiguring settings and reinstalling applications.

Why Not Use Both? Optimizing for Cost and Utility

Rather than choosing between file-based or image-based, you could design a backup strategy that employs both. This allows you to manage your storage usage and costs while maximizing your ability to recover quickly. For example, you could consider doing an image-based backup monthly and file-based backups more frequently. Or you could do an image-based backup of your mission critical servers and file-based backups of employee workstations. The right combination will help you to keep your costs low while maintaining the fidelity of your environment in a disaster scenario.

Storing Backups in the Cloud

Whether you choose image-based or file-based backups, you need somewhere safe to store them. According to the 3-2-1 backup strategy, one of those copies should live off-site in a geographically distant location, and cloud storage is a great fit. Check out server backup solutions from Backblaze B2 to learn more about storing your image-based and file-based backups in the cloud.

The post What’s the Diff: Image-Based Backup vs. File-Based Backup appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Amazon Sunsets Cloud Drive

2022-12-22 Stephanie Doyle

Post Syndicated from Stephanie Doyle original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/amazon-sunsets-cloud-drive/

Another one bites the dust. Amazon announced they’re putting Amazon Cloud Drive in the rearview to focus on Amazon Photos in a phased deprecation through December 2023. Today, we’ll dig into what this means for folks with data on Amazon Cloud Drive, especially those with files other than photos and videos.

Dear Amazon Drive User

When Amazon dropped the news, they explained the phased approach they would take to deprecating Amazon Drive. They’re not totally eliminating Drive—yet. Here’s what they’ve done so far, and what they plan to do moving forward:

October 31, 2022: Amazon removed the Drive app from iOS and Android app stores. The app doesn’t get bug fixes and security updates anymore.
January 31, 2023: Uploading to the Amazon Drive website will be cut off. You will have read-only access to your files.
December 31, 2023: Amazon Drive will no longer be supported and access to files will be cut off. Every file stored on Amazon Drive, except photo or video files, needs a new home. Users can access photo and video files on Amazon Photos.

Now, users face two options for what to do with files stored on Amazon Drive:

Follow instructions to download Amazon Photos for iOS and Android devices. And, use the Amazon Drive website to download and store all other files locally or with another service.
Transfer your entire library of photos, videos, and other data to another service.

Looking for an Amazon Cloud Drive Alternative?

Shameless plug: If you used Amazon Cloud Drive to store anything other than photos and you need a new place to keep your data, give Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage a try. The first 10GB are free, and our storage is priced at a flat rate of $5/TB/month ($0.005/GB/month) after that. And if you’re a business customer, we also offer the choice of capacity-based pricing with Backblaze B2 Reserve.

A Quick History of Amazon Cloud Drive

In 2014, Amazon offered free, unlimited photo storage on Amazon Cloud Drive as a loyalty perk for Prime members. The following year, they rolled out a subscription-based offering to store other types of files in addition to photos—video, documents, etc.—on Cloud Drive.

Then, in 2017, they capped the free tier at 5GB. This was just one of many in a string of cloud storage providers ending a free offering and forcing users to pay or move.

All Amazon account holders—regardless of whether they paid for Prime or not—got 5GB for photos and other file types free of charge. If you wanted or needed more storage than that, you had to sign up for the subscription-based offering starting at $11.99 per year for 100GB of storage, and prices went up from there.

You might consider this the beginning of the end for Amazon Cloud Drive.

Why Say Goodbye?

When tech companies deprecate a feature—as Amazon has done with Drive—it’s for any number of reasons:

To combine one feature with another.
To rectify naming inconsistencies.
When a newer version makes supporting the older one impossible or impractical.
To avoid flaws in a necessary feature.
When a better alternative replaced the feature.
To simplify the system as a whole.

Amazon’s reason for deprecating Drive? To provide a dedicated solution for photos and videos. The company stated, “We are taking the opportunity to more fully focus our efforts on Amazon Photos to provide customers a dedicated solution for photos and video storage.” Unfortunately, that leaves folks who store anything else high and dry.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The bottom line: Amazon Drive customers must park emails, documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, and text files somewhere else. If you’re an Amazon Drive customer looking to move your files out before you lose access, we invite you to try Backblaze B2. The first 10GB is on us.

How to Get Started with Backblaze B2

If you’re not a customer, first sign up for B2 Cloud Storage.
If you’re already a customer, enable B2 Cloud Storage in your “My Settings” tab. You can follow our Quick Start Guide for more detailed instructions.

Download your data from Amazon Drive.
Upload your data to Backblaze B2. Many customers choose to do so directly through the web interface, while others prefer to use integrated transfer solutions like Cyberduck, which is free and open-source, or Panic’s Transmit for Macs.
Sit back and relax knowing your data is safely stored in the Backblaze B2 Storage Cloud.

The post Amazon Sunsets Cloud Drive appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

The Beginner’s Guide to Computer Backup with Backblaze

2022-12-21 Stephanie Doyle

Post Syndicated from Stephanie Doyle original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/beginner-guide-to-computer-backup/

Wouldn’t it be great if computers never crashed? If laptops never got lost? If that cup of coffee never spilled across your keyboard? As much as we’d like to believe that our computers will always work and the data on them will always be safe and accessible, accidents happen. Regardless of how you’re using your computer, you’re storing data that needs to be backed up.

Whether you’ve accidentally deleted a synced file, have a social media presence that’s just too valuable to lose, are going back to school, or you want to make sure you’re protected from cyberattacks, having your data backed up means that your important information isn’t lost forever. So, let’s talk about how to get the most out of your Backblaze account.

1. Set Yourself Up for Success

Backblaze backs up all the files on your computer, including documents, photos, music, movies, and more. When you’re creating your account for the first time, that can take some time—longer than you might think depending on how much data you have and how fast your internet connection is. (If you think it will take a really long time, you should probably be considering Backblaze B2 and our Universal Data Migration solutions). It’s important that your computer is on and awake during that time period, so we suggest that you turn off your computer’s sleep mode during your initial backup.

2. Keep Your Account Secure

We’ve talked before about how to keep your passwords safe, but we just want to make sure it’s clear how important that is for your backups. When backups are your last line of defense—your only option for recovery—then it’s imperative that you use unique passwords and practice a 3-2-1 backup strategy.

Like Librarians, We Work Quietly

Backblaze works quietly in the background while you go about your normal computer life. Note that we’ll only backup a document that’s not actively open. So, make sure to close out your projects when you’re done for the night (or day).

3. Bring Your Drive to the Table

If you have external drives, it’s essential that you connect them to your computer to be backed up to your Backblaze account. In order to give us enough time to scan the whole drive, make sure that it’s plugged into your primary computer for at least four hours in a row, once every two weeks. Here’s some more information on using external hard drives with Backblaze.

4. Check In

Once a week, it’s a great idea to check that your backups are working properly. If they’re not, make sure that you have the most recent version of Backblaze, or you can always contact our Support Team to make sure everything is running smoothly.

And, once a month, it’s a good idea to try to restore files from your online account. This is especially important if you have external devices. It’s always good practice to double check that things are running well, but it also gives you an opportunity to make sure you’ve backed up your external drive successfully.

5. On Restoration: The Sooner, The Better

When you’ve lost data, make sure you restore your data ASAP. If you’re ever worried you may need data continuity, remember that you can easily enable Extended Version History for $2/month. That will give you the ability to restore any version of a file for one year—or forever—depending on what you need.

Remember that Backblaze offers lots of file restoration options. Of course, you can use our website, but you can also restore from your mobile device or even order a USB. (We know; old school.)

Backup and Beyond

We are big advocates of backing up, of course. Hey, it’s for good reason. We want our tech to be accessible to all types of users. We love when you tell your friends about us, or you can use us to help your family and friends. If we’re missing any good tips or you have questions for us, feel free to comment below, say hi on socials, or contact Support.

The post The Beginner’s Guide to Computer Backup with Backblaze appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Let’s Not Go Phishing Today: Tips for Home Computer Users

2022-12-15

Post Syndicated from original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/lets-not-go-phishing-today-tips-for-home-computer-users/

Every so often, a family member or friend will ask me if an email they received is a phishing email. That’s part of my job as the unofficial family tech person. Email phishing and its cousins vishing (voice phishing) and smishing (text phishing), are still a serious problem for the average home computer user. While businesses are slowly implementing phishing detection tools—and, more importantly, user training—to help tackle the problem, home computer users are, for the most part, left to fend for themselves.

Our goal in this post is to provide a few tips and tricks for those oft-forgotten home computer users—your old-school neighbor, your unassuming grandma, or your friend who’s just not that tech savvy—in their effort to use their computer without losing their life savings by clicking on the wrong link.

You can scroll past the first few sections to the phishing tips we’ve prepared so that you can use to better understand and identify a phishing email. Or, continue reading to learn more about the phishing problem, why it matters, and then finish up with the phishing tips.

Why It Matters

Phishing is the use of social engineering techniques—tactics that use psychological manipulation like impersonating someone you know—to get you to take an action that can lead to your downloading a virus or malware, having your account credentials stolen, becoming an extortion victim, or some other malicious action.

While detection and blocking technology has advanced over the years, Dark Reading, a cyber security news site, estimates that up to one percent of all emails that make it to the end user’s mailbox are phishing emails. For home users, who typically have to rely on their internet service provider (referred to as an ISP) or their browser (like Chrome or Safari) to keep them safe, the number is probably higher. Still, 1% doesn’t sound like much—until you consider that to get to that point, these phishing emails are the best of the best. Suddenly, it starts to make sense as to why up to 70% of phishing emails are opened by the recipient.

Who Owns the Phishing Problem?

My friends and family are not creators or purveyors of technology; they are primarily users. Asking them to identify phishing emails by deciphering the email raw source or header is not in their wheelhouse, nor should it be. We take planes, trains, and automobiles without knowing much about how they work. It should be possible to safely receive and interact with an email without having to understand sender authentication or bone up on RFC 5322.

Back in 2005, when most of us first heard of phishing, we had a pretty good idea which businesses and people would contact us and how they would reach us. Today, nearly every company or organization we interact with has a website, an email subscription, an app, social media, and maybe a phone number or two. The daily number of messages we receive via email, phone, text, and so on has easily increased 10-fold (100-fold?) over that time. Do you really have any idea how many accounts you’ve created in your lifetime, and if so, how each of them reaches and interacts with you?

Making matters worse is the proliferation of data collection services—legitimate, shady, and illegal—which will sell personal information to nearly anyone with a purchase order, credit card, or better yet, the latest cryptocurrency. Personal data such as your name, address, last four digits of a credit card, and much more are readily available. As a result, a phishing email can use your name and provide additional personal details along the way in an effort to make you believe it is valid ← that’s social engineering at work.

What Can You Do?

For home computer users, the phishing problem may not be of your making, but you cannot rely on technology if you want to safely function in today’s highly connected world. Phishing uses some really crafty tactics (i.e. social engineering) to get you to believe that when you receive a message from the bad guys, it is okay to do what they are asking you to do. That means you have to be at your best when the incoming message chime rings.

To that end, below we’ve provided you with a little social engineering education in the form of some easy to remember tips you can use to ferret out a phish. We’ll use email in our examples, but the techniques can apply to most inbound communications you’ll receive. In addition, you don’t have to have any special technical superpowers, just some common sense and the ability to lower your FOMO (fear of missing out) threshold.

You can read the tips below, but we’ve also prepared a 20-minute Let’s Not Go Phishing Today webinar which provides a little more depth for each of these tips. You can read the tips below, watch the webinar, or both. The webinar is available on the Backblaze channel on BrightTALK. Keep in mind that you will need to register to watch.

Tip 1: No trust and not useful.

Situation	You receive an email from a business, organization, or person. You are certain you do not know or trust the sender and you were not expecting to receive the email.
Example	You receive an email to lower your mortgage interest rate from a bank you do not use. Oh, and you rent.
Considerations	There are zero reasons to open this email. There is no upside here at all for you. Even if this is not phishing, it is most likely spam.
Disposition	Delete the email while crooning, “But there ain’t no Coupe de Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box,” in the style of Meat Loaf (“Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” Bat Out of Hell, 1977).

Your on-stage moment is at 2:27.

Tip 2: No trust, but you’re not sure.

Okay, tip one was pretty simple. They get a little harder now.

Situation	You receive an email from a business, organization, or person. You might know the sender, but you really weren’t expecting an email.
Example	You receive an email and the sender name sounds familiar, but that’s it. Maybe you stopped by a store and provided your email to the clerk, maybe you bought a shirt from them two years ago, or maybe it’s just some advertisement you saw, but nothing is ringing a bell.
Considerations	Don’t open the email right away, let it sit in your inbox for a day or two to see if there is a follow up message or perhaps you remember something. Often phishers will use time to pressure you into acting. Surely you would have remembered something so important, so don’t let time pressure you into doing something you shouldn’t. Trust yourself. If you do open the email do not click on any of the links and do not call any phone numbers you may find in the email. Just read the email to see if anything jogs your memory.
Disposition	After a day or two, if nothing rings a bell, delete the email. If it was important, they’ll resend. Click delete. If you think the email could be legit—Okay, really, just lower your FOMO threshold and click delete. I am sure that a bank in Ireland is not waiting to give you a million dollars if you call them.

