Is Endpoint Recovery Part of Your Business Continuity Plan?

In the fast-paced world of IT security, organizations have become adept at safeguarding their data. Business continuity plans are robust, ensuring that critical information is backed up, replicated, and readily available, even in the face of disaster. But while these plans meticulously cover data, many organizations overlook a crucial aspect of their infrastructure: the endpoint.

The Endpoint: A Gateway to Vulnerability

According to IBM, as many as 90% of successful cyber-attacks originate from the endpoint. These are the devices we use every day—desktops, laptops, and other connected hardware. Despite this alarming statistic, endpoint recovery is often an afterthought in business continuity planning. Why is that?

One reason could be the assumption that if the data is secure, the business is secure. But this overlooks the reality that compromised endpoints can serve as entry points for attacks, leading to data breaches, ransomware, and other forms of cybercrime. If the endpoint is compromised, how will your organization continue to operate effectively? This question highlights the critical gap in many business continuity strategies.

IGEL Business Continuity: Bridging the Gap

At IGEL, we recognize the importance of securing and maintaining continuity for endpoints, especially in an era where ransomware and other cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated. That’s why we developed IGEL Business Continuity, a solution designed to ensure that even when Windows endpoints are compromised, your organization can continue to operate with minimal disruption.

Recover from Ransomware in Minutes

IGEL Business Continuity enables compromised Windows endpoints to be clean booted into IGEL OS in minutes, using the same hardware. By utilizing IGEL Business Continuity USB Boot, a dedicated USB drive or IGEL Business Continuity Dual Boot partition, employees can quickly reconnect to essential online services like Office 365, Teams, and Zoom. This ensures that communications can resume, and users can access recovered services as they become available. With Business Continuity Services included, organizations can minimize downtime and maintain business operations, even in the worst-case scenarios.
Watch this short demo video showing endpoint recovery in just over one minute.

Clean-Boot Compromised Windows Endpoints

When ransomware strikes, the Windows operating system is typically altered to contain malicious code. IGEL Business Continuity bypasses the compromised Windows OS by booting directly into a clean IGEL OS environment. This allows administrators to swiftly reconnect users to business-critical resources, while deciding on the best course of action—whether re-imaging, replacing, or transitioning those endpoints to IGEL OS to prevent future attacks. As part of the IGEL Preventative Security Model™, this approach reduces the attack surface, eliminating vulnerabilities that bad actors often exploit. Simply IGEL it as a more secure alternative to Windows.

Work-from-Home Events: Be Prepared for the Unexpected

Business Continuity isn’t just about dealing with cyber threats. Natural disasters, transportation strikes, and other unexpected events can prevent employees from accessing their office-based IT equipment. In these situations, IGEL Business Continuity USB Boot acts as an ’emergency break glass’ option. Employees can use their personal x86 64-bit devices to boot cleanly into IGEL OS, providing secure access to company resources without compromising data security. The Preventative Security Model™ of IGEL OS ensures that no company data is copied to the personal device, and normal operations can resume as soon as the USB drive is removed.

Flexible Solutions for Your Unique Needs

IGEL Business Continuity offers flexible options to fit your organization’s specific requirements:

• IGEL Dual Boot: a protected IGEL partition alongside the Windows partition. It can be installed with Windows management tools, no-touch on an endpoint. In the event the Windows OS is compromised, the IGEL Dual Boot enables the user to clean boot to secure IGEL OS, operations can quickly reinstate secure connection to communication and business services.
• IGEL USB Boot: a dedicated USB drive distributed to the user and set up with IT specialist services during onboarding. In the event the hard disk on the compromised endpoint fails, IGEL Business Continuity USB Boot enables IT to clean boot a compromised Windows endpoint to IGEL OS, retrieve the latest updates from IGEL UMS management to securely reconnect to communication and business services. 

Expert Guidance with Business Continuity Services

An IGEL Business Continuity Specialist assists in setting up the required IGEL infrastructure and configuration of the endpoint image. Regularly, this image can either be updated on the IGEL Business Continuity USB Boot or, through remote management of the endpoints, on the IGEL Dual Boot partition. Different endpoint requirements depending on user location, business unit, or use case, —such as authentication, virtual desktop clients, and collaboration tools—may arise and need to be installed on each USB device/boot image. The specialist collaborates with the customer’s IT teams to prepare test and refine the images and participate in scheduled recovery exercises throughout the year. This proactive setup ensures the organization’s business continuity plan is in place, allowing IT teams to focus on incident response when needed. 

Conclusion: Don’t Leave Your Endpoints Unprotected

While it’s encouraging to see organizations take data protection seriously, it’s equally important to recognize the critical role endpoints play in your overall security and continuity strategy. As cyber threats evolve, ensuring endpoint recovery is no longer optional—it’s essential. IGEL Business Continuity provides a reliable, secure solution that helps you stay connected and operational, even when faced with the unexpected. If you’re looking for a secure alternative to Windows that minimizes risk and maximizes uptime, Simply IGEL it.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Integrate endpoint recovery into your Business Continuity Plan today with IGEL.