EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

Brian Dunagan , Vice President of Engineering , Retrospect , a StorCentric Company , told us that system administrators ( also known as SysAdmin )

Ransomware and other malware continues to hamper businesses and government agencies around the world , locking them out of their operational workflows and then demanding exorbitant payments .

are one of an organizations ’ most strategic and valuable assets . operational workflows and then demanding exorbitant payments ( after which unfortunately , data is oftentimes never unblocked and / or returned ).

“ With the advent of RaaS ( Ransomware-as-a- Service ), these attacks are becoming even more commonplace , targeting an ever-expanding segment of organizations . It is often the SysAdmin that must enlist the tools necessary to mount a defense , as well as detect early signs of intrusion . And , they need to be able to recover quickly and affordably , should they experience a successful attack .

“ Of course , the truth is that today , it is not really a question of if an organization will be successfully breached , but more realistically simply a question of when , making this SysAdmin responsibility all the more crucial .”

We spoke to three more experts to ask how important the role of the system administrator is to modern day organizations . Here ’ s what they had to say .

“ This is especially true today , given the increasing challenges most SysAdmins need to address on a daily basis ,” he said .

“ One such issue most SysAdmins are having to deal with is cyberattacks . Ransomware and other malware continues to hamper businesses and government agencies around the world , locking them out of their

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