QNAP Qlocker Ransomware
QNAP Qlocker Ransomware launched a hostile campaign against QNAP NAS and has caused inconvenience and data loss to the users of QNAP NAS. We have encountered customers who got their files encrypted, and we understand how they felt.
At AMC, we face customers’ issues with computer problems, network issues, virus attacks, as well as data loss due to hardware failures or software corruption issues all the time. We take time to understand and hope to give our SMEs some answers to their loss of intangible assets, time and productivity.
Refer to QNAP article, from the time of receiving the report of customers being attacked on 19 March 2021 to releasing a malware removal on 26 April 2021, taking about 1 month and 7 days. However, we do know that users may have been affected before 19 March 2021, as how many of us do officially lodge a report with QNAP?
However, what we address here is:
1. Is it safe to use QNAP?
2. How can we safe guard from future attacks?
We have been recommending QNAP to our SMEs, and we still do. QNAP is just a good and affordable solution for SMEs. But the question behind all these, do you know how to manage NAS? Many wants to buy a solution, setup and forget. But can you ever forget as we are constantly being targeted? This is the same question, can Singapore do without Singapore Police Force? Of course not!
Back to addressing the question, is it safe to use QNAP or other NAS brands? We know that whatever we do, there are definitely risks especially when most devices are exposed to internet. So it is not a matter of QNAP or any other brands of NAS. It is the knowledge of usage and deployment. Users must take ownership of their solutions since they pay it one time off.
At AMC, we do provide maintenance and support service. We can still support your NAS issues, updates, and restoration. But before you do, please have a session with us and highlight your concerns. If data is your concern, let’s plan to have a contingency. No products or solutions will ever be 100% safe. But we can deal with it to reduce our risk and exposure.
How can we safe guard from future attacks or failure?
From the above article, the key recommendation is back up. We are often sold to the idea of redundancy. But what SME needed most is backup. You need to back up your data. There is no shortcut. Redundancy is not backup!
Moving forward, here are some recommendations:
1. If you want to own your NAS, please remember to actively check the health
2. Backup your data, test if your data backup is active and you can restore when you needed them. Detached the backup at all times, only connecting when you are doing your backup
3. Engage service provider if you do not have the time or expertise. Speak to us with your concern in mind, ensure we are able to cover your concerns before you engage us!
AMC do provide our managed solutions for data storage and sharing. With our solutions, you do not need to care about your data, as we will do backups. However, we cannot guarantee the data integrity or in major event (as even as US defence can be hacked, who are we to claim we are safe?). It is still your duty to test our backup with our professional team occasionally with request to restore the data where necessary. Here we recommend our SME NextCloud Solution for your convenience.
Other measure recommended is to look seriously into network security, especially with Covid-19 situation, we understand working from home requires you to open your office network to external access. Here we recommend our SME VPN solution.
QNAP Qlocker Ransomware cannot be 100% addressed as we have no control over QNAP or other brands of solutions. But we can take control of security as well as data backup.
Call us for a comprehensive discussion on your concerns, we will address your issues with simple solutions that you can trust and rely on. In AMC, we keep IT simple for SMEs!
