BackupAssist 10.1 maintenance releases

BackupAssist 10.1.3

October 12, 2017

CryptoSafeGuard

  • 29034 Due to limitations in Windows Server 2008 / 2008R2, this update will prevent CryptoSafeGuard from scanning inside of guests on Server 2008 / 2008R2 hosts, because when CryptoSafeGuard deletes a checkpoint, the .avhd checkpoint files are not removed until the guest is restarted. This could cause the host machine to eventually run out of disk space.
  • 28870 Fixed an issue that caused CryptoSafeGuard's potential infection dialog to display an error when it's first opened on Windows Server Core.
  • 28959 The CryptoSafeGuard detection SMS message has changed to "Ransomware detected on machine %COMPUTER_NAME%". An additional message (maximum of 30 characters) can be configured, which will be appended to the end of the standard SMS message to help identify the machine.
  • 29060 Updated CryptoSafeGuard to ensure that it is fully supported by MSP subscriptions.
  • 28863 If CryptoSafeGuard is disabled, all jobs will be automatically unblocked, if they are currently blocked due to a potential ransomware infection.
  • 28915 Increase the range of digits that can be used in the SMS number validation.
  • 28722 CryptoSafeGuard will now rename the temporary Hyper-V guest (VM) checkpoints so that they are easily identifiable.
  • 28916 CryptoSafeGuard will now delete any left-over Hyper-V guest (VM) checkpoints from previous scans.
  • 28873 Added ability for users to increase the timeout on creating temporary Hyper-V guest (VM) checkpoints during a CryptoSafeGuard scan.
  • 28797 Fixed backup error reporting for rare CryptoSafeGuard failures in some System Protection jobs.
  • 28784 If any unexpected errors occur during the CryptoSafeGuard backup protection step, they will now be reported as BA8007: "An unexpected error occurred during the CryptoSafeGuard protection step". Previously, these would be logged as unhandled exceptions in the backup report.

User Interface

  • 28802 Fixed an issue with the detection of some Window Server Core 2016 installs that caused issues with some UI features.

Reports / Notifications

  • 27950 BackupAssist will now report VSS applications that were not fully backed up to a cloud destination due to skipped files.

Settings / Logging

  • 28936 Update made to prevent the creation of corrupt backup catalogs that could occur in very exceptional circumstances.

BackupAssist 10.1.2

September 21, 2017

Updates to Exchange Granular Restore to support Exchange Server 2016 CU5:

  • Resolved problems with a selected item's content and properties only being partially displayed while browsing the mail store tree
  • Resolved problems with displaying deleted items.

Exchange Granular Restore fixes:

  • Resolved problems with exporting into the original Exchange mailbox
  • Resolved problems with exporting into a 2007 and 2010 live Exchange Server
  • Resolved problems with converting special symbols to UTF-8 encoding.

BackupAssist 10.1.1

September 12, 2017

CryptoSafeGuard

  • 28837 Fixed a critical bug that means CryptoSafeGuard does not remove its temporary Hyper-V guest checkpoint in some cases, after CryptoSafeGuard has finished its scan. Without this fix, the host disks could run out of free space potentially causing guests to fail.
  • 28812 Fixed an error that could occur when opening the CryptoSafeGuard alert banner. This error occurs in rare cases for files detected in Hyper-V guests. (GMC_BA-1294)
  • 28824 Fixed a problem that causes files in guests to still be scanned by CryptoSafeGuard after those files have been whitelisted. This problem only occurs in guests with non-NTFS file systems. (GMC_BA-1295)
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Detailed release notes for BackupAssist 10.1.1

Update 1: 28837 CryptoSafeGuard does not remove temporary Hyper-V checkpoints

When running on Hyper-V hosts, CryptoSafeGuard scans the files inside guests that are selected for backup, to check for signs of ransomware attack, as well as scanning the local Hyper-V system. A key phase in the guest-scanning process is that a Hyper-V checkpoint is temporarily created, to give a static view of the guest’s files. The checkpoints created are removed after the scan phase of the backup is completed.

Note: Checkpoints are also known as Hyper-V snapshots.

What is the issue?

On some systems, certain conditions can cause the checkpoint process to stall, and when this happens, CryptoSafeGuard thinks the checkpoint has failed. If this happens, the checkpoint could still eventually be created, but it won’t be removed even after the scanning phase has completed.

Guests with Hyper-V checkpoints run on separate differencing disks, and over time can come to use a significant amount of diskspace. If the above problem occurs in every backup, the amount of “incremental” changes in each differencing disk could result in the host volumes becoming filled up. If this happens, guest integrity is at risk, as files being written by guests that are hosted on those volumes could fail, potentially causing corruption.

