I'm dealing with a serious issue after a recent data breach where a hacker managed to delete backups from our servers. We use a Windows Remote Desktop Connection for our game server, which is run by volunteers, not a formal company. Although we have some backups from a few weeks ago, the regular backups that should have been saved twice a day are completely gone. The recycle bin is empty, and 'previous versions' and 'restore points' options are not available, possibly due to limitations in RDS. Is there any way to recover these files or any legitimate software that might help?
6 Answers
Just a heads-up, restore points on Windows machines aren’t reliable backups. Make sure you understand the difference! You really need a robust backup strategy in place to avoid being caught like this again.
Remote Desktop connections are a huge target for hackers. Without an off-site backup that’s air-gapped, you’re likely in a tough spot. It’s essential to have a solid backup strategy to prevent this kind of disaster in the future. You’re probably not getting everything back unless you have those isolated backups.
Yeah, check out the 3-2-1 backup rule. If your backups are on the same server that’s being backed up, then you probably don’t have backups at all. It's a good strategy to learn for the future.
Honestly, if you’re asking this here, it means you might want to get a professional involved. Data recovery can be tricky, especially with the kind of breach you’re describing. If it's a game server made by volunteers, shutting it down quickly and bringing in a specialist might be your best shot.
If you haven’t done it yet, contact your server host to see if they might back up your virtual machine. Just be aware that for proper backups, you usually need to pay extra for that service.
Your best bet right now is to try and restore from any offline backups that might still be available. Unfortunately, they’ll be a bit outdated, but it's better than having nothing.
I totally get that! We’re just trying to keep things low-key, and handling this ourselves is all we can do right now.