Why You Need Unified Data Protection and How to Get It

The frequency of ransomware attacks continues to soar. Global attack volume jumped up 151 percent, year over year, in the first six months of 2021. In absolute numbers, SonicWall's 2021 Global Cyberattack Trends report says there were 304.7 million ransomware attacks over the same period. In the past, data protection, recovery, and security have been treated as separate IT security efforts. But this intense battle demands that IT pros start looking at IT security from a new perspective.

That transformation is already underway. An IDC white paper, “Increase Data Resilience and Improve Ransomware Defense by Integrating Data Protection and Security," cites a recent study where 78 percent of IT leaders indicated digital resilience would be a top investment priority over the next two years. IDC's research also shows that 90 percent of organizations operate in a hybrid cloud or multi-cloud environment, with their data spread across multiple private and public cloud locations. Protecting data that is now everywhere requires comprehensive data protection solutions.

Key Data Protection Capabilities

The IDC white paper says that IT leaders should no longer consider data security and data protection as separate tasks. That means you need a multi-cloud data management platform that covers data protection, cyber-recovery, and disaster recovery. The best platforms often extend beyond data protection and recovery to include data capture, movement, and governance across the core, cloud, and edge.

These platforms include a policy engine that ensures consistent data treatment—regardless of the repository—while slashing the time it takes IT to manage data. IDC also says that any solution you choose should be extensible to integrate with other solutions, like intrusion detection and the ability to scale as your organization grows.

When evaluating the right data protection platform for your situation, IDC recommends that it include these key capabilities:

Ensure Encryption Everywhere

The solution you choose should encrypt data at rest, in flight, and in backup sets to prevent data exfiltration and theft by external and internal threats.

Include Immutable Data Backups

Encrypted, immutable data copies can’t be corrupted, changed, or deleted by anyone, whether internal or external, except those using unique processes. That ensures your data will survive an attack. So look for immutability as a highly critical feature for your backups.

Keep An Air-Gapped Backup Data Copy

An air gap that physically isolates an immutable backup copy of your data keeps it safe from unsecured networks, like the internet, preventing bad actors from gaining access. And make sure that you separately manage your control path and data path to reduce the chances that your data will be compromised. Many organizations are turning to tape backups—where the tapes are physically removed from the tape library, onsite or offsite, to provide this air gap.

Find An Integrated Solution

Look for a solution that seamlessly integrates hardware, software, and cloud capabilities. That gives you a layered approach to data protection and cyber security. And it gives you your best chance of surviving a cyberattack.

Insist On MFA

Many breaches are the result of stolen credentials. IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021 says today’s most frequent initial attack vectors are compromised credentials, at 20 percent of breaches, followed by phishing, at 17 percent of breaches. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) can help prevent breaches, even if someone’s credentials are compromised.

Unified Data Protection: Backup and Recovery Across Platforms

Arcserve and StorageCraft, an Arcserve company, offer Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP) software to give you an all-in-one data and ransomware protection solution. This solution neutralizes ransomware attacks, restores your data, and performs effective disaster recovery (DR). Safeguarded by Sophos Intercept X Advanced cybersecurity, Arcserve UDP uniquely combines deep-learning server protection, immutable storage, and scalable onsite and offsite business continuity. That gives you a multi-layered approach that delivers complete IT resiliency for your virtual, physical, and cloud infrastructures.

Get the Scoop On UDP

Contact us today if you're ready to learn more about Arcserve UDP and other Arcserve and StorageCraft data protection solutions.