As malicious attacks become more sophisticated, the traditional protection methods that many organizations rely on can easily be bypassed. To tackle rapidly evolving, adaptive threats such as ransomware, organizations need flexible, multi-layered protection.
When it comes to attacks like ransomware, preventive steps can be taken to prepare an organization to protect its data effectively. If an attack does get through, it is crucial to have backups that the attack has not touched. This is the only way to deny the attackers their goal — a ransom — and to avoid paying anything to recover your data.
In only 6% of successful ransomware attacks did cybercriminals make no attempt to compromise the data backups. Among 68% of respondents, some or most of the backups were affected. These alarming findings from the Veeam Ransomware Trends Report 2022 show how important it is to secure your backups in order to build resilience.
What is immutable backup?
Ransomware can paralyze a company completely if it has no secure backups of its corporate data and is forced to pay a high ransom. It is therefore vital that archived data is not affected by the attack.
One way to achieve this is immutable backup, where data is protected from modification and deletion. This ensures it can be fully restored, remaining unaffected even by aggressive interventions such as ransomware.
In this article, we describe the most significant benefits of immutable backup for organizations.
With immutable backup, data is out of ransomware's reach
Immutable backup means creating backups that cannot be destroyed, even by an attacker who has obtained administrative rights. They are archived in such a way that they cannot be altered, encrypted or deleted. This is the philosophy of immutable backup.
Storing data this way also means you can recover it completely and on time from a clean backup that remains unaffected by the attack.
Flexible storage capacity is a primary advantage
Immutable backup gives you the flexibility to size the space you need for storing large amounts of data. You can increase or decrease the volume depending on the workload.
As the business grows and its needs expand, you don't have to worry about limits and constraints. You can also integrate different storage solutions and keep each in the most appropriate location, according to your requirements and capabilities.
Reliable archiving and automated currency checks
Reliable, verified archives are the first step to successful recovery. Organizations often face the same problem: they are unsure whether their data is actually backed up, when it was backed up, and which copies have been saved.
Automated verification of the integrity and currency of archived data is a key element of good practice for resilience against cyber attacks. With immutable backup, this capability can be extended and customized to the requirements of your organization.
Being able to schedule these checks at the most suitable time is a key advantage. Each check generates a report on the status of the archives and sends it automatically to a designated email address. This way, you can be sure that data is backed up at the right time and that all copies are available in the designated locations.
Instant data recovery
In a ransomware attack, up to 100% of an organization's data can be encrypted or infected with malware, making rapid recovery essential. Immediate access to current backup data is crucial to keep the organization running and to prevent significant business impact.
Scanning backups for malware is another important step after a ransomware attack. It is an integral part of recovery after a cyber attack, and it is entirely possible with immutable backup. Together, these capabilities keep business processes running in the event of a malicious intervention.
The solution provides both protection and a means of complete data recovery in the event of a system breach. Recover critical data quickly and safely with immutable backup. To avoid putting your corporate data at risk, take a look at our other offerings for protection against ransomware.