Fun fact: $1 million in $1 bills weighs 1.1 tons. Say that three times fast!

Tip 3: Trust, but verify.

Situation	You receive an email from a business, organization, or person. You know the sender, but you weren’t really expecting an email from them.
Example	You receive a promotional email from a business. You are a customer of this business and even have an online account with them. You were not expecting the email, but the email makes you an offer that is interesting to you.
Considerations	You can receive promotional emails anytime, but they are more prevalent around holidays and marketing events like Cyber Monday. Phishers know this and will use this to their advantage to avoid detection. A phisher can send out millions of emails in an attack spoofing a given business. If you have a relationship with that business, you are prime pickings. Do not assume that just because you are a customer, the email is legitimate. A phisher can also send out very targeted emails using personal information they have collected from data breaches and other sources, both public and private. Just because an email has your name and other personal details, it does not mean it is legitimate. If you decide to open the email do not click on any of the links and do not call any phone numbers you may find in the email. Read the email and see what they are asking you to do.
Disposition	If you think the promotional offer is legitimate, then open a new browser window and type in the URL to go to the website, or open the app on your phone/tablet for that business. You may have to sign in to your account, but the promotion should be available in one of those places. If the promotion is only available via the email, contact customer service for the business and ask. Remember to use the website or app to contact customer service, not any of the contact information provided in the email. Sometimes, an offer is only available by clicking on a link in the email. In my opinion this is lazy marketing and puts you at risk. Let the business know this is not acceptable.

Spam or Phish?

The email described above could be just a spam email. Whether an email is spam or phishing can be confusing, but in general spam messages are just trying to sell you something and phishing emails have some harmful intent. That said, the same tips we are using for identifying a phishing email can be used to identify spam messages as well.

Tip 4: Trust, but still verify.

Situation	You receive an email from a business, organization, or person. You know the sender and you were expecting the email.
Example	You receive an email on the 10th of the month from your credit card company saying your statement is ready. They always send you this email on the 10th of the month. The email says you can click on the link to sign in to your account and view the statement.
Considerations	It is highly likely this is a legitimate email, but given this email concerns your financial affairs, being extra careful is imperative. Opening up a web browser and typing in the URL to go to the bank’s website to sign in there is safer. This also enforces the good behavior of not clicking on links in emails. Many financial companies and health care providers are starting to maintain a list of messages they send you via email and/or text. You can log into your account to view the list to make sure that any message you received was actually sent by the provider—before you interact with the message. This is an excellent best practice and such businesses should be commended for thinking about their customer’s online safety and security.
Disposition	Even if you think the email is legitimate, use a web browser to access your online account, or use their app to take the requested action.

Downloading Email Attachments?

Only download an attachment that you were expecting to receive, preferably after you were notified via another email—or better yet another method such as a text message. For example, you or whomever you’re interacting with may say, “Hey Monique, I’m going to email those pictures in a minute.” Downloading unsolicited or unexpected attachments is not recommended.

Think of email, text messaging, and voicemail as read-only services, especially when it comes to your financial and health information. This is sometimes really hard with text messages that encourage you to “click this link to…” and voicemail messages saying “call us back at a specific number.” Such messages offer convenience and help move things forward—and sometimes, they are the only way to get things done. At that point, you have to trust the vendor and your instincts.

What to Do When You’re Forced to Click

There are two common situations where you are forced to click a link in an email or message in order to move forward: email newsletters and two factor (2FA) or multifactor (MFA) authentication.

We’re this happy about 2FA security too.

Newsletters

Newsletters can deliver valuable information and often link to other content for additional details. The trouble is, those links are often obscured by tracking redirects used to count how many clicks the link gets—It’s a marketing thing. The average user has little hope of figuring out where the link is actually going, so they are faced with ignoring the information or clicking to the unknown. Let’s break down an example.

Situation	You receive a newsletter from a company you do business with and have received newsletters from them before.
Example	Backblaze sends you a customer newsletter. There’s an article on a new feature and you want to learn more. To do so you have to click on a link, but when you rollover the link (don’t click) it reads something like: `“https://hub.backblaze.com/xxt/XXt/R+000/xx-h-99/V88XHdW7_bXrN4b0ml7W7xsyK94Tmm-9N2x86z13q3phV1-WJV7CgHCJW7swZm-8j6kXwW6cD…”` plus 50-60 more characters that are not displayed.
Considerations	It may seem it goes to the Backblaze website (backblaze.com), but without seeing the entire URL you can’t be sure. It could end with `“.../bad-guys-website.com“,` which would not take you to Backblaze. Were you expecting this newsletter or at least have you gotten a newsletter from Backblaze before? If it is the first time, did you just sign up? What is the intent of the newsletter? Providing information or asking for something? If the newsletter is asking you to sign in to your account for example, it is easy enough to open a new web browser window and sign in from there.
Disposition	This one is all about trust, timing, and clicks. Let’s assume you trust Backblaze as a good sender, the newsletter looks very Backblaze-y, and this is something you would expect. If you do click on the newsletter links, there are two primary things to consider. First, if the link takes you to a sign up or sign in page, stop. Always open a new browser window, enter the URL to go to the site, and sign in from there. Second, make sure the click takes you where you expected to go. If you get pop-ups for downloading a toolbar or extension, land on an unexpected webpage, or other unusual browser behavior (e.g. an automatic download), close the browser window and everything else on your system. Then, run a full antivirus scan immediately. If you are not inclined to click on any links in newsletters, we understand. In our case most of the links on a Backblaze newsletter will go to our blog or our website. You can open a new browser window and find the content on the Backblaze website. This works for the many different newsletters you may get daily. That is: You can usually find the content directly versus clicking on the link.

Tell Us More…

The problem with not clicking on the links in newsletters and other similar communications is that marketing folks lose information about what is important to the recipients, but your peace of mind is more important. So, a healthy alternative is that you could send an email or post something on social media about what you like and what you don’t. Even visiting the pages and interacting with the articles the newsletter highlighted will help. Marketers get feedback, you give your opinion on good content, and you’re a little safer from phishing attacks.

2FA or MFA

More and more websites are requiring the use of two factor or multifactor authentication. Here are a couple of scenarios to help you deal with the messages you might receive.

Scenario 1

Situation	Your bank’s website uses text message-based two factor authentication to confirm access to your accounts.
Example	Using a browser, you log in to your bank’s website. A couple of seconds later, you receive the text on your phone with a code that you need to enter on the website.
Disposition	By asking to log in to your bank, you expect to get the text which provides the authentication code. You’re good.

Scenario 2

Situation	Your bank’s website uses two factor authentication to confirm access to your accounts. You believe it is text message-based authentication.
Example	Using a browser, you log in to your bank’s website. A couple of seconds later, you receive an email asking to click a link to allow the log in to your account.
Considerations	This is one of those cases where you need to know how the bank will contact you for the second factor. It could be a text message with the code (like the first example above). It could also be by clicking the link in a test message, or through an authentication app on your phone, or by email message, or even by phone. Given the timing of the events in this example, it is highly likely that you had set up email as your second factor. But, sometimes it is not that easy to tell, especially if there are several minutes before you get the authentication message—or worse, if you don’t get the message at all. One way to make this easier on you is to try to use the same authentication method for each website. The trouble is that different companies support different methods and not others. In some cases, you may be able to find information on the bank’s website to determine the authentication method they use.
Disposition	If you’re not sure of the authentication method that was set up, you can abandon the sign-in, then open a new browser window and start again. If you get the same authentication method, you can be reasonably confident you’re doing the right thing.

Moving Forward

Over the past couple of years, vendors involved with providing email, text, and voicemail services have gotten better at detecting and eliminating phishing, spam, and malware before it reaches you. That’s great. But the bad guys haven’t given up, and many would say they’ve gotten better.

These tips are a good starting point for improving your ability to stay safe using the internet, email, and your phone. There are many websites and resources where you can learn more and stay informed about phishing and other forms of malware. We listed a few below. You can click on the links, but (if you are a little paranoid at this point), you can search for “consumer phishing resources” or just “phishing resources” using your favorite search engine. Good luck, and stay safe.

Select Phishing Resources

Knowbe4: The world’s first and largest new-school security awareness training and simulated phishing platform.
Phishing.org: A project from KnowBe4 that is a resource for IT professionals to keep you up to date on the latest phishing threats. The Resources page has some free tools to help improve your phishing knowledge.
Phishing info from the Federal Trade Commission.
A phishing primer from the National Cybersecurity Alliance.

The post Let’s Not Go Phishing Today: Tips for Home Computer Users appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

A Behind the Scenes Look at Our US East Data Center

2022-12-14

Post Syndicated from original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-our-us-east-data-center/

In the last couple of years, Backblaze has taken residence in three new data center facilities. In the West, we added the CyrusOne facility in Chandler, Arizona and the Nautilus Data Center in Stockton, California. In the East, we just added the Coresight facility in Reston, Virginia as our anchor to our new U.S. East data region. Each of these data centers will house over an exabyte of customer data. A number like an exabyte of storage is nice, and we’ll share a bunch more numbers as we go. But what I really wanted to share are the stories behind the scenes as we moved into the Coresight facility in Reston, which we call IAD 1.

The process of turning a big empty room into a data center location is complex and requires intense coordination, an adaptable project plan, and folks who can think on their feet. Let’s face it, no project is perfect, and building out a data center is no different. But, once in a while, it’s fun to peek behind the curtain to see how the actual work gets done. Let’s take a look.

Big Boxes, Tight Spaces, and Construction

There were over 700 boxes of various shapes and sizes to be received at the IAD site. This included server cabinets, storage servers, support servers, networking equipment, and other odds and ends. The cabinet and storage server boxes were particularly large, and only four of these boxes at a time could fit into the service elevator used to move everything from the loading dock to the Backblaze facility on the fourth floor.

Cabinets and servers are normally received almost daily, but the IAD data center was undergoing construction which limited where and how trucks could unload their cargo. One poor fellow spent the better part of three hours trying to manipulate his semi into the loading dock. The construction also limited the amount of cargo that could stay in the dock area to basically zero. When a truck arrived and started unloading Backblaze goods, our process was: load four boxes, go up four floors, unload four boxes, go down four floors, and repeat until the truck was empty.

Each time a truck arrived, the race was on, and there were a lot of trucks as everything was scheduled to arrive within a 30-day window. Why 30 days? We wanted to install the cabinets all at once, so we could run the networking once and not have to piecemeal it in. To help out, we enlisted the help of the Coresight staff to assemble and install the cabinets, while we ran the networking and installed the servers and other gear.

Taking the Long Way Home

The Backblaze presence is spread across two buildings. One building houses the data center itself and includes the maintenance area. The Backblaze office is located in another building. It’s not ideal, but sometimes things work out that way. But, what it means is this: If you don’t know where you are going you’re either not supposed to be there or you are new. Data centers are not known for having a lot of “you are here” signs, nor are there a lot of folks around to ask if you are lost.

Being new can turn a five minute walk from the office to the data center floor into a 30 minute expletive laden stroll through unmarked halls and deadend corridors complete with visions of serial killers being behind every door. Lucky for us, Coresight does background checks on all their employees.

Let’s Talk Boxes

While Backblaze was responsible for getting the boxes to the new space and unboxing the contents, Coresight helped out by providing us with some temporary storage space as we built out our facility. Given our aggressive schedule, things occasionally got messy (as seen below).

Shortly after this photo was taken, we learned the site had “the crusher”, which takes boxes or garbage or whatever and, well, crushes such things into dumpster-suitable or recycling-suitable packages. While not as fun as a Megabot, the crusher ensured that we didn’t lose any employees under an avalanche of boxes.

How many boxes? Well, there were 126 boxes containing cabinets, one per box. Each cabinet was assembled and installed by the Coresight folks. There were hundreds of smaller boxes containing networking servers, conduits, networking cables, and, of course, thousands of various types of cable ties used by the Backblaze cabling ninjas as we see below.

The cabinets are 52U tall, and 120 of them will be used to house 1,440 storage servers which will make up 72 Backblaze Vaults. Each vault consists of twenty storage servers. Each storage server has 60 16TB drives, which totals 960TB of raw storage per server. Doing the math, the IAD data center will have over 1.3EB of raw storage. Subtracting formatting and parity, the capacity is still over 1EB. Of course, over time we expect to use larger hard drives in all of our data centers as the cost per gigabyte for hard drives continues to decrease.

A Note on Parity

The IAD data center uses our own open-source Reed-Solomon erasure coding in a 16/4 data/parity scheme for storing data. This is our new normal when using 16TB drives and above, versus the 17/3 scheme used with smaller drives. This helps lessen the time it takes to recover from a failed drive in our farm.

My Kingdom for a Storage Pod

Not to be a villain here, but there are no Backblaze Storage Pods in the IAD 1 data center. All 100 of the storage servers used for the initial build out of the IAD data center are the Supermicro models we detailed in the recent Storage Pod Story blog post. You can see from the photo below each of the five vaults are racked and waiting for their hard drives to be installed. Maybe one day Supermicro will make us some pretty red bezels.

An Old Friend to the Rescue

The 52U Enconnex cabinets are 94.49 inches (2400 mm) tall. The 4U Supermicro storage servers will eventually be stacked 12 high in the cabinet, leaving 4U at the top of each for 1U core servers and IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) switches. Lifting a 4U 150lb (68kg) storage server is difficult, but so is lifting a 1U core server to nearly eight feet high. We needed some muscle, and there’s no one better than Guido, our first and most experienced server lift. He was flown in from the Phoenix data center to help the IAD staff get set up, and if he likes the gig he can stay. After all, he earned the right to a choice after nearly 12 years of heavy lifting for Backblaze.

Power

The data center provides fully redundant power to each cabinet. Each separate power source connects to a PDU in each cabinet. In each cabinet, there is a red PDU and a blue PDU with each color representing a power source. Since most of the servers we use in the data center support redundant power, a given server connects to each PDU (red and blue) in their cabinet as shown below.

The PDUs that we used were recommended by the data center and not a brand we had used before. The PDU manufacturer does not make the power cables, but they do recommend a couple of brands. We happened to like our red and blue cables and used them instead. We were surprised to discover they were a bad fit and kept falling out of the PDUs—so much for standards. Amazingly, it just so happens that a company makes PDU plug locks to keep the plugs from falling out. The plug locks also help when someone accidentally bumps into a power plug connected to the PDU while working on some equipment, so there’s that.

Security

As with all data center facilities, security is a prime concern. At the Coresite facility, Backblaze personnel must pass through a minimum of four checkpoints to get from the parking lot to the Backblaze data center facility or the Backblaze office. Along the way, both badge access and biometric scans are employed—sometimes separately and sometimes together. In addition, Backblaze personnel are limited in where they can go. For example, they are not allowed on the second and third floors of the data center building, only the fourth floor, and then they can only enter our facility. Getting lost while going from the office to the datacenter floor should make a little more sense now.

Within the Backblaze facility there are cameras that monitor everything inside. There are also cameras used by the Coresight staff to monitor the common areas such as hallways, the loading dock, and the parking lot. Before you can enter or leave the parking lot, an access badge and visual confirmation are required by the Coresight staff. This led to a very interesting dinner one evening for Backblaze and Coresight personnel…

Huevos Rancheros

Several of the Backblaze staff were temporarily deployed to Reston to set up the IAD data center. One of their favorite places to eat was Ted’s Bulletin, located in Reston near the data center. They serve breakfast all day until they close at 10 p.m. or so. Working into the evening is typical for data center set ups, and the gang decided to order from Ted’s and have it delivered via DoorDash so they could keep working.

The Dasher arrived with their order at the back gate of the compound. That’s not a public entrance and the Dasher was told to go around to the public gate. “This is where it says to go,” said the Dasher. He wasn’t even sure where he was; he just followed the GPS. Jack, who placed the DoorDash order, got a call from the Dasher. He was going to leave if someone didn’t meet him at the gate. Not wanting to see his huevos rancheros go to waste, Jack found his way to the back gate talking to the Dasher all the way so he wouldn’t leave. Jack showed his credentials to the security camera, but they would not open the gate. Why? The Dasher was a visitor at a non-visitor gate, and Jack was not a vehicle that needed to exit. The compromise; the Dasher was allowed to hand Jack the containers of food through a narrow opening in the gate. Jack showed his huevos rancheros and the other delights to security as he passed through the various checkpoints to get to a Backblaze office, and breakfast for dinner was had by all.

Three days later they wanted Ted’s again. They drove.

Epilogue

The Backblaze U.S. East data region is ready to go with five Backblaze Vaults online and accepting data. That’s 100 servers and thousands of connections open for business on day one with more vaults waiting in the wings to be deployed by the end of the year. Many thanks to Jack, Jessie, Zachary, Brent, Rich, Mark, and the supporting cast back at Backblaze HQ in San Mateo for getting IAD 1 up and running. Jessie and Zachary are part of the permanent crew at IAD 1 with more folks joining them over the coming months.

One last shoutout to the IAD crew for having the courage and sense of humor to share their stories with me. Having a Dasher squeezing your huevos through a gate in the dark while security folks watch on a live feed is not something I could ever make up. Thanks again.

Putting the New Region to Work for Your Business

With the addition of the new region, customers have more options for storing data and replicating datasets to separate cloud locations. Even better: Egress is free for Cloud Replication across the Backblaze platform. Go to our website for more information, check out our FAQ, and feel free to contact our Support Team if you have any questions.

The post A Behind the Scenes Look at Our US East Data Center appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Backblaze Adds US East Region, Expanding Location Choices and Cloud Replication Options

2022-12-13 Tonya Comer

Post Syndicated from Tonya Comer original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-adds-us-east-region-expanding-location-choices-and-cloud-replication-options/

Customers looking for more local availability and data resilience can get both with the opening of the U.S. East data region, now available to current and future Backblaze users. With an expanded data center footprint, customers can easily store replicated datasets to two or more cloud locations for compliance and continuity. Plus, data egress for Cloud Replication is free, so you can copy data at no expense across the Backblaze platform.

Data Regions Deliver Speed, Security, and Scalability

You can now select the U.S. East data region when you’re storing with Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage to:

Achieve redundancy in the cloud. Automatically replicate datasets across North America, whether it’s for compliance, protection from cyberattacks, continuity needs, or to keep data closer to users or customers. (We love a redundant backup plan.)
Deliver your data faster. Store data closer to end users to improve latency for primary data sets—especially important if you’re an East Coast-based company.
Scale sustainably. Increase or decrease your storage requirements as your business expands—no need to invest in additional hardware. And minimize costs associated with managing a data center, including hardware, software, support, and other costs.

To start storing data in U.S. East today, you can choose “Region: US East” when you create a Backblaze account.

Astonishingly Easy Cloud Replication

Backblaze’s multi-region cloud infrastructure allows you to further take advantage of Cloud Replication to improve reliability, accessibility, and overall fault tolerance. Even better: While other cloud providers charge you to replicate your data, there are no egress fees across the Backblaze platform for Cloud Replication.

It’s easy to get started. If you’re an existing customer, all you have to do to implement Cloud Replication is to log in to your B2 Storage Cloud account and click on Cloud Replication in the right-hand column. Go to our website for more information, check out our FAQ, and feel free to contact our Support Team if you have any questions.

New Data Region; Same Data Center Standards

Data stored in U.S. East will reside in Backblaze’s newest data center, IAD 1, located in Reston, Virginia. Backblaze has a high standard for our data centers, and this new facility is best-in-class. All Backblaze data centers are SSAE-18/SOC-2 compliant, use biometric security, and have ID checks and area locks that require badge-level access to keep your data safe. In addition to SOC 2 Type 2, this latest data center is ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, and HIPAA compliant.

Cloud Storage That Meets Evolving Needs

The way businesses use and access cloud storage is changing. Rather than relying on local storage, companies are increasingly turning to the cloud to meet their data storage needs, including data protection and redundancy. Opening our U.S. East data region is the next logical step to better serve our customers, now and in the future, as they increasingly adopt cloud-only infrastructures. And for the many customers who continue to store data on-premises, the new region gives them more choices for their backup needs as well.

Look out for Backblaze Evangelist, Andy Klein, to fill you in all the details of our newest data center in an upcoming blog post, and feel free to comment below if you want to know more.

The post Backblaze Adds US East Region, Expanding Location Choices and Cloud Replication Options appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Bookblaze: First Annual Backblaze Book Guide

2022-12-12 Molly Clancy

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/bookblaze-first-annual-backblaze-book-guide/

Fact: Books are the best gifts to give friends and family this time of year. At least we think so here at Backblaze (second to the gift of Backblaze, of course). This post is your case in point—we got so many book recommendations when we put together our annual holiday gift guide that we thought they deserved their own post. So, we’re introducing the very first annual Bookblaze Book List.

For the readers in your lives, here’s a list of books that come highly recommended from the Backblaze team. (And it’s worth noting that we don’t get any affiliate or sponsorship income for these recommendations. They’re just the books our colleagues read and loved this year.) Let’s dive in.

Cozy Reads for Your Winter Needs

Jeremy Milk, Head of Product Marketing

Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan

“Inspired” presents a thoughtful deep dive and actionable steps for how anyone and everyone within an organization can operate to better serve customers with ever better products and services. The book was written in 2018 (I think) but remains a go-to for the customer-obsessed among us.

Andy Klein, Principal Cloud Storage Storyteller

Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick

“Chaos” was printed back in 1987, but is still available on Amazon and some bookstores. Why is this my choice? I read the book hoping to understand the burgeoning field of chaos theory, the science of seeing patterns and order in the randomness of the everyday world we live in. The book was amazingly readable. The author takes a subject that could easily be three hundred pages of math, science, and history, swirling down a rabbit hole, and keeps the book approachable and within the grasp of the audience. It won’t change your world, but you’ll look at many things a little differently.

Yev Pusin, Computer Backup Steward

The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

One of my favorite books of the last few years. This period piece murder mystery takes place in a Victorian house and from the perspectives of various house party guests. No spoilers!

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

This series is all the rage in a lot of different circles. If you’re interested in space, necromancy, or mysteries (who isn’t)—this one’s for you!

Kari Rivas, Product Marketing Manager

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I have not yet read a book by Taylor Jenkins Reid that I haven’t loved, but this one is top of the list for 2022. In “Seven Husbands,” Reid paints a picture of a complex and not immediately likable character living a fascinating life. Each chapter (read: husband) of Evelyn’s life marks a point in Evelyn’s evolution from ambitious starlet to mature grande dame who can (nearly) accept herself as she is. Modern themes of how we define family, love, and relationships intersect with this tale of old Hollywood.

Nicole Gale, Marketing Operations Manager

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

For your friend patiently waiting for the TV adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Jones’ “Daisy Jones and the Six,” the book “The Final Revival of Opal & Nev” by Dawnie Walton is also based on faux music history and is, dare I say, even better. Follow Opal Jewel and Nev Charles, an Afropunk rock ’n’ roll duo who find fame and notoriety in the 1970’s after a tragic incident at a concert in 1973. The band splits, but a reunion concert is planned in 2026—which is when S. Sunny Shelton, a music editor at Aural Magazine, takes the chance to record interviews with the duo and those connected to them.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

This book is perfect for anyone in your life that is looking for a book they will read and re-read again. This book is a historical fiction book about Elizabeth Zott who only ever wanted to be a scientist—but because she’s a woman in the 1960s, she has to go begging for beakers despite being the smartest researcher in the building. After reading 50 books this year, this one is by far my favorite, and I still quote Elizabeth Zott in my head. I love her (and her dog 6:30), and you will too.

Caitlin Bryson, Marketing Events Manager

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Two time-traveling spies on opposite sides of a multiverse-spanning war make contact and begin to write letters to each other across time and space. Time travel, suspense, romance, and absolutely GORGEOUS writing—what more could you ask for?

Pat Patterson, Chief Technical Evangelist

Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s graphic novel “Watchmen” was a phenomenon, from its publication in the late 80s to the 2009 movie and 2019 spin-off TV series. I’d like to direct your attention, though, to Moore’s earlier work, specifically on the DC title, “Saga of the Swamp Thing,” available as a series of six trade paperbacks collecting over 40 issues of the monthly comic, originally published between 1984 and 1987. Nearly 40 years on, the story of the Swamp Thing’s discovery of his true nature and role in DC’s supernatural universe has lost none of its power. Not at all a kid’s comic book, Moore’s “Swamp Thing” paved the way for later generations of visual storytelling aimed at a mature audience.

Stephanie Doyle, Associate Editor and Writer

Cost of Living by Emily Maloney

I’m not usually one for memoirs; oftentimes they seem self-serving, or not relevant to larger stories. “Cost of Living” is very much the opposite of that. This book ruminates on the cost of medical debt in America from the perspective of someone struggling with it—while simultaneously working as a medical assistant and medical biller. It also touches on the variability in quality of mental health treatment, overmedication, the opioid epidemic, crazy families, and much more. Bonus: It’s a collection of essays, so you can digest it in big or small doses (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Patrick Thomas, Head of Publishing

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

It turns out, when you have kids, you don’t read less, you just read a lot of the same books over and over again by popular demand of your child. During some stretches, my two year old and I read the same books 40 or 50 times in a single week. I’ve learned, quickly, to guide her toward books with beautiful sentences, because if I don’t I’ll be forced to suffer through the bad ones again and again…. and again. I’ll never tire of the sentences in this little beauty, though—and the illustrations are endlessly engaging for young eyes. “All the World” is a must have for parents. But I’ll warn you, it’s going to make you cry fairly regularly.

Molly Clancy, Senior Content Editor

Bad Manners: The Official Cookbook

Do you need some more gosh dang vegetables in your life? Ever thought about giving an ever lovin’ vegan diet a try? This is the cookbook for you. Even if you’re just doing Meatless Mondays, you could always use a couple of freakin’ tasty vegan recipes, and this cookbook delivers those in spades. I’m a big fan of the coconut lime rice with red beans and mango. Holy shish kebabs, that’s good.

Happy Reading from Backblaze

Hopefully this book list sparks some inspiration for your holiday shopping list or your own 2023 reading list. What are you planning to read next year? Let us know in the comments.

The post Bookblaze: First Annual Backblaze Book Guide appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Widening the Channel: Exertis Broadcast Adds Backblaze B2 Reserve

2022-12-09 Elton Carneiro

Post Syndicated from Elton Carneiro original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/widening-the-channel-exertis-broadcast-adds-backblaze-b2-reserve/

We launched our Channel Partner program about seven months ago. In the months since, we’ve rapidly onboarded some great strategic resellers, added new benefits, welcomed more staff to our team, and completed our initial launch of Backblaze B2 Reserve, our capacity-based cloud storage offering that includes download fees, premium support, and our Universal Data Migration service, exclusively for Backblaze resellers—but we’re still just getting started.

We’re very excited to announce another partner today.

Exertis Broadcast + Backblaze

Exertis Broadcast now offers resellers the full value and benefits of our Backblaze B2 Reserve program. This new partnership is doubly exciting to us because a number of our alliance partners already work with Exertis Broadcast—including Quantum, Studio Network Solutions (SNS), and SoDA—which means the world class Exertis engineers can package a suite of best-in-breed cloud workflow solutions in one seamless package for teams working in media and entertainment, modern data protection, and/or disaster recovery solutions industries.

If you’re a reseller looking for a distribution partner that can help your customers with their cloud storage needs, here are a few of the benefits Exertis offers:

Sales and Support dedicated to customer success.
Engineering Team available to consult on the best products and solutions to fit any needs.
Tools and Resources ranging from a state-of-the-art demo center to an innovative video solution builder.
Video Production to create cutting-edge content.
Marketing Professionals to design effective marketing content to keep you abreast of industry news and events.

To get started, resellers can contact us at [email protected] today.

The Backblaze Channel Partner Program

The Channel Partner program exists to provide easy, transparent, predictable cloud storage solutions to accelerate growth for resellers through the value of our Backblaze B2 Reserve offering.

The program provides benefits ranging from deal registration to joint marketing; rewards like seller incentives and market development funds (coming soon); as well as support including a Partner Portal and sales and marketing staff assistance.

Join Us!

We can’t wait to join with our current and future Channel Partners to deliver tomorrow’s solutions to any customer who can use astonishingly easy cloud storage. (We think that’s pretty much everybody.)

If you’re a reseller, we’d love to hear from you. If you’re a customer interested in benefiting from any of the above, we’d love to connect you with the right Channel Partner team to serve your needs. Either way, the doors are open and we look forward to helping out.

The post Widening the Channel: Exertis Broadcast Adds Backblaze B2 Reserve appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

10 Holiday Security Tips for Your Business

2022-12-08 Stephanie Doyle

Post Syndicated from Stephanie Doyle original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/10-holiday-security-tips-for-your-business/

A decorative image showing a pig with an eyepatch hacking a computer and displaying the words 10 Business Security Tips to Use This Holiday Season.

’Tis the season—for ransomware attacks that is. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) observed increases in cyber attacks on weekends and holidays. Several of the largest ransomware attacks in 2021 happened over holiday weekends, including Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, and the Fourth of July. This tactic may be attractive because it gives cyber attackers a head start to map networks and propagate ransomware throughout networks when organizations are at limited capacity.

The reason for this is simple: one of the easiest and most effective ways for bad actors to gain access to secure networks is by targeting the people who use them through phishing attacks and other social engineering techniques. Employees are already behind the eight ball so to speak, as email volume can increase up to 100x during the holiday season. Add to the equation that businesses often have increased workloads with fewer folks in office, or even office closures, and you have an ideal environment for a ransomware attack.

Phew! Aren’t we supposed to be celebrating this time of year? Absolutely. So, let’s talk about ten things you can do to help protect your business from cyberattacks and organized crime during the holiday season.

Get the Ransomware Ebook

There’s never been a better time to strengthen your ransomware defenses. Get our comprehensive guide to defending your business against ransomware this holiday season.

10 Security Tips for Your Business This Holiday Season

1. Update Your Tech

Teams should ensure that systems are up to date and that any new patches are tested and applied as soon as they are released, no matter how busy the company is at this time. This is, of course, important for your core applications, but don’t forget cell phones and web browsers. Additionally, personnel should be assigned to monitor alerts remotely when the business is closed or workers are out of the office so that critical patches aren’t delayed.

2. Review Your Company Security Policy With All of Your Employees

All businesses should review company security policies as the holiday season approaches. Ensure that all employees understand the importance of keeping access credentials private, know how to spot cybercrime, and know what to do if a crime happens. Whether your staff is in-office or remote, all employees should be up to date on security policies and special holiday circumstances.

3. Conduct Phishing Simulation Training

Another important step that organizations can take to ensure security over the holidays is to conduct phishing simulation training at the beginning of the season, and ideally on a monthly basis. This kind of training gives employees a chance to practice their ability to identify malicious links and attachments without a real threat looming. It’s a good opportunity to teach workers not to share login information with anyone over email and the importance of verifying emails.

4. Then, Make Sure Recommended Measures Are Set Up, Especially MFA

Multifactor authentication (MFA) fatigue happens when workers get tired of logging in and out with an authenticator app, push notification, or with a text message—but it’s one of the single best tools in your security arsenal. During the holidays, workers might be busier than usual, and therefore, more frustrated by MFA requirements. But, MFA is crucial for keeping your business safe from ransomware and domain denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

5. Have an Offline Backup

It’s easy to forget, in our ever-more-connected world, that taking business data offline is one of the best protections you can offer. You still need to have a process to make sure those offline backups are regularly updated, so set a cadence. But, particularly with your business-critical data, offline backups represent a last line of defense that can make all the difference.

6. Adjust Property Access Privileges

You might be surprised to know that physical security is a cybercrime prevention tool as well. Doors and devices should be the most highly protected areas of your space. Before the holidays, be sure to do a thorough review of your business’ access privileges so that no one has more access than is necessary to perform their duties. And, before shutting down for a much-needed break, check all exterior doors, windows, and other entry points to ensure they are fully secured. Don’t forget to update any automated systems to keep everything locked down before your return to work.

7. Don’t Advertise That You Will Be Closed

It’s common practice to alert customers when your business will be closed so that you can avoid any inconvenience. However, this practice could put your business at risk during times of the year when the crime rate is elevated, including the holiday season. Instead of posting signage or on social media declaring that no one will be in the building for a certain period, it’s better to use an automated voice or email response to alert customers of your closing. This way, crime opportunists will be less tempted.

8. Check In on Your Backup Strategy

For years, the industry standard was the 3-2-1 backup strategy. A 3-2-1 strategy means having at least three total copies of your data, two of which are local but on different media, and at least one off-site copy (in the cloud). These days, the 3-2-1 backup strategy is table stakes: still necessary, but there are now even more advanced approaches. Consider a cyber resilience stance for your company.

9. Consider Cyber Insurance

Cyber insurance adoption rates are hard to track, but all data points to an increase in businesses getting coverage. Cyber insurance can cover everything from forensic post-breach reviews to litigation expenses. It also forces us all to review security policies and bring everything up to industry best practices.

10. Test Your Disaster Recovery Strategy

If you don’t have a disaster recovery strategy, this is the time to create one. If you do have one, this is also a great time to put it to the test. You should know going into the holidays that you can respond quickly and effectively should your company suffer a security breach.

Protecting Business Data During the Holidays

Here’s the secret eleventh tip: The best thing you can do for your security is, ironically, the same thing that cyber criminals do—to treat your employees as humans. Studies have shown that one the long-term costs of ransomware is actually employee stress. We can’t expect humans to be perfect, and a learning-based (versus punitive) approach will help you in two ways: you’ll be setting up processes with the real world in mind, and your employees won’t feel disincentivized to report incidents early and improve when they make mistakes in training (or even in the real world).

While it may be impossible to prevent all instances of data theft and cybercrime from happening, there are steps that companies can take to protect themselves. So, train, prepare, back up your data, and then celebrate knowing that you’ve done what you can.

The post 10 Holiday Security Tips for Your Business appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Object Lock 101: Protecting Data From Ransomware

2022-12-06 Molly Clancy

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://backblaze.com/blog/object-lock-101-protecting-data-from-ransomware/

A decorative image showing a cloud with a computer monitor and a lock screen. A heading reads Ransomware Protection with Object Lock.

2023 was a record-breaking year for ransomware, with threat actors targeting higher ed institutions, schools, governments, and hospitals, amongst other targets. And, a study by cybersecurity firm Sophos found that 94% of organizations hit by ransomware in the past year said that the cybercriminals attempted to compromise their backups during the attack.

If your backups are compromised, you lose one of the strongest cards in your hand when it comes to recovery. But with advances in backup protection like Object Lock, you can add one more layer of defense between cybercriminals and your business data.

In this post, we’ll explain:

What Object Lock is.
What Object Lock does.
Why you should use it.
When you should use it.

More On Protecting Your Business from Ransomware Attacks

This post is a part of our ongoing series on ransomware. Take a look at our other posts for more information on how businesses can defend themselves against a ransomware attack, the latest patterns in ransomware attacks, and more.

What Is Object Lock?

Object Lock is a powerful backup protection tool that prevents a file from being altered or deleted until a given date. When you set the lock, you can specify the length of time an object should be locked. Any attempts to manipulate, copy, encrypt, change, or delete the file will be rejected during that time. (NOTE: At Backblaze, the Object Lock feature was previously referred to as “File Lock,” and you may see the term from time to time in documentation. They are one and the same.)

Reminder: What Is an Object?

An object is a discrete unit of data that includes both the information itself—a file, image, video, or any other digital content—and its metadata. Objects are typically stored in object storage systems (hey, that’s us!), where each object is uniquely identified and accessed via a unique address.

What Does Object Lock Do?

Object Lock allows you to store data using a write once, read many (WORM) model. You write the data to a storage medium, then it can only be read after that for a defined period of time. No one can change it, including the data owner, the cloud provider storing the data, or whoever set the Object Lock.

Enabling Object Lock is a one-time operation. Once it is enabled on a bucket (either a new or existing bucket), you can assign Object Lock settings on specific files, but you can’t disable it. There are a two different Object Lock modes:

In compliance mode, not only can objects not be deleted or modified while the lock is in place, but the lock also cannot be removed, only extended.
In governance mode, the lock can be removed or overwritten via an API call with the appropriate application key.

What is Object Lock Legal Hold?

Object Lock Legal Hold is a feature that also prevents data from being changed or deleted, but the lock does not have a defined retention period—it can be turned on and off at any time.

A Deeper Dive

For more information on how compliance mode, governance mode, and Object Lock Legal Hold work, check out Digging Deeper into Object Lock or our Tech Docs. They’re both required reading if you want to avoid accidentally locking your data for 100 years, a very safe but impractical way to store your data. Remember, once you set a lock in compliance mode, even the cloud provider is unable to unlock or delete data in response to a support request.

What Is an Air Gap, and How Does Object Lock Provide One?

Object Lock creates a virtual air gap for your data. The term comes from the world of LTO tape. When backups are written to tape, the tapes are then physically removed from the network, creating a physical gap of air between backups and production systems. In the event of a ransomware attack, you can just pull the tapes from the previous day to restore systems.

Object Lock does the same thing, but it all happens in the cloud. Instead of physically isolating data, Object Lock virtually isolates the data.

What Is Immutable Data? Is It the Same as Object Lock?

In object storage, immutability is a characteristic of an object that cannot be modified or changed. It is different from Object Lock in that Object Lock is a function that allows you to create immutable or unchangeable objects. Immutability is the characteristic you want to achieve, and Object Lock is the way you achieve it.

How Does Object Lock Work with Veeam Ransomware Protection?

Veeam, a backup software provider, offers immutability as a feature to protect your data. The immutability feature in Veeam works hand in hand with the Object Lock functionality offered by cloud providers like Backblaze. If you’re using a cloud storage provider to store your Veeam backups and they support Object Lock (which we think all providers should, not that we’re biased), you can configure Veeam to save your backups to a storage bucket with Object Lock enabled. As a certified Veeam Ready-Object and Veeam Ready-Object with Immutability partner, utilizing this feature with Backblaze is as simple as checking a box in your settings (and in your Veeam settings too, of course).

For a step-by-step guide on how to back up Veeam to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage with Object Lock functionality, check out the video below.

Does Object Lock Work with Other Integrations?

Object Lock works with many Backblaze B2 integrations in addition to Veeam, including MSP360, Commvault, Rubrik, and more. You can also enable Object Lock using the Backblaze S3 Compatible API, the B2 Native API, the Backblaze B2 SDKs, and the CLI.

Why Should You Use Object Lock?

With cyber threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, the ability to store data with immutability provides an essential layer of protection. Even if your system falls victim to an attack, the original data remains recoverable, minimizing the impact on business operations and reputation. Even you can’t edit or delete your data.

There’s no added cost to use Object Lock with Backblaze B2 beyond what you would pay to store the data anyway. (But other cloud providers charge for API calls related to Object Lock, so if you ever need to renew an Object Lock on a file, you may get charged for that call. Your Object Locks can renew fairly often based on the immutability settings in your software, so be sure to ask when comparing cloud storage providers).

Finally, data security experts strongly recommend using Object Lock to protect your critical backups. Not only is it recommended, but in some industries Object Lock is necessary to maintain data protection standards required by compliance agencies. One other thing to consider: Many companies are adopting cyber insurance, and often those companies require immutable backups for you to be fully covered.

The question really isn’t, “Why should you use Object Lock?” but rather “Why aren’t you using Object Lock?”

A decorative image showing a calendar icon with a red arrow circling it in counterclockwise.

When Should You Use Object Lock?

The immutability achieved by Object Lock is useful for protecting against ransomware, but there are some additional use cases that make it valuable to businesses as well.

To Replace an LTO System: Most folks looking to migrate from tape are concerned about maintaining the security of the air gap that tape provides. With Object Lock you can create a backup that’s just as secure as air-gapped tape without the need for expensive physical infrastructure.
For Compliance: If you work in an industry subject to HIPAA, GDPR, or SEC Rule 17a-4 regulations or if you need to retain and protect data for legal reasons, Object Lock allows you to easily set appropriate retention periods for regulatory compliance.
For Data Governance and Auditability: Object Lock enables you to demonstrate data integrity and compliance with audit trails. This can be important for regulatory audits or internal investigations.
For Long-Term Data Preservation: For archival purposes or long-term storage, Object Lock ensures that data remains accessible and unaltered for extended periods, mitigating the risk of data loss from accidental deletion.
For Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: The last thing you want to worry about in the event you are attacked by ransomware is whether your backups are safe. Being able to restore systems from backups stored with Object Lock can help you minimize downtime and interruptions, comply with cybersecurity insurance requirements, and achieve recovery time objectives easier.

Protecting Your Data with Object Lock

To summarize, here are a few key points to remember about Object Lock:

Object Lock creates a virtual air gap using a WORM model.
Data that is protected using Object Lock is immutable, meaning it’s unchangeable.
With Object Lock enabled, your data can’t be modified or deleted for the length of the lock.
Object Lock can be used to replace tapes, protect sensitive data, and defend against ransomware.

Ransomware attacks can be disruptive, but your story doesn’t have to end with you feeling forced into a ransom payment against your better judgment or facing extended downtime. As cybercriminals become bolder and more advanced, creating immutable, air-gapped backups using Object Lock functionality puts a manageable recovery in closer reach.

Have questions about Object Lock functionality and ransomware? Let us know in the comments.

The post Object Lock 101: Protecting Data From Ransomware appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup

Why Cyberattacks Surge During the Holiday Season

2022-12-01 Molly Clancy

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/why-cyberattacks-surge-during-the-holiday-season/

The holiday season should be all about spending some much-needed time off with friends and family, not dealing with cyberattacks at work. But the holiday season is the most wonderful time of year for cybercriminals, too. Cyberattacks surge between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Many businesses and workers may be too busy or distracted to check every security alert or look over every email for suspicious content.

All businesses should be aware of cybersecurity risks during the holiday season, but small and medium sized businesses face different challenges when it comes to cyberattacks compared with large enterprises. Small businesses (with fewer than 500 employees) comprise 99.9% of all businesses in the United States. And microbusinesses, or businesses with four or fewer employees, comprise 91%. Due to their staffing and budget constraints, it is likely they are more vulnerable to cyberattacks than larger organizations.

Let’s take a closer look at why the holidays are so dangerous when it comes to digital security, and how you can prepare your business for a holiday cyberattack and retain your holiday cheer.

Download our Ransomware Guide

There’s never been a better time to strengthen your ransomware defenses. Get our comprehensive guide to defending your business against ransomware this holiday season.

The Most Vulnerable Time of the Year

So, why do cybercriminals choose the holiday season to perform their most damaging attacks? Here are a few reasons:

1. Companies Are Short-Staffed

Many companies find themselves short-staffed during the peak of the holiday season. Between holiday travel, events, and obligations, it’s easier for things to fall through the cracks. No matter how much you plan to have a full staff, there will always be times when you wish you had more personnel. End-of-year planning, increased order volumes, more time spent performing customer service duties, and technology hiccups keep staff more than busy at this time of year. Not to mention that there’s an added burden on IT professionals during the holidays, who are busy trying to keep office networks and remote access safe and secure, responding to help tickets, and keeping an eye on increased anomalous activity.

2. Workers Are Distracted

When employees are spread thin and juggling numerous duties and holiday obligations, office duties often take a back seat. Employees are looking forward to the holidays just as much as you are, so you can imagine that they might be more inattentive than at less festive times of the year. Workers that are distracted from their normal cybersecurity awareness might miss a clue that an email is coming from an illegitimate source.

Cybersecurity activities include scanning for vulnerabilities, mitigating risks, and looking for bad actors moving through systems. Among the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it might seem like there is no time for cybersecurity, or that it can wait till next year. That’s exactly why cybercriminals will be waiting to launch their attack when you least expect it.

3. Email Activity Increases

With so many “happy holidays” emails from vendors, internal employees, and even outside addresses, there are plenty of opportunities for a fraudster to plant a malicious link that goes unnoticed. If a worker falls for a scam on a company device, the entire company could be at risk for a malware attack.

Cybersecurity Risks During the Holiday Season

Ransomware is one of the most damaging threats to businesses of all kinds. Last year there was a 30% increase in ransomware attacks targeting companies during the holiday season. When a worker unknowingly clicks on a malicious link or accesses a hijacked website on a company device, the business may become infected with ransomware. Attackers can then hold the organization for ransom by threatening to leak information. The advice is generally to refuse to pay.

Whether your company is in finance, retail, logistics, or any other industry, the first step to getting prepared for the holiday season is to reevaluate your cybersecurity. Ensure that you are ready in case one of these cybersecurity risks hits you this year.

Phishing

Phishing is a popular attack vector that cybercriminals use to gain access to a company’s system. Phishing emails can be very convincing when they impersonate another organization or legitimate person to trick the receiver into divulging crucial login information.

While many people think they would be able to recognize a phishing email, they’re the entry point for 90% of data breaches. Plus, busy workers may not have the time to focus on the minute details of every message they receive this holiday season. Attackers will use that to their advantage.

A phishing email recently received by the author that came from a false sender address.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks

Another serious threat to business during the holidays is a DDoS attack. This is an especially popular route for cyberattacks at this time of year. Why? Simply put: Because businesses are busy, and attackers are keen to take advantage of that distraction to launch an attack. Cybercriminals use DDoS attacks to overload business systems with so much traffic that none of your applications can function.

Compromised Passwords

The best way for a cybercriminal to gain access to your business websites, accounts, and other mission-critical apps is to obtain compromised credentials. There are many ways that fraudsters can attempt to steal company login credentials with minimal effort. In fact, there have been several well-publicized password-related breaches that made passwords available to anyone who cares to search for that information—people have even created APIs so that you can easily see if you’re affected by those breaches. We humans are also prone to reusing passwords. According to a 2022 report, employees admitted to reusing passwords across an average of 16 different workplace accounts.

Protect Your Business This Holiday Season

So, what can you do to minimize your risks as cybercriminals ramp up their attacks? Here are some tips to help protect your business this holiday season:

Ensure your anti-virus and/or anti-phishing software scans for vulnerabilities regularly.
Discuss phishing email best practices with your staff year-round, but especially during the holiday season.
Never click on suspicious links or download email attachments from unknown senders.
Turn on safe browsing capabilities in your browser.
Backup business data locally and to the cloud.
Update your software and apply patches when they are released.
Use strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, and a secure password manager to generate and store secure passwords.

Even if you’ve done everything right, there is still a chance that you could be outsmarted by a cybercriminal this holiday season. Every business, no matter how big or small, needs to have an incident response plan in place to help staff identify the breach before it’s too late.

Don’t forget to include thorough training on the specific security protocols that workers need to follow in the event that a cyberattack does occur. If your business becomes the victim of a cyberattack, the sooner you can identify the breach, the better.

And just in case the worst happens, it’s smart to invest in a reliable backup solution. A decentralized approach to data security can help protect your business and safeguard your private information from anyone who wants to take advantage of your company. If your systems do go down and a cybercriminal locks you out of your business applications, you will still have your backup data, which means that you can restore your business data and resume business as usual with as little disruption as possible.

The holiday season is a money-maker for businesses and cybercriminals alike. Make sure that your company is protected so you can focus on the joy of the season instead of giving cybercriminals an easy payday.

The post Why Cyberattacks Surge During the Holiday Season appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Happy Thanksgiving from Backblaze

2022-11-24 Molly Clancy

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/happy-thanksgiving-from-backblaze/

To all of our readers: Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Backblaze! We’re taking some time to be with our families and friends, and we hope you are, too.

If your people are anything like ours, we imagine you might be getting asked to fix grandma’s antique desktop computer or explain what the deal is with TikTok to that one bookish friend. Maybe you’re one of those blended families who are still trying to figure out how to share your iPhone pictures with the Android users or vice-versa.

Never fear—we’ve compiled a list of posts that might come in handy when you’re called upon to be an unofficial IT admin to family or friends. Consider this your guide to being your family’s IT superhero. (Caution: If you do too good a job, they ~~may~~ will definitely keep coming to you).

How to Talk to Your Family About Backups
A Guide for the Family IT Manager
Keeping Passwords Secret and Your Data Safe
How to Back Up Your Data Once You’ve Downloaded It
Backing Up and Packing Up: It’s Time for School
How-To Guides to Back Up Your Syncing Services and Socials
- Email Accounts
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- TikTok
- Twitch
- Twitter
- Facebook
- YouTube Videos
- WhatsApp

Fortunately, unofficial IT admin is not a thankless job—prepare to have thanks showered upon you for making the internet work and quite possibly saving Thanksgiving. Don’t forget to set yourself up well for the future by referring them all to Backblaze Personal Backup. (Or, just gift it to them and then set it up, since you’re already helping.) Just make sure you get an extra serving of pumpkin pie out of the deal.

The post Happy Thanksgiving from Backblaze appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

What’s the Diff: Programs, Processes, and Threads

2022-11-23 Molly Clancy

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/whats-the-diff-programs-processes-and-threads/

A decorative image showing three computers with the words programs, processes, and threads displayed. In the center, there's a circle with the words what's the diff.

Editor’s Note

This post has been updated since it was originally published in 2017.

Programs, processes, and threads are all terms that relate to software execution, but you may not know what they really mean. Whether you’re a seasoned developer, an aspiring enthusiast, or you’re just wondering what you’re looking at when you open Task Manager on a PC or Activity Monitor on a Mac, learning these terms is essential for understanding how a computer works.

This post explains the technical concepts behind computer programs, processes, and threads to give you a better understanding of the functionality of your digital devices. With this knowledge, you can quickly diagnose problems and come up with solutions, like knowing if you need to install more memory for better performance. If you care about having a fast, efficient computer, it is worth taking the time to understand these key terms.

What Is a Computer Program?

A program is a sequence of coded commands that tells a computer to perform a given task. There are many types of programs, including programs built into the operating system (OS) and ones to complete specific tasks. Generally, task-specific programs are called applications (or apps). For example, you are probably reading this post using a web browser application like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari. Other common applications include email clients, word processors, and games.

The process of creating a computer program involves designing algorithms, writing code in a programming language, and then compiling or interpreting that code to transform it into machine-readable instructions that the computer can execute.

What Are Programming Languages?

Programming languages are the way that humans and computers talk to each other. They are formalized sets of rules and syntax.

A decorative image showing stylized C# code. — C# example of program code.

Compiled vs. Interpreted Programs

Many programs are written in a compiled language and created using programming languages like C, C++, C#. The end result is a text file of code that is compiled into binary form in order to run on the computer (more on binary form in a few paragraphs). The text file speaks directly to your computer. While they’re typically fast, they are also fixed compared to interpreted programs. That has positives and negatives: you have more control over things like memory management, but you’re platform dependent and, if you have to change something in your code, it typically takes longer to build and test.

There is another kind of program called an interpreted program. They require an additional program to take your program instructions and translate that to code for your computer. Compared with compiled languages, these types of programs are platform-independent (you just have to find a different interpreter, instead of writing a whole new program) and they typically take up less space. Some of the most common interpreted programming languages are Python, PHP, JavaScript, and Ruby.

Ultimately, both kinds of programs are run and loaded into memory in binary form. Programs have to run in binary because your computer’s CPU understands only binary instructions.

What Is Binary Code?

Binary is the native language of computers. At their most basic level, computers use only two states of electrical current—on and off. The on state is represented by 1 and the off state is represented by 0. Binary is different from the number system—base 10—that we use in daily life. In base 10, each digit position can be anything from 0 to 9. In the binary system, also known as base 2, each position is either a 0 or a 1.

A chart showing the numerals zero through nine shown rendered in base 10 and base 2 numeral systems.

Perhaps you’ve heard the programmer’s joke, “There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary, and those who don’t.”

How Are Computer Programs Stored and Run?

Programs are typically stored on a disk or in nonvolatile memory in executable format. Let’s break that down to understand why.

In this context, we’ll talk about your computer having two types of memory: volatile and nonvolatile. Volatile memory is temporary and processes in real time. It’s faster, easily accessible, and increases the efficiency of your computer. However, it’s not permanent. When your computer turns off, this type of memory resets.

Nonvolatile memory, on the other hand, is permanent unless deleted. While it’s slower to access, it can store more information. So, that makes it a better place to store programs. A file in an executable format is simply one that runs a program. It can be run directly by your CPU (that’s your processor). Examples of these file types are .exe in Windows and .app in Mac.

What Resources Does a Program Need to Run?

Once a program has been loaded into memory in binary form, what happens next?

Your executing program needs resources from the OS and memory to run. Without these resources, you can’t use the program. Fortunately, your OS manages the work of allocating resources to your programs automatically. Whether you use Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, or something else, your OS is always hard at work directing your computer’s resources needed to turn your program into a running process.

In addition to OS and memory resources, there are a few essential resources that every program needs.

Register. Think of a register as a holding pen that contains data that may be needed by a process like instructions, storage addresses, or other data.
Program counter. Also known as an instruction pointer, the program counter plays an organizational role. It keeps track of where a computer is in its program sequence.
Stack. A stack is a data structure that stores information about the active subroutines of a computer program. It is used as scratch space for the process. It is distinguished from dynamically allocated memory for the process that is known as the “heap.”

The main resources a program needs to run.

What Is a Computer Process?

When a program is loaded into memory along with all the resources it needs to operate, it is called a process. You might have multiple instances of a single program. In that situation, each instance of that running program is a process.

Each process has a separate memory address space. That separate memory address is helpful because it means that a process runs independently and is isolated from other processes. However, processes cannot directly access shared data in other processes. Switching from one process to another requires some amount of time (relatively speaking) for saving and loading registers, memory maps, and other resources.

Having independent processes matters for users because it means one process won’t corrupt or wreak havoc on other processes. If a single process has a problem, you can close that program and keep using your computer. Practically, that means you can end a malfunctioning program and keep working with minimal disruptions.

What Are Threads?

The final piece of the puzzle is threads. A thread is the unit of execution within a process.

A process can have anywhere from one thread to many.

When a process starts, it receives an assignment of memory and other computing resources. Each thread in the process shares that memory and resources. With single-threaded processes, the process contains one thread.

The difference between single thread and multi-thread processes.

In multi-threaded processes, the process contains more than one thread, and the process is accomplishing a number of things at the same time (to be more accurate, we should say “virtually” the same time—you can read more about that in the section below on concurrency).

Earlier, we talked about the stack and the heap, the two kinds of memory available to a thread or process. Distinguishing between these kinds of memory matters because each thread will have its own stack. However, all the threads in a process will share the heap.

Some people call threads lightweight processes because they have their own stack but can access shared data. Since threads share the same address space as the process and other threads within the process, it is easy to communicate between the threads. The disadvantage is that one malfunctioning thread in a process can impact the viability of the process itself.

How Threads and Processes Work Step By Step

Here’s what happens when you open an application on your computer.

The program starts out as a text file of programming code.
The program is compiled or interpreted into binary form.
The program is loaded into memory.
The program becomes one or more running processes. Processes are typically independent of one another.
Threads exist as the subset of a process.
Threads can communicate with each other more easily than processes can.
Threads are more vulnerable to problems caused by other threads in the same process.

Computer Process vs. Threads

Aspect	Processes	Threads
Definition	Independent programs with their own memory space.	Lightweight, smaller units of a process, share memory.
Creation Overhead	Higher overhead due to separate memory space.	Lower overhead as they share the same memory space.
Isolation	Processes are isolated from each other.	Threads share the same memory space.
Resource Allocation	Each process has its own set of system resources.	Threads share resources within the same process.
Independence	Processes are more independent of each other.	Threads are dependent on each other within a process.
Failure Impact	A failure in one process does not directly affect others.	A failure in one thread can affect others in the same process.
Sychronization	Less need from synchronization, as processes are isolated.	Requires careful synchronization due to shared resources.
Example Use Cases	Running multiple independent applications.	Multithreading within a single application for parallelism.
Memory Usage	Typically consumes more memory.	Consumes less memory compared to processes.

What About Concurrency and Parallelism?

A question you might ask is whether processes or threads can run at the same time. The answer is: it depends. In environments with multiple processors or CPU cores, simultaneous execution of multiple processes or threads is feasible. However, on a single processor system, true simultaneous execution isn’t possible. In these cases, a process scheduling algorithm is employed to share the CPU among running processes or threads, creating the illusion of parallel execution. Each task is allocated a “time slice,” and the swift switching between tasks occurs seamlessly, typically imperceptible to users. The terms “parallelism” (denoting genuine simultaneous execution) and “concurrency” (indicating the interleaving of processes over time to simulate simultaneous execution) distinguish between the two modes of operation, whether truly simultaneous or approximated.

How Google Chrome Uses Processes and Threads

To illustrate the impact of processes and threads, let’s consider a real-world example with a program that many of us use, Google Chrome.

When Google designed the Chrome browser, they faced several important decisions. For instance, how should Chrome handle the fact that many different tasks often happen at the same time when using a browser? Every browser window (or tab) may communicate with several servers on the internet to download audio, video, text, and other resources. In addition, many users have 10 to 20 browser tabs (or more…) open most of the time, and each of these tabs may perform multiple tasks.

Google had to decide how to handle all of these tasks. They chose to run each browser window in Chrome as a separate process rather than a thread or many threads. That approach brought several benefits.

Running each window as a process protects the overall application from bugs and glitches.
Isolating a JavaScript program in a process prevents it from using too much CPU time and memory and making the entire browser unresponsive.

That said, there is a trade-off cost to Google’s design decision. Starting a new process for each browser window has a higher fixed cost in memory and resources compared to using threads. They were betting that their approach would end up with less memory bloat overall.

Using processes instead of threads provides better memory usage when memory is low. In practice, an inactive browser window is treated as a lower priority. That means the operating system may swap it to disk when memory is needed for other processes. If the windows were threaded, it would be more difficult to allocate memory efficiently which ultimately leads to lost computer performance.

For more insights on Google’s design decisions for Chrome on Google’s Chromium Blog or on the Chrome Introduction Comic.

The screen capture below shows the Google Chrome processes running on a MacBook Air with many tabs open. You can see that some Chrome processes are using a fair amount of CPU time and resources (e.g., the one at the top is using 44 threads) while others are using fewer.

A screen capture of the Mac Activity Monitor. — Mac Activity Monitor displaying Google Chrome threads.

The Activity Monitor on the Mac (or Task Manager in Windows) on your system can be a valuable ally in fine-tuning your computer or troubleshooting problems. If your computer is running slowly or a program or browser window isn’t responding for a while, you can check its status using the system monitor.

In some cases, you’ll see a process marked as “Not Responding.” Try quitting that process and see if your system runs better. If an application is a memory hog, you might consider choosing a different application that will accomplish the same task.

Made It This Far?

We hope this Tron-like dive into the fascinating world of computer programs, processes, and threads has cleared up some questions.

At the start, we promised clarity on using these terms to improve performance. You can use Activity Monitor on the Mac or Task Manager on Windows to close applications and processes that are malfunctioning. That’s beneficial because it means you can end a malfunctioning program without the hassle of turning off your computer.

Still have questions? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

FAQ

1. What are computer programs?

Computer programs are sets of coded instructions written in programming languages to direct computers in performing specific tasks or functions. Ranging from simple scripts to complex applications, computer programs enable users to interact with and leverage the capabilities of computing devices.

2. What are computer processes?

Computer processes are instances of executing computer programs. They represent the active state of a running application or task. Each process operates independently, with its own memory space and system resources, ensuring isolation from other processes. Processes are managed by the operating system, and they facilitate multitasking and parallel execution.

3. What are computer threads?

Computer threads are smaller units within computer processes, enabling parallel execution of tasks. Threads share the same memory space and resources within a process, allowing for more efficient communication and coordination. Unlike processes, threads operate in a cooperative manner, sharing data and context, making them suitable for tasks requiring simultaneous execution.

4. What’s the difference between computer processes and threads?

Computer processes are independent program instances with their own memory space and resources, operating in isolation. In contrast, threads are smaller units within processes that share the same memory, making communication easier but requiring careful synchronization. Processes are more independent, while threads enable concurrent execution and resource sharing within a process. The choice depends on the application’s requirements, balancing isolation with the benefits of parallelism and resource efficiency.

5. What’s the difference between concurrency and parallel processing?

Concurrency involves the execution of multiple tasks during overlapping time periods, enhancing system responsiveness. It doesn’t necessarily imply true simultaneous execution but rather the interleaving of processes to create an appearance of parallelism. Parallel processing, on the other hand, refers to the simultaneous execution of multiple tasks using multiple processors or cores, achieving genuine parallelism. Concurrency emphasizes efficient task management, while parallel processing focuses on concurrent tasks executing simultaneously for improved performance in tasks that can be divided into independent subtasks.

The post What’s the Diff: Programs, Processes, and Threads appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Holiday Gift Guide 2022

2022-11-17

Post Syndicated from original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/holiday-gift-guide-2022/

The holidays: They start earlier every single year. Two weeks before Halloween, I started seeing gingerbread houses at the store. And you know someone really waited until the last minute to buy Halloween candy when they’re giving out candy canes. Gift giving is not my love language (I’m more of a quality time person), so finding the right things for my friends and family for the holidays fills me with a certain sense of angst. Luckily for me, I’m able to outsource some of the “what’s cool” contemplation to my coworkers, and you get to benefit! So without further ado, let’s get into the annual Backblaze Holiday Gift Guide for 2022 as proposed by a smorgasbord of Backblazers.

Tech and Gadgets

Synology NAS

Data. You know it. You love it. You have it. If you want a local device to help with your 3-2-1 backup strategy, this entry-level Synology NAS device is a great bet.

Insta 360 X3

Wide-angle and 360-degree videos are all the rage right now. If you have a shutterbug in your life, this is a great gift so they have something in their pocket, ready to capture the next viral video. After all, the best camera is the one you have with you.

Bose SoundLink Speaker

For the audiophile in your life that wants to throw a houseparty without having to set up a bunch of speaker wires, this speaker will fill the room and keep you groovin’. Or, for quieter types, it delivers your favorite murder podcast with sharp clarity.

Alfred

This app for the macOS helps you take control of your Mac and boosts your efficiency by allowing you to set up custom actions, text expansion, and hotkeys.

Valve Steam Deck

For the gamer who has everything, this is a mini computer you can travel with. It plays all of your Steam games, and it’s a great portable way to get through your backlog of games you’ve bought on sale and never had a chance to play. Although we know you’ll (or they’ll) just play Vampire Survivors the whole time.

Remarkable 2

Note taking. Has it been solved? The Remarkable 2 takes a run at making your notes and meetings easier to remember. This digital notepad is an easy way to take notes and sync them across devices.

Rocketbook

Another solution for note taking: The Rocketbook (we recommend red) allows you to use a washable pen on special paper, so you can take notes, scan them, send them to the location of your choosing, and then erase the page to start over.

Ember Mug (in red, obviously)

Everyone’s favorite, an Ember mug. This keeps your drinks warm, and most importantly, if you get the red one, (we recommend red, of course) you’ll be helping global pandemic relief!

Toys and Fun Stuff

The Office Lego Set

In case you don’t get enough of the office while at the office, you can make an office in your home office, and this one will have all your favorite pals from The Office! My home office is my kitchen table, but turning it into a Lego workshop is a much better use of space.

Woobles

What better gift to give than the gift of knowledge…of crocheting? I have purchased this and am in the middle of learning to crochet. It’s fun and more importantly, adorable.

The Ted Lasso Game

We believe in believe too, Ted! The Ted Lasso party game is a fun gift in that you can open it right up and start playing. This game is full of positive vibes, just like the show. Help your players be their best selves, and maybe learn a bit about your friends and family along the way.

Blipblox

Do you have or know someone that has a little DJ brewing at their house? This Blipblox is a music exploration tool for kids as young as three years old. Help them learn all about music and get some more synth into your life!

Flying Orb Ball Toys

This tiny orb ball spins and gently glides towards a target. That makes it easy to catch and a great way to build up hand-eye coordination.

Stuff You Can Wear

Birkenstocks

What do you get the person who has everything? Another pair of Birkenstocks. With winter approaching, sandals may not be top of mind, but these are part of the standard spring and summer kit that we see around our San Mateo office.

Allbirds

Sandals not your thing? How about shoes that you can snuggle and hug? These Allbirds are part of the fluff collection, made with fluffy wool. You’ll love ’em!

Bart Bridge Patch

A patch for every occasion, and location. You probably live somewhere, and that place probably has a patch made by Bart Bridge. Show some local pride, or gift your friends a hat with a patch of that one place where that one thing happened which you will never forget, but will also never discuss.

Food and Drink

Panettone

Some say that the way to a person’s heart is through their tummy. The Panettone comes highly recommended by tummies everywhere, and just look at all those seeds! The best part about this gift is that when you hand it over, you can make a strong case about opening it and sharing.

Smoked Fish

If you have not heard of Goldbelly, it’s a great way to order food from your favorite restaurants, no matter where they are. Want to impress your holiday guests? Get this whitefish and salmon salad platter from Zucker’s in New York.

Coffee Beans

Everyone loves a good stocking stuffer, and one that we don’t think gets enough credit is getting a nice bag of coffee beans. This coffee comes highly recommended and, best of all, it’s available on Amazon for your grinding, brewing, and sipping pleasure.

Fellowship Foundry Pewter Mug

For the nerdy folks in your life, a pewter drinking mug. If you’re sitting around a Dungeons & Dragons table, you want to make sure that you’re drinking the part.

Give the Gift of Backblaze

And of course, help your friends and family back up their data with Backblaze Computer Backup. They’ll thank you for helping make sure they never lose a file again.

Happy Gift-Giving From Backblaze

I hope this gift guide helped spark some creative ideas for the upcoming gift-giving season. Comment below and tell me what gifts you’ll be looking to pick up for your friends and loved ones this year (we won’t tell them). And stay tuned for a forthcoming Backblaze Book Guide—we had so many book submissions this year, we decided to start the first annual Bookblaze Roundup.

The post Holiday Gift Guide 2022 appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Education Unplugged: Google Ends Unlimited Storage for Schools

2022-11-15 Barry Kaufman

Post Syndicated from Barry Kaufman original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/education-unplugged-google-ends-unlimited-storage-for-schools/

For schools and universities, data storage is paramount. Staff, administrators, and educators, not to mention students, need a secure place to store files. Add to that the legacy accounts of alumni storing irreplaceable files from their education, and you have a massive need for storage.

For a long time, Google was happy to oblige. In 2006, the company launched Google Apps for Education (later G Suite for Education; now Google Workplace for Education), offering free unlimited storage for qualifying schools and districts. But when they’d reached market penetration—somewhere in the neighborhood of 83% of school districts according to EdWeek Research Center—they ended the unlimited storage policy many schools had come to rely on.

If you already know about Google’s policy change and are looking for a solution to save your data and your budget, getting started with Backblaze B2 is easy. Otherwise, read on to learn more about the change, what it may mean for you in the long-term, and a Backblaze partnership with Carahsoft that eases purchasing through local, state, and federal buying programs.

Office Hours Are Over—Google Ends Unlimited Storage for Educational Institutions

Google’s policy change took effect in July 2022, and many schools and universities had to find alternative storage solutions or change their internal storage policies to stay within the new limits. Under the terms of the new policy, Google offers a baseline of 100TB of pooled storage shared across all users.

The policy shift was spurred, Google says, because “as we’ve grown to serve more schools and universities each year, storage consumption has also rapidly accelerated. Storage is not being consumed equitably across—nor within—institutions, and school leaders often don’t have the tools they need to manage this.”

For some school districts, colleges, and universities, this policy shift meant having to reach out to alumni with the request that they back up all their own data. It also hit some already-strapped IT budgets particularly hard. Estimates vary, but depending on the size of the school and their data needs, they could be looking at anywhere up to an extra $70,000 a year in storage costs.

That’s a non-negligible fee for a service that has become increasingly vital for schools. We’ve written about how important cloud storage is for schools, but it’s worth reiterating here.

School is in Session

Not only will a secure cloud storage solution help protect school districts from threats of ransomware, it can also help maintain predictable operating expenses and create opportunities for collaboration through remote learning. In cases like Kansas’ Pittsburg State University, it helped keep data safe from natural disasters that abound in places like Tornado Alley. Pittsburg State implemented Backblaze B2 as their off-site backup in the event of disaster and used Object Lock functionality to safeguard data from ransomware.

Photo Credit: Pittsburg State University

The academic world is still adjusting to Google’s policy change. Stories have emerged of schools simply dropping Google and being forced to move data out of thousands of alumni accounts. A quick-fix solution to avoid Google’s new fee structure, this strategy is being undertaken without a clear answer to the question of how alumni can access their own data after the move. After all, how up to date are those alumni email lists?

A Google Alternative for Schools

School districts, colleges, and universities need to find a new, budget-friendly way forward. If you’re still struggling to find an alternative storage solution now that the bell has rung and Google has dismissed its free storage, Backblaze can help you find a new home on the cloud.

Backblaze B2 offers schools unlimited, pay-as-you-go storage at a fraction of the price of Google, enabling you to continue offering students and alumni the storage space they’ve come to expect. For colleges, universities, and school districts not buying through government purchasing programs, you can sign up for Backblaze B2 directly. We offer 10TB of storage free so that you can see if it works for you, but if you want to do a larger or customized proof of concept, reach out to our Sales team.

Accessing Backblaze Through Your Local, State, or Federal Buying Program

As we revealed during this year’s Educause conference, Backblaze has recently rolled out a partnership with Carahsoft aimed squarely at budget-conscious educational institutions. The partnership brings Backblaze services to educational institutions with a capacity-based pricing model that’s a fraction of the price of traditional cloud providers like Google. And it can be purchased through local, state, or federal buying programs. If you buy IT services for your district through a distributor, this solution could work for you. Visit the partnership announcement to learn more.

The post Education Unplugged: Google Ends Unlimited Storage for Schools appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Automate Your Digital Media Workflows with Backblaze and Telestream

2022-11-14 Elton Carneiro

Post Syndicated from Elton Carneiro original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/automate-your-digital-media-workflows-with-backblaze-and-telestream/

Streamlining your digital media workflow can make all the difference when it comes to your productivity—not to mention your budget. For folks in media, entertainment, post-production, corporate, education, government, or content creation, media workflows just got a little easier thanks to a partnership between Backblaze and Telestream.

Now joint customers can store transcoded media files on Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage as their origin store for delivery via Telestream’s Vantage CloudPort product. Read on to learn more about the partnership and what it means for you.

What Does Telestream Do?

Telestream, a Backblaze alliance partner, specializes in products that make it possible to get video content to any audience regardless of how it is created, distributed, or viewed. Throughout the entire digital media lifecycle, from capture to viewing, for consumers through high-end professionals, Telestream products range from desktop components and cross-platform applications to fully-automated, enterprise-class digital media transcoding, and workflow systems. Telestream enables users in a broad range of business environments to leverage the value of their video content.

How Does This Partnership Benefit Joint Customers?

Content is king, as they say, and being able to efficiently and effectively produce content and make it available to the audiences that are going to consume it is critical. This partnership benefits joint customers in a few key ways:

Customers can benefit from cost savings in the cloud: Backblaze is a fraction of the cost of diversified cloud providers.
By storing transcoded media files in the cloud, customers can leverage other services like QC in the cloud to ensure quality is up to their high standards.
Customers can leave on-premises storage in the past and move to the cloud to leverage the cloud’s infinite scalability and parallelism.
Making the move to the cloud also reduces the risk of having a single point of failure on premises.

“Telestream and Backblaze are driven by a shared mission to empower our customers and help them make their businesses more efficient. With this collaboration, we can meet our customers where their content is stored and apply Telestream’s best in class media processing tools.”
—Tim MacGregor, Senior Director, Head of Strategy and Product Development, Telestream Cloud

Getting Started With Backblaze B2 and Telestream

Ready to do more with your data affordably? Check out the Telestream documentation for connecting storage via the generic S3 protocol, and contact our Sales team today to get started.

The post Automate Your Digital Media Workflows with Backblaze and Telestream appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Meet Our Independent Board Members

2022-11-11 Ramya Ramamoorthy

Post Syndicated from Ramya Ramamoorthy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/meet-our-independent-board-members/

As a Backblaze reader, you may be familiar with our executive team—many of them were in the news, especially when we went public back in November 2021. You may have also come across some of our employees on our LinkedIn page (we’re hiring, by the way!).

But you may not be familiar with our independent board members. These experienced executive leaders play a key role in the success of Backblaze. Today, we’re excited to introduce our board members so you can learn more about them and how they’ve helped make Backblaze the company it is today.

Who Are Our Independent Board Members?

At Backblaze, we have four independent board members who work closely with the executive leadership team. As board members, they occupy a role that’s intentionally separate from our employees and founders. They provide an independent viewpoint and advise the executive team on topics such as strategy, operations, and governance. Two of our executive team members are also on the board, but what makes the independent board members different is that they don’t work for the company as employees.

Jocelyn Carter-Miller

Jocelyn grew up on the South Side of Chicago. During her childhood, she was surrounded by many successful role models. She grew up in a segregated Black community called Chatham Avalon. It’s the same community where Muhammad Ali, the Johnsons from Johnsons Publishing Company, Mahalia Jackson, and Jesse Jackson also lived and worked. The first black MBA graduate from the University of Chicago (the same university that Jocelyn attended for her MBA) lived on the same block as Jocelyn. Being a part of a Black community where everyone was accepted, supported, and loved gave her a strong sense of self-confidence and self-worth.

She also attended racially and economically diverse elementary and high schools in the Hyde Park community. This exposure to White, Latino, Black, and internationally diverse students gave her perspectives into the value of different cultures—and showed her that success had many different faces.

Today, Jocelyn serves on the Backblaze board as the Lead Independent Director. She also serves as the Chair of the Compensation Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.

Jocelyn began her career as a Board Member when an organization called Catalyst reached out to her. Catalyst is a nonprofit that supports diverse candidates in ascending to senior corporate leadership. They contacted her about joining a financial services board. At that point, Jocelyn had a lot on her plate—she was the Chief Marketing Officer at a Fortune 500 company as well as a wife and mother of two young daughters. Although she was not interested in pursuing this opportunity due to her demanding schedule, Catalyst still convinced her to at least do an interview. A couple of months after her interview, Catalyst let her know that she got the role. Though taking on the role was going to be a stretch, she knew it was about more than simply serving on a board—it was about setting an example for representation at the very top. She decided to join the board, and since then, she has served on five corporate boards including various Fortune 500 boards.

While Jocelyn was a Board Member at Arlo Technologies, the CEO Matthew McRae told her about the opportunity to join the Backblaze board. Jocelyn decided to meet with Gleb and the rest of the leadership team. She says of that initial meeting: “They were all so enthusiastic and they seemed to have such high integrity about what they were doing, their vision, the culture, and the way they treated their employees.” Of her time on the board so far, Jocelyn continues, “I’m glad that I did. It has been fun.”

Jocelyn explains that what makes her unique is that she brings a distinctive perspective to the boardroom as a Black woman who grew up on the South Side of Chicago. She understands what it’s like being a person of color in an environment that may not welcome or accept all of who she is. “I try to use my cultural experience as well as my gender experience to drive for an environment that allows equity for everyone, one that feels inclusive, accepting, and offers you both the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities to perform at high levels and rewards and promotes you for that,” she said. She always tries to drive and push an inclusive, equitable, and fair culture for everyone.

Jocelyn is a creative individual. She loves art and has a strong passion for interior design. Most recently, she worked with one of her friends and former colleagues on an app called Seek and Find Design that helps customers save time and money locating beautiful and inexpensive decor, while also allowing them to enhance their design sense with a community of like-minded people.

Earl Fry

Earl grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii. He worked for a couple of years in public accounting as a CPA, after which he moved to the Bay Area to earn his MBA at Stanford University. Once he graduated, he became intrigued by the tech industry and has been a part of it ever since.

At Backblaze, he serves as an independent board member. He sits on all of the Company’s committees—the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Compensation Committee, and Audit Committee.

He started his career as a board member back in 2005. At the time, he was the CFO and Head of Operations at Informatica. One of the board members at Informatica founded his own SaaS company and thought Earl would be a great candidate to join the board. A few years later, he was asked to join the board of a regional bank based in Honolulu, Hawaii. The company was looking for someone who had financial experience for a public company as well as ties to Hawaii. Since Earl grew up in Hawaii and most of his family still lived there, he wanted to take this opportunity as a way to help the local business community.

Thirty years prior to joining the Backblaze board, Earl worked with Barbara Nelson, one of our other board members. Fast forward to when Backblaze was looking for another board member, and Barbara recommended Earl. After Earl spoke with Gleb, he was struck by how different and special Backblaze was: “Having been in Silicon Valley for so long, you get a little jaded sometimes in terms of how companies are founded and how things are put together. What struck me about Backblaze is that the team is so real and genuine. I just have a ton of respect for how the Founders pulled it all together.”

