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Counter ransomware attacks with HPE data protection solutions

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone around the world. With many events for 2021 already cancelled and big businesses telling team members that they can work at home from now on, the winds of change are going to be with us for a long time.

A majority of workers have moved from offices to working at remote sites. Hackers are aware of weaker security controls on home IT systems, where every device or wireless connection is a potential entry point, facilitating the rapid increase of cyber-attacks. 

Ransomware protection_new-blog_shutterstock_414784531.pngToday ransomware dominates the world of IT security, and has triggered a shift in working practices that hackers and other bad actors are using to their advantage in the current scenario. Managed by well-funded criminal organizations with squads of full-time developers, ransomware has become a lucrative business for many. Criminal groups are increasingly switching to COVID-19 themed lures for phishing, exploiting both your consumer and employee concerns over the pandemic and the safety of their loved ones. Recent studies show a 273% percent rise in large-scale data breaches in the first quarter of 2020, compared to prior-year statistics, and a 109% year-over-year increase in ransomware attacks in the United States through the first half of 2020.

To preserve cash and keep the lights on, IT administrators are getting by with the data protection software and hardware they’ve had in place for years, letting modernization slip down on the priority list. And that could be a big mistake – because cybercriminals are using this situation as an opportunity to attack and hold data hostage.

Organizations must act quickly to protect one of their most valuable assets – their data.

A strategy for IT teams spread thin

The rise in cybercrimes like ransomware cannot be ignored. Data loss and system downtime have severe consequences that demand urgent response if an incident occurs. Many IT organizations already spread thin by the crisis will be hard pressed to get systems back up and running with outdated technology. The time is now for a more versatile, modern approach.

Although modernizing data protection is a critical factor for ensuring business continuity, the prospect can be overwhelming to start. Here is a simple, straightforward strategy to prepare your team and protect your data in the new threat landscape:

  • Don’t skip the basics. The 3-2-1-1 rule that data protection specialists have relied on still applies: Preserve three copies of your data on at least two different media types with one stored offline, and one stored offsite at another physical location or in the cloud. 
  • Plan for the future. Choose a solution that protects your business data immediately and enables you to modernize data protection at your own pace, with enough built-in flexibility to allow your business to navigate an uncertain future.
  • Act quickly. Select a vendor you trust and a solution you can deploy quickly. There are simple, resilient, game-changing solutions available today – appliances, software-defined, and cloud-based – that can be implemented in just a few hours. Technology providers who go beyond traditional solutions and provide new approaches and answers can help you find the right data protection solution for your business. Look for solutions that meet every SLA adequately and cost-effectively and put your data to use for more than just an insurance policy; leverage it for business insights, and to accelerate development times.

Strengthen your data defense with HPE’s proven solutions

Modern data protection solutions can be deployed rapidly. Technology advances have propelled these innovative solutions far beyond the basic 3-2-1-1 rule to mitigate data loss in the face of ransomware and other malicious attacks. To ensure your data is safeguarded and recoverable, choose a proven, economical solution that is easy to integrate into your workflows and effortless to manage. Most importantly, ensure that your data is not accessible to ransomware. Your data should be stored in a way that makes it invisible to unauthorized encryption, and your solution should let you restore data efficiently at any time.

While it’s likely that the basics of protecting your organization won’t change during this pandemic, the timeline for implementation will. There are actions you can take now, and technologies you can adopt very quickly, that incorporate the latest innovations to help you secure your data without compromise:

Cloud Volumes Backup: Ransomware protection in the cloud. A modern data protection plan should extend to the cloud for scalability. The cloud offers flexible capacity and supreme agility without requiring additional capital investment. Cloud services scale up or down to meet unpredictable demands, and because data is managed offsite, your IT staff is freed up from additional data center tasks.

