How To Use Synology Snapshots To Protect Your Shared Folders From Ransomware Attacks

[@versnelling9112]

Thanks for making the video!

[@digital_aloha]

Hi Ver, You're welcome!! Glad the video was helpful.

[@notreallyme425]

Just discovered your channel and subbed, great videos! Question about this, if Ransomware gets on your NAS, wouldn’t it be able to delete the snapshot files? I use HyperBackup to the cloud to prevent that (and in case my house burns down).

[@digital_aloha]

Hi Not Really Me :), Thanks for subscribing and I'm glad you are liking the videos I'm releasing!! Regarding your question, snapshots themselves aren't accessible to applications and/or ransomware and are a feature of the Btrfs filesystem so they wouldn't be affected by any ransomware attack. Also, using HyperBackup like you mentioned is perfect because it gives you an offsite backup just in case. Another option for offsite backup would be something like snapshot replications (which I haven't made a video on just yet), but that would give you the best of both worlds (snapshots and an offsite replicated backup). I'll likely release a video on replications some time in the future so stay tuned!!

[@shazam2160]

Nice video Sir. I am surenraj from Sri Lanka...

[@digital_aloha]

Thanks Surenraj!!

[@Jp421JP]

Is it necessary/possible/recommended to backup the snapshot folder off site? Can the files in the snapshot folder simply be backed up as a normal file? Can the system reuse them if restored from a backup. Would a ransomware or other event prevent the system from accessing the snapshot files?

[@digital_aloha]

Hi J P, Great questions!! I'd recommend backing up snapshots that you take to an off site location if you can. You can't just copy snapshots like normal files and because Synology designed their snapshots in a specific way the only option you have is either to replicate your snapshots to another Synology NAS (either local or remote) or to a different volume on your current Synology NAS. I cover snapshot replication in this video -> kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6bMpn2MatZsY6c as well. Snapshots are great though and, yes, the system can reuse a snapshot by restoring the snapshot and the files it refers too. Regarding ransomware or other events that could prevent the system from accessing the snapshot I haven't heard of anything that would. Snapshots are read-only point-in-time copies of your files so the only issue or event that could cause a problem is if an administrator account gets compromised and the bad actor deletes the snapshots or if there is hardware/hard drive failure and the drive can't be read. Hope this helps and good luck to you in implementing snapshots and replications.

[@basselaccount8677]

Ur videos are the best keep up

[@digital_aloha]

Thanks for the feedback... I'll keep making them :)