Allison interviews Gaidar Magdanurov from Acronis about their multi-platform backup solutions. Acronis offers a single solution for backup, disaster recovery and file sync & share services. Using Acronis’s personal backup software, you can safeguard PCs, Macs, iOS and Android devices as well as your social media accounts. Acronis will also actively defend your data against ransomware attacks with backup that detects, stops and reverses unauthorized encryption. The setting is Pepcom at the Mirage hotel. Learn more at https://www.acronis.com/en-us/
Using a Screen Reader? click here
I see some confusion on the Acronis website. It’s said that the user can encrypt data locally and in transit and on the Acronis Cloud.
Yeah.
However, in the “consumer” EULA is this language:
“You acknowledge that Acronis or Acronis affiliates may use servers and other equipment to provide the Software or Services that are located in the United States or in other countries where litigants, law enforcement, courts, and other agencies of the government may have the right to access data stored within their jurisdictions upon terms and conditions provided by local law, and that, as a result, they may gain access to your backup data as provided by applicable local law.”
Which IMPLIES Acronis can decrypt the data stored in its cloud.
Best I could tell from the site’s description of ransomware protection, it is the running Acronis software which is protected from attack. Acronis also protects the Windows Master Boot Record, which implies it loads in Windows (as does Kaspersky) ahead of Windows, think rootkit. Been a couple of years since I gave up Windows, but the Kasperksy approach seems actually to undermine Microsoft’s security scheme.
One sure way to protect your Mac data against ransomware (goes for any OS, actually) is to have a total system backup (Carbon Copy, Super Duper, etc.) on a drive this is powered off and disconnected from the system. You’d need to rotate two such drives for certainty, given that evil malware could arrive as you’re updating the backup.
I went to CES last year but I didn’t see Acronis there. I was running Acronis True Image, but for some reason my backups keep grabbing bad sectors from my drive. Not sure if anyone else has this issue or not. I’ve been now using
Avitres Snapshot Backup instead and very happy. I’m excited for CES this year!