HPE Cloud Volumes Backup delivers a simple, efficient, and flexible way for users to backup data in the clou  This enterprise backup service enables the customer to backup seamlessly to the cloud—directly from any storage using any backup ISV—without changing existing data protection workflows. Start backing up to the cloud in less than 5 minutes with automated backup policies in just a few clicks and recover with ease. Cloud Volumes Backup is secure by design and safeguards against any threat with encrypted backups that are invisible to ransomware attacks. Using the proven HPE catalyst API, it makes backup images invisible and inaccessible to ransomware, ensuring data integrity and enabling restores in the event of an attack. You can restore workloads on-premises or easily leverage public cloud for multiple use cases, such as test/dev, reporting, and analytics, helping you to transform your backup data into a business asset.

Try HPE Cloud Volumes Backup for free - We’ve extended our promotion so you can support unpredictable demand, manage cash flow, modernize data protection and spin up on-demand enterprise cloud storage capacity in minutes without sacrificing performance and data integrity SLAs. Get 10Tib/month of capacity free for 90 days or a $3500 USD credit.

HPE StoreOnce: Ransomware protection on premises.  The HPE StoreOnce purpose-built backup appliance and HPE StoreOnce Catalyst bring a wealth of benefits to an organization in the way of space-efficient backup, deduplication, data lifecycle management, and information assurance. However, the single most important feature of HPE StoreOnce Catalyst is its ability to completely isolate data from being tampered with unintentionally. HPE has hidden the Catalyst store from attackers in plain sight but behind an application programming interface (API) that both enhances and simplifies the process of backing up and deduplicating data while making it practically impossible for ransomware to attack it directly. Ransomware cannot encrypt what it cannot see, and because the Catalyst store does not use standard operating system command instructions for its operations, malware cannot become active while inside. StoreOnce Catalyst efficiently backs up and restores data using a tamperproof method. StoreOnce Catalyst prevents ransomware from accessing data on the StoreOnce appliance ensuring data integrity.

Choose software-defined solutions and make backups invisible. To address the growing needs for cost-effective data protection solution without additional hardware, HPE has extended the StoreOnce family to provide a software-defined solution- HPE StoreOnce VSA. StoreOnce VSA provides the same features and functionality as any physical StoreOnce system. StoreOnce VSA can be easily deployed as a virtual machine (VM) on your existing server infrastructure. It runs the same software as the physical StoreOnce appliance, shares the same data services, including cross-family replication, backup application integration, deduplication and security features. HPE StoreOnce VSA provides an impenetrable layer of protection by ensuring that backup data cannot be seen by ransomware.

HPE StoreEver Tape - Add an “Air Gap” to make backup data inaccessible. An air gap, also called an “air wall,” is a security measure that protects data from intrusion. The concept is simple: any device that isn’t connected to a network cannot be attacked remotely. During a cyberattack, traditional tape storage provides a vital last line of defense because you can maintain copies of data fully offline behind an air gap. Tape storage continues to be in strong demand as a scalable and secure method to protect and retain infrequently accessed, yet essential data in the long term. The ultra-low cost per GB and rapid transportability of HPE StoreEver tape provides extra reassurance that you can rapidly recover data if an incident occurs. Download this whitepaper to learn how tape storage can be used effectively to combat ransomware.

In conclusion...

If you create a strong line of defense now to secure business-critical data and ensure application availability, your organization will be able to deliver more than business continuity. New technology can improve efficiencies by reducing cost, risk, and complexity in backup environments. Protecting your data on-premises and in a distributed-cloud environment will set you up to deliver on future SLAs, enabling you to meet demanding SLAs (RPOs and RTOs) and keep your business moving ahead.

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About the Author

Ashwin_Shetty

Ashwin Shetty is a Product Marketing Manager in HPE Storage. In this role, Ashwin is responsible for helping customers understand the value of modernizing their data protection with HPE GreenLake for Backup and Recovery, HPE StoreOnce, HPE Solutions with Commvault, and HPE StoreEver Tape. Follow Ashwin here:: @ashwinkshetty. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn.