The Perfect Storm: When Data Storage Complexity and Ransomware Collide

As workloads grow more complex, ransomware grows more sophisticated. Organizations might easily overlook the potential risk and exposure that transitions to cloud-native, SaaS and containerized apps create. However, the risk is very real. And with 79% of enterprise organizations[1] having experienced a ransomware attack within the last year, it is not a matter of “if” but rather “when” an attack will happen.

Hybrid environments create unique challenges when it comes to data protection. Legacy data protection appliances can’t be relied upon to look across an organization’s on-prem and cloud-based workflows. Also, legacy data protection is not flexible enough to scale to meet the performance and capacity demands of these environments. The result is that some workflows are left more vulnerable to attack.

In addition to the complexity that hybrid workloads can bring to data protection, the growing sophistication of malware adds an additional layer of risk. Today’s ransomware is now capable of attacking all areas of an organization’s protection ecosystem—not just production environments. Data backups in particular can be a target.

Organizations hoping to avoid this perfect storm of complexity and risk now need to consider their entire data protection ecosystem. Two tips that should be at the top of an organization’s planning include:

• Safeguard Your Backups. With the assumption that the backup process can be a target, organizations should consider implementing a more secure framework that limits access to backup data. Ideally these solutions should enable strong combinations of data protection and object storage to give you stronger cyber resiliency.
• Leave No Workflow Behind. Organizations must unify and automate data storage protection management to create a holistic view that simplifies operations and leaves no workflow behind. Comprehensive data protection from a single console spanning your entire hybrid data storage eco-system—both on-prem and cloud—paired with sophisticated intelligence delivers federated and easily-managed protection.

Data Protection and Cyber Resiliency Solutions from Hitachi Vantara deliver the choice and agility organizations need to enhance their data protection – assuring business continuity even in the face of ransomware attacks and disasters. Designed specifically with hybrid cloud storage environments in mind with fully transparent SLAs that translate into guaranteed business outcomes with cost-savings and ease-of-planning top of mind. The ability to deploy on-site or within co-locations, along with granular control of data simplify regulatory and compliance requirements. Support by Hitachi Vantara make it easy to get started and adjust as you go.

Gary Lyng is Vice President, Product and Solutions Marketing, at Hitachi Vantara.

Related

• A Proactive Guide to Fighting Ransomware – Insights
• Why Protecting Your Data is Key in the Fight Against Ransomware – Insights

• [1] ESG ransomware preparedness report March 2022