Cyber attack on Your Office Anywhere (YOA)

Your Office Anywhere (YOA) was a company offering hosted Windows desktops specifically tailored for running Access database systems in the cloud. A cyber-attack in March 2025 destroyed the files of their many clients, including the backups, and the company ended up ceasing trading. This was a similar attack to the one carried out against Marks and Spencer and Co-op that hit the news headlines a few weeks later. Some YOA customers were still trying to pick up the pieces of their lost data months afterwards. If you have been affected by this disaster or are simply looking for a way to host your Access database system online, please read on.

What happened in the cyber attack?

As we understand it, hackers inserted ransomware into the server(s) used to host the clients' data and files having first encrypted everything. The ransomware infected the live files AND all the backups of them stored within the YOA environment. Even with the involvement of the authorities, Your Office Anywhere were enable to retrieve any of the data. In the worst case, this has represented a total wipe-out of systems for some customers, though for others it caused minimal disruption. We give tips further down for how to ensure you would be one of the lucky ones with minimal disruption if this happened to you or your files.

Common reasons for using hosting for an Access database:

• Users spread across locations
• No in-house server or local area network
• Some or all users on Macs
• SQL Azure would be overkill for the data
• SharePoint Lists inadequate for the data storage

Terms to search for when looking for a provider

This kind of hosting has a few different names so when you’re searching for someone to provide it, you could try searching for:

• Hosted Windows Desktops
• Windows Hosted Desktops
• Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Lessons learned from the collapse of YourOfficeAnywhere:

• Always take responsibility for your backups yourselves even if your provider is has a backup procedure in place
• Don’t rely on a single source for your backups and keep them in well-separated locations (physically and virtually)
• Ensure there are multiple different types of backup with different time intervals
• Include both cloud and physical backups in your routine
• Think about contingency plans in advance
• And lastly, but key, test your backups by trying out restoring from them

If you do all these things, a disaster should become a minor inconvenience.

Things to consider when speaking to potential suppliers:

• Price! You will need to find out their set-up fee and then monthly cost per user.
• What applications you need included in your hosted environment – Probably Microsoft 365 as a whole
• What security is provided
• What backups are included and how these are separate from the hosted environment
• The level of support provided with set-up
• How you will make your own backups outside the environment

Suppliers we have found and spoken to:

• Know All IT (London)
  knowall.net
  Small, friendly team where you will know the person you deal with
  Security includes human checks
  Minimum 4 users normally
  Competitive pricing (around £42 per user per month April 2025)
  Set-up cost around £200

• YourCloudWorks (Northants)
  yourcloudworks.com
  Already used by one of our clients and reported easy set-up
  Security specialists so one to consider if this is your top priority
  Can include a hardware (USB) key for extra security
  Includes access to local resources so easy to set up your own backup outside
  Minimum 12 month contract but easy to flex the number of users from 1 upwards
  Higher monthly cost per user (around £82 April 2025) but normally no set-up fee

• Hyve Managed Desktop as a Service
  hyve.com
  Premium hosting with mission critical level of security
  Larger company
  Premium pricing (£130 per user per month for 5-user hosting April 2025 plus £250 setup fee)

• UKHost4u
  ukhost4u.com
  Already used by one of our contacts and they have reported easy set-up and good support
  Suitable from single user upwards
  Very low cost for those needing only one concurrent user (£150 per year, i.e. £12.50 per month)
  Low cost for multi-user (£25 per user per month)
  Use your own Microsoft licences and install on the remote desktop(s) yourself
  No set-up cost