Darrin Stivala

Darrin is Vice President of Operations for DefendX Software.
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Recent Posts

How Many Junk Files are Killing Your Primary Storage Space?

It’s difficult for an administrator to get control of network storage when space begins to dwindle. Users see storage space as an unlimited supply for all of their files including videos, music, and personal executables.

When primary storage space is exhausted, the administrator can go the expensive route and buy new space, or he can assess storage usage and make the right changes to clear junk files from the network.

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How Much of Your Storage Contains Malware?

Hacking is big money for the right data. Hackers have moved on from simple email worms and now target businesses. Their goal is to collect enough data to sell it on the black market. One way they can collect massive amounts of data is to drop malware on network storage. The malware has the ability to spread like wildfire and the damage to the corporation is immense.

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Are Your File Audit Trails Sufficient for HIPAA Compliance?

Several regulatory bodies require file audit trails. HIPAA regulations require healthcare organizations to have extensive security on network files and data including audit trails that specify who accessed and edited data.

If you run any type of organization that requires healthcare data from your customers, you need to have the right audit trails in place.

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A Brief Overview of Stubs and Data Archiving

If you're new to file archiving, you probably aren't familiar with the term "stub." A stub is a file that points to a file, similar to the concept of a shortcut on a desktop. Instead of pointing to an active file, a stub points to an archived file that has been moved to a new location.

When you start archiving files in an enterprise environment -- which you should do to keep network storage capacity optimized -- you will work with stubs.

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Is Your Network Protected from Insider Threats?

Insider threats are one of the leading causes for data leaks. These threats are why your private organization’s data could be exposed to competitors or outsiders who want to sell it on the dark web.  

Insider threats include disgruntled employees or even just an innocent employee who accidentally fell for a phishing scam and loaded malware on a workstation. 

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Do You Manage Your Data or Does Your Data Manage You?

It’s an interesting question because it involves a simple juxtaposition of four words. How important can that possibly be?

However, the order of those words is critical when we examine the answers in the light of IT budgets capital (CapEx) and operational expenses (OPEX) regarding their relationship to technology costs and return on investment (ROI).

Yes, the business of storing and retrieving data has entered the business realm of having to prove its worth to the corporate enterprise. It’s a rather unorthodox arrangement to figuring out ROI but it does reveal some insightful facts about the cost and value of doing file data storage the right way.

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Are Your Files Safe from Snooping?

Each year, companies spend millions in cyber security threat protection and response. A recent Ponemon study shows that cyber crime increased by 19% in 2015. The average annual loss for companies is almost $8 million, and threats continue to increase every day. The biggest threat to corporations is their employees, which means more effort should be placed in insider network monitoring rather than more effort on external threats.

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Fight Junk Files From Taking Over Your Network

Storage scalability remains one of the more difficult challenges for administrators. As your company grows, so does the number of files and data stored on your network. Given that 40% of files are completely inactive, adding more storage space to account for unused junk files is a waste of money and time. It’s also a risk factor for outages. Wasted storage can quickly get out of control, and your company can wind up paying the price. 

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File Data Storage Capacity: User Awareness Reduces Risk

Users with unlimited file data storage capacity really don’t understand the impact they have on the network. They see a network as a place for storing any number of files, including personal ones. In fact, it’s not unusual for an administrator to find all kinds of file data on network resources, including MP3, MOV, or even Torrent files. These personal files eat away at your primary storage space and increase the risk of an outage. But did you know that you can leverage user quotas to create awareness and educate users about the risks associated with poor file storage management? 

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File Data Storage Taken for Granted Impacts Your Bottom Line

It all comes down to creating a disciplined way of thinking about file data storage.

You may want to keep all information at your fingertips as your project is active, so you create a simple nomenclature and folder structure.  Then you’ll begin sticking files in each of those folders and subfolders. You might even hoard your file data. File backup and tiering strategy may be a passing thought, but in reality, you ignore it and push to be “done later;” thinking that cost is relative and you have room on your SSD flash drive … and so it goes. You may conveniently forget how much the company invests in data infrastructure and what it costs to expand it in response to the user demand.

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