SMB Business Continuity vendor Datto released DattoDrive, based on OwnCloud

[YeOldeStonecat]

Disruptively low pricing
Secure in Dattos data centers
https://dattodrive.com/?registerCode=ZHluYW1pY3x8MjgyNw==

For a lot of us that provide IT services to SMBs...there's been a void between affordable products that did not do the job well, and good, secure products that came with high prices.

Datto took care of that problem with this new service. Free for the first year, after that..10 bucks a month per TB. Unlimited users. They based the client software on OwnCloud.

 

[RMerlin]

I can't help but wonder how some of these can be even remotely profitable businesses.

 

[System Error Message]

I can't help but wonder how some of these can be even remotely profitable businesses.

When it comes to business and security the traditional method of having your own servers, IT team rather than using an external service worked best. They probably profit by selling information. Never put private information on a server or service owned by someone else. If you want a secure backup than put the hard drives in the bank vault.

 

[stevech]

. Never put private information on a server or service owned by someone else. If you want a secure backup than put the hard drives in the bank vault.

I agree with that 1000%. Disgruntled employee/contractor syndrome.

Most Fortune 1000 companies don't want to risk their data to a 3rd party. Some (like a Fortune 100 I worked for) even operated their own worldwide intranet, via leased lines and VPNs). One place with Internet gateway that was hyper-managed and equipped to stave off the continuous attacks.

 

[sfx2000]

owncloud can be personally hosted...

maybe I'll add it to my learning by doing thread... here...

if there is enough interest that is...

sfx

 

[Shabbir Rao]

Well in my opinion it all depends upon the type of data either it is confidential data or non confidential data. You can use private cloud method for the confidential data because in this method your data will remain into your own network and for that you can use NAS devices. Moreover you can use public cloud method for the non confidential data you can try Dropbox for business for this.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

owncloud can be personally hosted...

maybe I'll add it to my learning by doing thread... here...

if there is enough interest that is...

sfx

OwnCloud is getting quite popular, many MSPs are using it to resell to their SMB clients.

As for the whole "security of the cloud" debate, IMO, > 75%...nah... > 95% of businesses, don't have secure networks themselves. Their own internal network, workstations, servers, backup, remote access. Most don't even know their are bots 'n worms on their network...uploading info. Most SMBs just have some plain NAT router like a Stinksys or Nutgear....or a poorly configured CPE gateway from their ISP. Even those that have a marginally decent UTM like a Sonicwall or Watchguard...don't have them locked down.....nobody reads logs. Wide open server shares. No access logging on the server, nobody reads them. Unsecured e-mail. No enforced OS or 3rd party software updates. Probably remote camera systems wide open.

That whole attempt at a debate about "I ain't trustin' no cloud...I have my own network and server"...I get a good chuckle out of that when I think about how unsecured that really is.

At least "reputable" cloud hosts have pretty good ACLs on their hosted servers, the servers are patched. I consider reputable cloud services far more safe and secure than >95% of SMB networks out there...and >99.9999% of residential networks out there.

 

[stevech]

95% of businesses....
I agree if that % is business names.
I disagree in headcount. The Fortune 500 or 1000 headc0unt is a large percentage, and that includes health care with its HIPPA. The big one I worked for had their own inter-city/inter-office world-wide private leased line and VPNs, so there was one Internet gateway. And a very aggressive email scanner and onerous IT policies. Virtual Machine servers and, for most employees, they even went (back) to virtual desktops - like ye ole dumb terminals/thin client.
They had to, as one of their main products was security services in IT. One over-zealous news reporter story can be quite damaging, even if, as is usual, the story is dead wrong.

 

[L&LD]

OwnCloud is getting quite popular, many MSPs are using it to resell to their SMB clients.

As for the whole "security of the cloud" debate, IMO, > 75%...nah... > 95% of businesses, don't have secure networks themselves. Their own internal network, workstations, servers, backup, remote access. Most don't even know their are bots 'n worms on their network...uploading info. Most SMBs just have some plain NAT router like a Stinksys or Nutgear....or a poorly configured CPE gateway from their ISP. Even those that have a marginally decent UTM like a Sonicwall or Watchguard...don't have them locked down.....nobody reads logs. Wide open server shares. No access logging on the server, nobody reads them. Unsecured e-mail. No enforced OS or 3rd party software updates. Probably remote camera systems wide open.

That whole attempt at a debate about "I ain't trustin' no cloud...I have my own network and server"...I get a good chuckle out of that when I think about how unsecured that really is.