Growing up in Hawaii and attending public school there, Earl met people from all different backgrounds in terms of race, gender, or socioeconomic status. This made him aware of diversity as well as the biases that people may have toward certain groups. He brings this awareness into his work as a board member where he is well-positioned to be able to identify biases and work within the system to constructively foster change.

In his spare time, Earl likes to go fishing, practice rockhounding, and go fossil hunting. He picked up these hobbies as stress relievers. He calls himself a “closet paleontologist.” When he needs a break, he loves going out to the desert to disconnect from life’s demands and connect to nature and himself. He also enjoys gardening, drinking and collecting wine, and spending time with his family.

Evelyn D’An

Evelyn is the Chair of the Audit Committee at Backblaze. She also serves as a member on the Company’s Compensation Committee. She was raised in the Bronx and both of her parents are from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. As a kid, she enjoyed math and was fortunate to attend The Bronx High School of Science, a magnet high school specializing in math and science. She attended SUNY – Albany, where she gained exposure to the business side of math and decided to focus her career on accounting. She joined Ernst & Young, one of the largest public accounting firms, and worked there for 18 and a half years. During her tenure, she became the first Hispanic female audit partner in the U.S. Southeast region.

Evelyn had already left Ernst & Young to start her own consulting business when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted in 2002, which aimed to prevent fraudulent financial reporting from businesses. At the time, there were a number of highly public misstatements of financial reports. The world of public accounting was turned upside down, and this also led to a strong need for financial expertise in the boardroom. Evelyn had the skills, experience, and credentials that companies were looking for on their boards. She got her first board position through her network in 2006, and has served on many boards over the past 16 years.

Over the years, she has seen an increase in the number of women in the boardroom. However, she believes that there needs to be more work done in getting underrepresented groups into the boardroom. Still, she believes there is hope: “One of the biggest supporters to encouraging diversity in the boardroom are the large investment banks of the world who are calling out their own portfolio companies and saying that if they don’t have diverse candidates on their board, then they will no longer invest in those companies,” she said. The pressure also comes from employees and candidates, which has made employers initiate or rethink their diversity and inclusion efforts.

Evelyn served as a Co-Chair for BoardNext, an organization that works with aspiring female directors to earn their first board seat. She loves helping her network find various board opportunities. She believes that diversity is so important in the boardroom because it allows everyone to bring in a different perspective. For example, if a company serves international customers, then having people from different cultures helps bring discussions to the boardroom about how they can serve customers in those cultures, what their needs are, and how they can share our value proposition with them.

Evelyn loves to travel, exercise (she’s almost at her 200th SoulCycle ride!), and spend time with her family and six-year-old grandson. Video chatting with him always makes her day better. She is also fortunate enough to still have her mom with her—who lives in the building next door—and they talk daily. Evelyn also enjoys cooking with friends and is working towards expanding her cooking skills beyond the basics. She’d love to learn to make Mediterranean food and sushi!

Barbara Nelson

Barbara grew up all around the world as her father was in the military. She was born in Japan and after that, she lived in many different places within the U.S. and Canada. She went to eight different schools before attending college.

Like Evelyn, Barbara always loved math, and she got her degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. As one of the only few women in engineering, she saw early on the diverse voice that a woman brings and the challenges in having that voice be heard.

Barbara started her journey as a board member at ACE Technologies. She happened to know one of the venture capitalists who invested in the company and he encouraged her to join the board. Since then, she has served on a total of five corporate boards, and held the title of CEO on two of them.

Barbara came across the opportunity to join Backblaze through a connection she’s had for 30 years. Gleb had reached out to a trusted colleague looking for a board member and explained the background he was looking for in his ideal candidate. Barbara came recommended, and she and Gleb started a conversation about joining the Backblaze board. “I was extremely impressed by how Gleb and the founders had built such a great culture, while delivering impressive and consistent growth with only $3M of outside funding,” said Barbara. Today, Barbara is the Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee. In addition, she is a member of the Audit Committee.

Barbara explained that as a woman, she strives to look out and advocate for other underrepresented groups and points of view. She believes that having diverse people in the boardroom helps bring a lens that looks out for inclusion.

Barbara has a passion for traveling, and she’s been to over 90 countries. She just got back from Brazil where she was tracking jaguars and tropical birds. In the future, she wants to go back and visit some of the countries that she’s been to and explore other parts of those places. In particular, she’s interested in going back to Australia to explore the Kimberley region and Western Australia. She also plays keyboard and sings for two bands—one is a classic rock band and the other is a church band. She said that if she could switch places with someone for their talent, it would be Yuja Wang, a classical pianist, or Rihanna during one of her performances. “What fun to be a REAL rock star for a day!”

So You Want to Become a Board Member at a Company? Here’s How.

All of the independent board members have had different experiences and journeys, but the one thing they all had in common was that they earned their opportunities through their networks. Here’s some of their advice on how to become a board member, if you’re interested.

Before becoming a part of a board, Evelyn recommends thinking through your “why.” Being a board member is a lot of work, so it’s important to think about your reason behind starting this journey. The second step that Evelyn suggests is thinking about what companies you’d like to work with. Consider companies and industries that align with your values, what’s important to you, and how you could potentially bring the most value to that particular organization. Lastly, she recommends going deep into corporate governance. A potential board member would need to have all their education, their network with various organizations, and knowledge about hot topics in the industry.

Earl’s advice is simple: do a really good job at work. “You never know who’s watching or where your connections will come into play,” he said. “It helps to become an expert in a couple of areas and to have very deep skills. It’s just as important to be seen as it is to get a broad understanding of how different parts of the business work together and how they are interrelated and impact each other.” He also emphasized the importance of being a good communicator and team member because what makes a board member valuable is their ability to communicate and listen well. He further explained, “Remember that the fundamental job of a board member is to be a fiduciary. The best ways that you can do that are to listen, advise, and influence.”

So how does one build their network? Evelyn suggests building your network both inside and outside of work. Internally, it’s great to connect with peers and form a network that way. Outside of work, Evelyn recommends joining organizations that are focused on corporate governance and attending events that are related to that subject. For example, you could become a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors or the Women Corporate Directors, both of which are organizations that Jocelyn and Evelyn are active members of. She also encourages people to have different types of networks because you never know where your next opportunity is going to come from. She said, “If you want something, you must say it, you must speak it, and you must share it with all of your networks.”

Being a board member is a challenging yet rewarding position. It allows one to have influence on not only a company, but also others like the shareholders, employees, customers, and the world at large.

Thank You to Our Board

We appreciate all that our board members do—Backblaze wouldn’t be where it is today without them! Thank you to our board members for helping our readers get to know them better and for bringing their diverse perspectives and knowledge to help make Backblaze a more successful company.

The post Meet Our Independent Board Members appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

5 Compelling Reasons You Should Go IPO

2022-11-10

Post Syndicated from original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/5-compelling-reasons-you-should-go-ipo/

We took Backblaze public one year ago tomorrow. Our IPO was a great day and the realization of 14 years of hard work by our team. Since then, we’ve executed on our plans, hit our targets, and continued to grow our team and our revenue. And yet, the markets have been tough sledding. For newly-public tech companies like us, as well as many of our peers, stock values have decreased by ~70% from their peak values last year. It’s hard for shareholders, employees, and the market.

Obviously I wish the last 10 months would have gone differently in the markets, who doesn’t? But when people ask me, (which happens a lot) “Do you still think the IPO was a good idea?” There’s no question in my mind that it was one of the best business decisions we’ve made at Backblaze.

In fact, the more that I think about our experience of taking the company public, the more I believe that the IPO should be part of every entrepreneur and business leader’s consideration set. A perception has developed that there are magical financial benchmarks that forbid some companies from listing, but we went public at a point in the evolution of our business when a lot of experts told us we couldn’t. We may have faced some headwinds others didn’t, but I’m convinced that the IPO isn’t just for folks with over $300m in revenue who’ve raised hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital.

So, in keeping with our commitment to transparency about our business and some of the interesting, tough, and exciting stuff we’ve been through—long-time readers will remember my blog about almost getting acquired—I’ve decided to write about our IPO journey: What sucked, what didn’t, what shocked us, and what we learned. Along the way, I’ll share everything I can—metrics, worksheets, planning decks, and more. Not because I think we deserve a pat on the back or to celebrate what we did, but for two bigger purposes:

I can remember what it feels like to be an early stage entrepreneur thinking that the only path to making the company you built successful was to seek out restrictive venture funding or seek out an acquisition. I want to offer folks—whether you’re considering starting a business or have already built one with tens of millions in revenue—that there is another path to consider. While doing an IPO isn’t right for everyone, I think considering an IPO, and positioning your business to go that way if the opportunity arises, is sound strategy.
I believe that democratizing the IPO process will be healthier for businesses, markets, and investors. And I’m not the first: Bill Hambrecht is well known for his efforts to open IPOs to broader audiences as he did with companies like Google and Overstock.com. Tech is all about disrupting unnecessary complexity, and going public is more complex than an AWS invoice. In the mid-nineties, there were more than 8,000 publicly traded companies. By this September there were nearly 2,000 fewer companies listed, even after the boom we saw in 2020 and 2021. I don’t think that’s a good thing.

This blog series will be for everyone from those of you dreaming up your first idea, to startups still in stealth mode, to the thousands of companies with revenue in the tens of millions.

And if there’s anything I talk about here that’s confusing or that you want to hear more about, please ask in the comments. I’ll try to cover it in a future post.

Why Listen to Us?

Hot takes on building startups and raising funding are a dime a dozen—so if you’re skeptical, I get it. What we’ll share here is partially based on the experience we had building two prior technology companies, raising multiple rounds of venture capital, and successfully selling them through acquisition. However, more uniquely: We founded and essentially bootstrapped Backblaze all the way up to our IPO (before 2021 we had only taken $3M in outside funding). Even CNBC noted that we took a unique path to market, and yet with $65 million in recurring revenue in 2020, we made a successful public offering and raised over $100M in funding to continue growing our business. We’ve made this journey ourselves, we did it recently, and—in the spirit of transparency—we’re going to share the stories behind it.

Why an IPO Should Be in Your Business Consideration Set

Why should IPO readiness (the process of setting up your business to go public) and actually going public be in your playbook? I’m going to explore this concept deeply over the course of this series, but I’ll pause here to tell you the five most compelling reasons to be IPO ready, along with a few proof points from our own experience.

Build to Last: Starting and growing a company is hard. If you’re doing it, it’s probably because you’re passionate about solving some problems in the world. To be successful, you had to care about your vision, your product, your customers, and your team. If your company ends up acquired, the unique entity you created will vaporize. Taking your company public provides a path to building and running the company for the long-term, possibly outliving you.
Funding With the Right Strings Attached: Raising funding in an IPO requires selling a portion of your company, just as in any venture funding. The difference, however, is that in an IPO the equity you sell is common shares—everyone gets the same shares on the same terms. In private fund raises, the company sells “preferred shares” to investors which typically come with a variety of special rights giving investors the ability to have extra control over the company, get extra equity in the company, prevent the company from raising money from other investors, and more. Raising funding in an IPO is the ultimate “clean” fundraise.
Building a Real Business: If you’re building with an aim to be acquired, it’s nearly impossible to not establish a culture at the company where everyone is focused on “dumping” the business. By aiming for an IPO, it drives the mindset to build for sustainability. You’re more likely to create a business that can achieve profitability, scale, growth, and deliver value over the long haul. Also, going through the actual process of IPO readiness, along with the process of feeding your financials through a meat grinder of ROI modeling and outcome driven planning—both during and after the IPO—means you will position your business for even greater resilience going forward.
Credibility: When the five Backblaze founders talked about IPOs back in the day in a tiny apartment in Palo Alto, it felt like we were trying on our dad’s pants. Sure, we knew some companies went public—but it didn’t feel like something that was really accessible (even for a room of people that scaled and sold multiple companies). But we’re not the only people who feel this way: “Public” signals a level of accomplishment and evolution that’s hard to achieve as a private company. Being able to achieve an IPO proves a business’s capacity to operate and excel under intense pressure and scrutiny. And if anyone is uncertain about how we’re doing, they can just go grab the last 10-K to see our results.
Liquidity: This one is simple. If you’re not public, you can’t sell your stock on the open market. Once the company is public, you and your employees (and existing shareholders) can sell their shares if they so choose. It also provides the freedom and flexibility for each individual to make that decision on their own. Rather than having to sell the company (wherein usually everyone is forced to sell all their shares), this allows one person to decide to stay “all-in” and keep all their shares, another one to sell theirs, and a third to sell just a few shares.

What’s Next?

If you’re intrigued, this is really only the tip of the iceberg. In future posts, I will dig into everything from the nitty gritty tactics—like how to build a board, how to build a banking syndicate (twice], and how to write an S-1—to the bigger stories—like how years of planning can hinge on a few hours of work, or why “testing the waters” might be better named “getting thrown to the sharks”.

Rest assured: If you think you’re not interested in going public, everything I share will have as much to do with how you build a better business that you can grow over time as it will with the guts of the IPO process. I hope it’s useful, and if there’s anything you hope I’ll address or anything specific that you’d like to learn more about, let me know in the comments.

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