Redstor rescues vets hit by ransomware attack

1 June 2019 Information Security, Healthcare (Industry)

Terry Wilson, the practice manager at Teva Veterinary Clinic, revealed how staff turned up for work on a Monday morning to discover cybercriminals had encrypted all their files.

However, after a quick call to Redstor - a specialist in cloud backup, disaster recovery, archiving, search and data migration services - Wilson was told a backup copy of the clinic’s data would be available within 10 minutes.

He then set about wiping the central server and reloading computers with Microsoft Windows software, and thanks to InstantData - Redstor’s user-driven technology - the practice was up and running again within the hour as if nothing had happened.

With InstantData, there is no need to wait for a full recovery. At the click of a button, Redstor offers streamed, on-demand access to whatever data is needed, ending downtime.

Wilson said: “I’d warned staff that it would be chaos for 48 hours, but Redstor exceeded all my expectations. The internal office network was working again that morning. I thought it would be a lot trickier to get all the data.”

If the Redstor support technician had been sitting next to him, he insisted: “I would have kissed him! I honestly thought he was joking when he said how quickly he could get us sorted.”

Teva Vet became a Redstor customer three years ago following a previous ransomware attack that locked down the practice’s x-ray files. Wilson recalled: “They wanted $350 000 - a ridiculous amount - money we could not afford.

“The ransomware corrupted our Google Drive and in trying to find a solution to that, we learned that Redstor iterates, so that every day it backs up a version that is independent of the previous one. We’ve been using Redstor ever since.”

Wilson knows the value of having a data management solution that delivers reliable backup and recovery and disaster recovery, along with archiving, discovery and insight. He is also safe in the knowledge that Redstor’s InstantData will reduce the impact of any further security incidents.

Eliminating downtime

The cause of the most recent ransomware attack on Teva Veterinary Practice was a malicious email attachment. It was an executable file, sent under the guise of an invoice from a trusted supplier. When opened by the recipient, the ransomware downloaded, infecting the system.

Wilson said: “You can train staff as much as you like, but only go so far. If ransomware is hidden in an invoice, it is hard to expect staff under pressure to check executable files for hidden links. The likelihood is that we are going to be hit again, but we know we can now get up and running within an hour of being hit by a full attack where everything disappears.

“Another veterinary practice was hit the week before us and they lost everything. They did not have the same backup protocol that we have.”

Teva Veterinary Practice is one of more than 40 000 clients around the world that use Redstor to discover, analyse, control and protect their critical data.

Wilson said: “We looked online at a couple of solutions but nothing matched Redstor. When we go to professional development conferences we are always recommending Redstor. A big selling point is also that it connects and iterates, then disconnects. It’s not like a remote backup to Google Drive, or Google or Dropbox or any of those solutions.

“You can always go back to the previous day’s iteration or to whenever the data was not infected, rather than just have one massive backup and lose everything that’s come after the previous full backup. That is what a lot of solution providers came to us with. The way the whole process worked with Redstor saved us immensely.”

Redstor also allows Teva to budget confidently with a pricing model that is subscription-based, simple and predictable. Multiple copies of backups are held securely encrypted in local data centres, and the encryption key is set by the customer, ensuring no unauthorised access.

This is particularly important for a veterinary practice that has sensitive financial data and a legal requirement to have an offsite backup of all x-ray data for a minimum of five years.





Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page



Further reading:

Managed security solutions for organisations of all sizes
Information Security News & Events
Cyber attackers have become significantly more sophisticated and determined, targeting businesses of all sizes. PwC’s Global Digital Trust Insights Survey 2025 Africa and South Africa highlights the urgent need for organisations to implement robust cyber risk mitigation strategies.

Read more...
Data resilience at VeeamON
Technews Publishing SMART Security Solutions Infrastructure Information Security
SMART Security Solutions attended the VeeamON Tour in Johannesburg in August to learn more about data resilience and Veeam’s initiatives to enhance data protection, both on-site and in the cloud.

Read more...
Troye exposes the Entra ID backup blind spot
Information Security Infrastructure
If you trust Microsoft to protect your identity, think again. Many organisations naively believe that Microsoft’s shared responsibility model covers Microsoft Entra?ID – formerly Azure AD – but it does not.

Read more...
Secure data protection without hardware lock-in
Infrastructure Information Security News & Events
New Veeam Software Appliance empowers IT teams to achieve instant protection with Veeam’s fully preconfigured, software-only appliance, delivering enterprise-ready simplified deployment and operational efficiency, robust cyber resilience.

Read more...
Check Point launches open, vendor-neutral MDR services
Information Security News & Events Products & Solutions
New Check Point MDR 360° and MXDR 360° offerings deliver 24/7 managed continuous threat monitoring protection across endpoints, cloud and network environments with built-in identity threat detection and 160+ integrations across hybrid, multi-vendor environments.

Read more...
Credential theft surges in South Africa
NEC XON Information Security
NEC XON issues a critical cybersecurity warning about the dual threat of massive credential theft and AI-powered cyberattacks sweeping across the region, with an increasing number of incidents and evolving threat tactics.

Read more...
Want effective Attack Surface Management? Think like an attacker.
Information Security
Effective ASM requires companies to think like attackers, anticipate risks, and act decisively to reduce exposure by knowing their environment, deploying a structured approach, leveraging capable tools, and addressing both internal and external risks.

Read more...
The growing role of hybrid backup
Infrastructure Information Security
As Africa’s digital economy rapidly grows, businesses across the continent are facing the challenge of securing data in an environment characterised by evolving cyberthreats, unreliable connectivity and diverse regulatory frameworks.

Read more...
POPIA non-compliance puts municipalities at risk
Information Security Government and Parastatal (Industry)
Digital responsibility must go beyond POPIA compliance to recognising that privacy and service delivery are fundamentally linked. Despite this, only 51 out of 257 municipalities submitted their mandatory data protection and access to information reports in 2024.

Read more...
Choicejacking bypasses smartphone charging security
News & Events Information Security
Choicejacking is a new cyberthreat that bypasses smartphone charging security defences to confirm, without the victim’s input or consent, that the victim wishes to connect in data-transfer mode.

Read more...










While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.




© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.