At least "reputable" cloud hosts have pretty good ACLs on their hosted servers, the servers are patched. I consider reputable cloud services far more safe and secure than >95% of SMB networks out there...and >99.9999% of residential networks out there.

Are you also (re)selling cloud services?

I agree that most networks I initially get called to look at are kind of unsecure (policies, mostly).

But I don't think any users network that they own and control themselves is less secure than any cloud network which simply has 'employees' for safeguarding (many) other's private documents and other information.

A cloud service for data is inappropriate unless the company that needs it is operating it too. Using a third party cloud service is akin to trusting your neighbor with a door to your home. Most (neighbors) will be reliable. Some won't.

And like a neighbor, a 'cloud' could disappear overnight with no consequences or retribution and of course the worst of all; no strategy to get your data back if it was all truly 'in the cloud'.

Roll the dice. More likely than not, the 'cloud company' will make the dollars whether or not you have your data in the end (when all is said and done).

 

[stevech]

Dropbox, OpenDrive and others have had big issues rooted in employees and contractors with too liberal access to customer data and re-encryption keys held for court order responses (US only?). In one case, disgruntled insider sabotaged the database. Took weeks to recover.

Too often, the big enterprise customers take the Microsoft Kool-Aid approach and go with inside-the-firewall Sharepoint. That's software that I've suffered long, and despise it as crap. Microsoft should dump it and buy a trusted company with a reasonable product. Sharepoint happens because of the old term "No one gets fired for choosing IBM"; now Microsoft.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Are you also (re)selling cloud services?

I agree that most networks I initially get called to look at are kind of unsecure (policies, mostly).

But I don't think any users network that they own and control themselves is less secure than any cloud network which simply has 'employees' for safeguarding (many) other's private documents and other information.

A cloud service for data is inappropriate unless the company that needs it is operating it too. Using a third party cloud service is akin to trusting your neighbor with a door to your home. Most (neighbors) will be reliable. Some won't.

And like a neighbor, a 'cloud' could disappear overnight with no consequences or retribution and of course the worst of all; no strategy to get your data back if it was all truly 'in the cloud'.

Roll the dice. More likely than not, the 'cloud company' will make the dollars whether or not you have your data in the end (when all is said and done).

We don't resell "cloud storage"...yet.
Technically we've sold/services "cloud services" for decades. EMail for example. That's cloud..it's a server "over there...outside your network, out in the internet!"
Offsite backup we've been selling for years...that's a cloud service.
Terminal Servers in a data center...yes!
EMail filtering services...yes.

But cloud storage...of data, like a bucket, mapped drive, etc...no, we haven't yet.
The need for it is growing. Have just been waiting for a service that makes it more useful for SMBs..since many of them need to tie in shared folders on their local "on prem" server, with a cloud service that makes it sync'd and available to their home workers or "road warrior" staff out in the field.

Similar to any other IT related service...of course you don't want to choose a company that might be "fly by night" and close their doors on you one day. I've always said...select a reputable company to do this. And there are companies that go out of their way to promote security and privacy of your information, SpiderOak for example...go check out their website and see what they do.

 

[L&LD]

We don't resell "cloud storage"...yet.
Technically we've sold/services "cloud services" for decades. EMail for example. That's cloud..it's a server "over there...outside your network, out in the internet!"
Offsite backup we've been selling for years...that's a cloud service.
Terminal Servers in a data center...yes!
EMail filtering services...yes.

But cloud storage...of data, like a bucket, mapped drive, etc...no, we haven't yet.
The need for it is growing. Have just been waiting for a service that makes it more useful for SMBs..since many of them need to tie in shared folders on their local "on prem" server, with a cloud service that makes it sync'd and available to their home workers or "road warrior" staff out in the field.

Similar to any other IT related service...of course you don't want to choose a company that might be "fly by night" and close their doors on you one day. I've always said...select a reputable company to do this. And there are companies that go out of their way to promote security and privacy of your information, SpiderOak for example...go check out their website and see what they do.

That is the problem though; any business on the internet (with no brick and mortar building) is a fly by night operation. A customer (no matter how big) has no control over them at all.

I do not believe any company 'goes out of their way' for any reason other than money. Particularly publicly traded companies. Anything read to the contrary is just marketing, plain and simple.

In the end, if 'I' do not have full access/control of my important data. The onus and responsibility is on 'me'. And this is what I try to convey to my customers. Security and privacy is not something you farm out. It is something that starts with the owner of the company and is infused in every aspect of the work flow of that business.

