The importance of backing up data (not just Trainz)...

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Hi Trainzers,

I know this is quite often mentioned on here, but in light of new ransomware information I've seen on the BBC News website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34765484) it's even more crucial to keep backups of your data.

It looks like there's a particularly nasty (and badly coded) variant/update of ransomware called Power Worm. Usually, when ransomware affects a system there is normally a way of getting the decryption key(s). Unfortunately, with this one, due to bad coding, it looks like it destroys the keys so that the information cannot be decrypted, and the only way of getting the data back is restoring from a backup.

I'm not sure what method it's using to get around, but it's something to watch out for as it's also affecting web servers as well.

Shane

I agree backing up data is the most important thing. The system can become infected with malware, but the operating system and installed applications can easily, though sometimes inconveniently, be replaced. The precious commodity, called personal data, in our case which also is the Trainz data, should be guarded and backed up regularly to ensure that such a calamity doesn't take out the personal data as well.

Data encryption, whether by malware or on purpose, throws in another level of concern because even if the data loss is caused by a hardware failure, such as a failed hard disk, the disk sectors cannot be recovered. This became an issue when I worked at Oracle. They moved everyone to the new McAfee (yuck) Endpoint Encryption, which could cause a system to become unbootable if the encryption software became corrupted in some fashion. This could happen if the user turned off the system too soon, or let their battery run down on their laptop. It was as unstable if not worse than the T:ANE database! We had to go through great, painful, hoops to recover the data from a system if that was possible.

John

Agreed there John. As you say the operating system can be reinstalled but the personal data can be lost forever.

Shane