In 2014, as Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act was due to take effect in July, Barracuda Networks framed cloud data protection around three considerations: easy and secure data access, efficient backup with cloud storage, and secure file sync and share. The argument rested on a simple premise: more workloads and data were moving to the cloud, and that would draw attacks once aimed mainly at on-premise infrastructure.
The regulatory backdrop was tightening. The Act’s main data protection rules required any cloud provider receiving personal data transferred from Singapore to protect it to a standard the law accepted.
Why did cloud data protection become urgent in 2014?
Outsourcing and cloud adoption were pushing data security and availability higher up risk and compliance agendas. Recruitment firm Robert Half found that 60% of the Singapore banks and financial services companies it surveyed were raising IT security spending compared with 2013, against a global average of 50%.
Stella Tang, Robert Half’s Singapore managing director, attributed this to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Technology Risk Management guidelines, issued in 2013. Among other things, they required financial institutions to apply IT controls that protect customer information from unauthorised access or disclosure.
How should remote access be handled?
The first consideration was access that is simple to manage. Mobile staff wanted to reach web applications and files from almost any device without a full VPN client being installed and supported. Barracuda pitched its SSL VPN for this, with options such as one-time passwords sent to mobile phones, security questions, and integration with hardware tokens and RADIUS authentication.
Continuity was part of the case. An IT manager at the Queensland Art Gallery said in 2014 that the product let staff keep working remotely during floods. An IT administrator at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, who ran a small IT department, valued the browser-based login and the way network resources opened in a couple of clicks.
Barracuda also applied multi-factor authentication to its own Barracuda Cloud Control, a single-browser interface for managing its backup, web security and email security services and appliance control.
Barracuda later retired the SSL VPN. The company states that the product reached end-of-life and end-of-support on 1 December 2020. Sales and renewals ceased. An appliance with an active Energize Updates subscription would keep working, but it would receive no further bug fixes, security fixes or firmware releases.
What should backup and cloud storage offer?
The second consideration was flexibility and efficiency. Barracuda Backup used cloud storage to take older backups off the appliance, easing demand on the local cache and allowing longer retention. An IT director at The Thomas Kinkade Company said in 2014 that this cut cost and risk while supporting longer retention policies.
Ease of restoration was the other selling point. A senior infrastructure director at marine chemicals and equipment supplier Drew Marine, which had deployed eight Barracuda Backup appliances within three years, described restoring a file from a portal in under five minutes after a call from Japan.
Cloud LiveBoot was the recovery feature highlighted. It let critical virtual machines boot from the backup appliance or from the cloud if primary servers or storage failed. A systems administrator at Winthrop University said in 2014 that it reduced the risk of primary storage failure without building redundant infrastructure. Barracuda also sold the product as a bundled subscription, Barracuda Backup-as-a-Service, worldwide.
Barracuda’s own documentation still describes Cloud LiveBoot. It lets VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines boot in the Barracuda Cloud, and Barracuda says it is available to customers who have Instant Replacement and a Cloud Storage subscription. The vendor’s materials say the guest operating system typically begins booting within a minute of a request, and that a booted VM is reachable for up to seven days by default. They also position it for testing backups without touching production systems.
Where do file sync and share fit?
The third consideration was a file sync and share platform that lets staff access, sign and share business data safely. Barracuda Copy offered policy-based controls to allow or revoke a user’s ability to access and share files, or to join shares outside the company.
Integrations extended it. SignNow added electronic signing of documents in the same place, Redbooth automated workflows such as collecting forms, approvals and signatures, and Kloudless let users save files from email directly into a Copy account.
Barracuda’s 2014 example of the three considerations in practice was InMusic, a DJ equipment maker. Its IT team deployed eight Barracuda Backup appliances globally in under 16 months, with branch office users running Barracuda Backup Servers on their sites while central IT kept most control. Its system administrator valued control over who could see which web site, activity logging, and the ability to restore deleted files from a mobile phone.