Nothing about a mission statement, or a corporate take over or a bad few periods of financial statements (that results in that third party shutting it's virtual doors) will ever make me feel better of blindly trusting an ethereal entity on the other end of my ISP's line with the data that I've acquired over the last few decades and is the lifeblood of my business (or my customers).

Even 'email' is something I have always wanted (and have) full control of for myself and my customers. No, I don't run my own email server. But yes, all email is saved on my personal computers (not in the cloud). I've seen email in the cloud disappear. I've seen email in the cloud get hacked. I've even seen email (cloud) being denied to the actual owner. No thanks.

As I keep saying, if it's my data, I will take better care of it than anyone else. Even if I was to give a boatload of money for some shadowy 'them' to do so.

 

[thiggins]

That is the problem though; any business on the internet (with no brick and mortar building) is a fly by night operation.

This statement just astounds me....

 

[stevech]

This statement just astounds me....

tell that to Amazon or eBay. And their investors.

Maybe poster meant "any cloud service on the internet". In which case: Tell that to Amazon Web Services (AWS) whose revenue and profit exceeds that of retail hard goods sales.

 

[L&LD]

This statement just astounds me....

tell that to Amazon or eBay. And their investors.

Maybe poster meant "any cloud service on the internet". In which case: Tell that to Amazon Web Services (AWS) whose revenue and profit exceeds that of retail hard goods sales.

Both,

The size of the business is not any strong indication of the intent of the current or future management to care for the customers it once had. If the bean counters and the real investors (the ones that keep the business actually going with work/time and/or funds involved) decide today that selling or otherwise dissolving the business is in their best interest? The effective outcome is a 'fly by night' operation that just pulls their online presence and disappears.

Yes, a brick and mortar store can do similar types of damage. But on a much smaller scale (how much sales can it have outstanding at any one time).

To me, it is astounding that people blindly put their faith in an entity on the other end of the 'net. Good luck trying to find restitution or compensation (with data; there is no compensation worth enough if the data vanishes) once an strictly online entity decides it is time to quit.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

That is the problem though; any business on the internet (with no brick and mortar building) is a fly by night operation. A customer (no matter how big) has no control over them at all.

I do not believe any company 'goes out of their way' for any reason other than money. Particularly publicly traded companies. Anything read to the contrary is just marketing, plain and simple.

In the end, if 'I' do not have full access/control of my important data. The onus and responsibility is on 'me'. And this is what I try to convey to my customers. Security and privacy is not something you farm out. It is something that starts with the owner of the company and is infused in every aspect of the work flow of that business.....

Even 'email' is something I have always wanted (and have) full control of for myself and my customers. No, I don't run my own email server. But yes, all email is saved on my personal computers (not in the cloud). I've seen email in the cloud disappear. I've seen email in the cloud get hacked. I've even seen email (cloud) being denied to the actual owner. No thanks.

As I keep saying, if it's my data, I will take better care of it than anyone else. Even if I was to give a boatload of money for some shadowy 'them' to do so.

I wouldn't call Microsoft, or RackSpace, "fly by night" companies. Typically a "fly by night" company is one that comes up quickly..and then disappears rather silently and quickly. They don't get "big". They remain small, private.

As for a company putting the goal of "making money"...well, yup. That's business. Sure..there are do-gooder "foundations" or "volunteer programs", some non-profits. But yes...a typical "business" is out to make money. Myself...I like eating good food, buying Harleys, taking 4 or more trips per year with my wife, giving good things to our kids, stuff like that. so yeah our little business of SMB Consulting (we have 5 of us)...we're here to make money!

I don't frown upon any other business related to IT..that is out to make money. There's nothing about that which I hold against them, or that causes me to mistrust them. Someone (or a business) can be out there making tons of money..and still be damn good at what they do!

I have my own e-mail server (queue in the hitlery clinton jokes). We're a group of IT nerds...so yeah we have our own MS Exchange Server, right across the hall from me in the server room with a cabinet full of other servers. Do I consider it more secure than say...if we used our NFR Microsoft Office 365 E3 licenses? Nope! One day we'll eventually migrate over to that. Just need to find the time! hah!

But I'll stand by my statement...that >95% of businesses out there that "in-house their own" data...claiming they 100% control their data and its security...they've got breaches. The "good" malware sits there...silently, quietly, snooping and gathering and uploading that companies data. Most networks are poorly configured...I work with security auditors going through various networks for HIPAA compliancy...and it's mind blowing...the things that are found. Not mind blowing I guess...but horrifically scary! And it's only getting worse and more and more peripheral hardware integrates with networks. Web access to control panels to appliances, security camera remote DVR/NVR viewing...those things open up bigger and bigger holes.