Back up options other than NAS

Use a 4 bay JBOD for working disk, backed up/synced/whatever you wanna call it, to a NAS in my house, which backs up/syncs/whatever you wanna call it, to an offsite NAS. All of my delivered files are also stored on SmugMug. Additionally, my entire library is backed up/synced/whatever you wanna call it, to the Adobe cloud.

When I travel I can access my entire library via the NAS or Lightroom CC.

It's automated, simple, and reliable.

ShotByTom wrote in post #18930664
backed up/synced/whatever you wanna call it

It matters! If you click on the wrong link and the ransomware you downloaded encrypted all your pictures then question is: Can you retrieve a healthy version (backup) or are all the other versions encrypted as well (sync).

That's a valid point. I rely heavily on virus & malware protection, and don't stray too far on the internet. I also have my NAS sync a week after all other drives are updated.

I am quite concerned as the mails I am getting with deceptive links are getting more and more sophisticated. A few month ago they were very easy to spot. However, now they are personalized and very targeted and also the crude language mistakes are a thing of the past. So far so good - but I can not trust myself to be vigilant enough to not ever step into one of these traps. I also would not trust the anti-virus protection to be up to date on everything. Proper backups in paranoia mode is probably to one and only solution to keep your data safe.

drmaxx wrote in post #18933727
I am quite concerned as the mails I am getting with deceptive links are getting more and more sophisticated. A few month ago they were very easy to spot. However, now they are personalized and very targeted and also the crude language mistakes are a thing of the past. So far so good - but I can not trust myself to be vigilant enough to not ever step into one of these traps. I also would not trust the anti-virus protection to be up to date on everything. Proper backups in paranoia mode is probably to one and only solution to keep your data safe.

Hopefully the browser you use will, when you put your cursor on the link, show a ACTUAL ADDRESS which the link will resolve to...you can SEE when a link which is supposedly to www.paypal.com actually goes to 'linktophony.paypaladd​ress'
For example, Chrome shows how the link resolveds an a small window displayed at the bottom left of the current window. Just recently I got an email supposed from Paypal with the Sent by: service@intlPaypay.com​, and the embedded link for 'updating your account information' actually resolved to 'https:canx.si/UsZNx' (changed so no one tries this!)

That leaves the scam in which the link resolves to something that is somewhat legitimate looking but isn't.

I don’t understand how people fall for phishing emails. Nothing I use, credit cards, utilities, bank accounts...require me to click a link in an email, unless I request something. I would never click a link in an email that I didn’t request.

ShotByTom wrote in post #18933963
I don’t understand how people fall for phishing emails.

Here's a recent case: E-mail from an acquaintance as a reply to an older conversation we had. The mail was fishy enough for me to clarify before clicking on anything. It turned out that his e-mail account was compromised and everybody in his address book got such phishing attempts. In my inbox are more examples of quite some clever mails personalized and everything....

ShotByTom wrote in post #18933963
I don’t understand how people fall for phishing emails. Nothing I use, credit cards, utilities, bank accounts...require me to click a link in an email, unless I request something. I would never click a link in an email that I didn’t request.

As “drmaxx” pointed out, the senders are getting quite sophisticated. As an example, yesterday I got an email from a college classmate that lives about 10 miles away. The email had a Google document attached, with nothing more that “read the attachment.” Now my friend Ben always uses “John” as a salutation and signs his emails “Ben”, neither of which was there. He obviously had been hacked and the email possibly been sent to our entire college class. The content of the email attachment remains unknown, but if only a few opened the document, then we possibly have an exponential increase in malware.

I understand how phishing works, I just don't understand why people would click on a link like that..

Wilt wrote in post #18933872
Hopefully the browser you use will, when you put your cursor on the link, show a ACTUAL ADDRESS which the link will resolve to...you can SEE when a link which is supposedly to www.paypal.com actually goes to 'linktophony.paypaladd​ress'
For example, Chrome shows how the link resolveds an a small window displayed at the bottom left of the current window. Just recently I got an email supposed from Paypal with the Sent by: service@intlPaypay.com​, and the embedded link for 'updating your account information' actually resolved to 'https:canx.si/UsZNx' (changed so no one tries this!)

That leaves the scam in which the link resolves to something that is somewhat legitimate looking but isn't.

I never click on any email link, regardless how legitimate it looks, except for an expected email I get right after I've requested it, like a lost password reset.

Otherwise, if I get a legitimate-looking email wanting me to take action on an account, I go to the browser and go directly to that website and account. I never click the handy link in the email.

Exactly.

RDKirk wrote in post #18934941
I never click on any email link, regardless how legitimate it looks, except for an expected email I get right after I've requested it, like a lost password reset.

Otherwise, if I get a legitimate-looking email wanting me to take action on an account, I go to the browser and go directly to that website and account. I never click the handy link in the email.

I do the same when the bank calls me, sometimes they do this, and there’s no way of reverse phone lookup in the fly.

eBay sends a ton of update your account emails, probably because they want me to use their service... the topic itself is a red flag.

This is all well and nice advice for best practice (+ well configured firewall, host-file, browser settings, anti-malware, java-settings, safety updates, ....) - but does this guarantee your data being safe? For me, I decided that I rather spend time and effort on a solid backup solution then hope that nothing happens.

As a hobbyist photographer, can flash drives be considered for use as back ups?

duckster wrote in post #18944308
As a hobbyist photographer, can flash drives be considered for use as back ups?

Of solid state devices, flash drives have the highest failure rate; see https://www.howtogeek.​com …as-a-manual-backup-drive/ for other potential issues.