FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
Prefeitura de Itaúna recovers critical services within 24 hours of ransomware attack with Veeam
When a ransomware attack threatened to paralyze Prefeitura de Itaúna , Brazil , CIO Cláudio Machado , had most users back online within minutes – thanks to Veeam and its partner MGDATA .
Across the world , local government organizations are taking on the challenge of serving rising populations with limited public funds . Take the vibrant city of Itaúna , in Minas Gerais , Brazil , which is growing by an estimated 1.1 % each year . The local governing body is keen to preserve the city ’ s unique blend of urban development and rural charm , which requires careful utilization of resources .
“ The city of Itaúna is one of a kind ,” said Cláudio Machado , CIO , Prefeitura de Itaúna . “ My wife is from here . When the opportunity to join Prefeitura de Itaúna arose , I couldn ’ t pass it up .”
As soon as Machado stepped into the role , he saw an opportunity : harness technology to effect radical change .
With a desktop estate that was more than a decade old , it was no surprise that performance was unreliable and IT support contracts were out of date .
Data backups were handled on an ad hoc basis and without a dedicated solution .
“ The one advantage we had was that we were virtually starting from scratch ,” said
Machado . “ However , with our very limited IT budget , the challenge was working out what was possible . With new Brazilian data privacy laws coming into effect and the threat of cyberattacks growing , we knew it was time for change . We began searching for the right technology and partner to help us achieve a true Digital Transformation .”
Prefeitura de Itaúna teamed up with Veeam partner MGDATA to drive a complete refresh of its IT environment .
MGDATA migrated all the organization ’ s IT systems to its private cloud platform and set up remote access for the municipality ’ s employees via thin clients on each desktop .
“ It was my idea to virtualize our systems and use a Raspberry Pi device – costing just US $ 50 per user – to enable remote access ,” said Machado . “ I paid for a proof of concept using my own money and , once that was successful , persuaded the mayor to grant us a small amount of funding to scale up the approach across the organization . By choosing to work with MGDATA on the project , we got the benefit of their highperformance cloud infrastructure and skills .”
Cláudio Machado , CIO , Prefeitura de Itaúna
Specifically , Prefeitura de Itaúna took advantage of MGDATA ’ s expertise in data protection to build a new strategy with Veeam at its core .
The one advantage we had was that we were virtually starting from scratch .
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