What installs are affected?

The problem can occur under the following conditions:

  • Running BackupAssist 10.1.0, 10.1.0r1, or 10.1.0r2
  • CryptoSafeGuard is enabled
  • One or more jobs are scheduled with Hyper-V guest selections
  • Selected guests take more than 30 seconds to checkpoint

What is the resolution?

Affected users should take the following steps:

  1. Log onto any affected Hyper-V machines
  2. Review all guest checkpoints using Hyper-V Manager
  3. Delete any unwanted checkpoints
  4. Upgrade the BackupAssist installs to BackupAssist 10.1.1

You can also see these instructions a our Critical update page.

Note: Steps 1) to 3) are mandatory. CryptoSafeGuard can be disabled as an alternative to step 4), however this on its own will NOT clean up any unwanted checkpoints, and won’t prevent the issue described above.

Update 2: 28824 CryptoSafeGuard alert banner exception for some guest-detected files

When certain guest files are detected as a potential threat, the UI fails with an unhandled exception when the red CryptoSafeGuard alert banner is clicked. This means that jobs cannot be unblocked, so backups will not be executed as expected.

Who is affected?

The problem is seen on machines where:

  • Running BackupAssist 10.1.0, 10.1.0r1, or 10.1.0r2
  • CryptoSafeGuard is enabled.
  • One or more Hyper-V guests are selected for backup
  • It detects a file inside a guest that is a threat. And that file has a character length (pathname plus file name) of 214 or 215 or 216 characters.

What is the resolution?

To solve the issue, upgrade to BackupAssist 10.1.1.

It is also possible to work around the issue without upgrading (not recommended):

  1. Rename the folder C:\ProgramData\BackupAssist v10\CryptoSafeGuardResults\
  2. Re-start the BackupAssist Console and click on the red banner to unblock jobs
  3. Disable CryptoSafeGuard temporarily as a workaround to avoid the issue

Update 3: 28812 CryptoSafeGuard whitelist not working for Hyper-V guest files on non-NTFS volumes

When CryptoSafeGuard detects files as a threat inside a Hyper-V guest, whitelisting those files prevents the files from being detected in further backups.

The issue is that if the whitelisted files are contained in guest volumes that are formatted with FAT32 or any other non-NTFS file system (eg. as is common on Windows XP or Server 2003), then these whitelisted files are not skipped as expected, so CryptoSafeGuard continues to block jobs.

Who is affected?

The problem is seen on machines where:

  • CryptoSafeGuard is enabled
  • One or more Hyper-V guests are selected for backup
  • CryptoSafeGuard detects that one or more files on a non-NTFS volume inside one of these guests is a threat

What is the resolution?

To solve the issue, upgrade to BackupAssist 10.1.1.

It is also possible to work around the issue without upgrading, by simply disabling CryptoSafeGuard (not recommended).

BackupAssist 10.1.0 R2

September 1, 2017

CryptoSafeGuard

BackupAssist 10.1.0 introduces CryptoSafeGuard, a new tool designed to protect your backups from ransomware.

To respond to a ransomware attack, it’s critical that you have reliable backups so you can restore data or recover your entire system. However, ransomware can also infect your backups, leaving them unusable.

CryptoSafeGuard protects your backups from ransomware using two features:

  • CryptoSafeGuard Detector - When a backup job starts, CryptoSafeGuard scans the data being backed up. If there is any sign of a possible ransomware infection, all backup jobs will be blocked from running, and email and SMS alerts will be sent if configured.
  • CryptoSafeGuard Shield - CryptoSafeGuard protects your backups from ransomware by allowing only BackupAssist to create, delete or update data in your backups. This feature runs automatically in the background when CryptoSafeGuard is enabled.

Other updates

Help / Documentation

  • 27407 Updated the documentation links in the Welcome Screen to redirect to the new web-based context sensitive help system.

File Archiving

  • 28491 Files with path names that do not conform to Windows file naming conventions will be skipped.

User Interface

  • 28409 Fixed an exception in Windows Server Core, when trying to access in-product help.
  • 28559 Fixed a WMI related issue that could cause BackupAssist to crash.

Hyper-V

  • 28196 Fixed an issue that caused Exchange Hyper-V guests to show a size of '0' in backup reports.

CryptoSafeGuard

  • 28770 Fixed BA101 / BA102 / BA103 errors when initializing CryptoSafeGuard scanning on jobs backing up VSS applications where Hyper-V is not installed