Build defense-in-depth against ransomware with HPE GreenLake, Zerto and Commvault

[Cloud_Experts]

Resistance and resilience call for a broad-based approach. These platforms can deliver every link in the chain of prevention, detection, response and recovery.

By Kevin Cole, Director of Technical Marketing, Zerto, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company; and

Guest blogger Jeff Carlat, Director of HPE Global Strategic Alliance, Commvault

Data is more valuable than ever – but also more vulnerable than ever. We’ve all heard the stories about ransomware attacks, and there’s no shortage of worrisome stats out there. But it’s not like IT organizations are ignoring the threat, or underestimating it. Indeed, in a recent Ponemon Institute survey of IT and security pros, 42 percent of respondents identified the ‘inability to prevent and detect ransomware’ as one of the primary security gaps in their IT organization’s infrastructure. A primary security gap! (See: The Ponemon 2022 Global Study on Closing the IT Security Gaps)

The good news is that, as fast as ransomware moves and morphs, the tools to counter it are evolving just as quickly. If you’re reviewing your ransomware protection – and it’s a good idea to do that on a regular basis – you’ll know that, realistically, no single vendor can provide the full range of solutions you need. There’s no silver bullet or one solution that you can lean on to “solve” for ransomware; you have to come at it from multiple angles. But we’re going to boldly propose (and with no claim to being totally unbiased!) that with solutions from Zerto, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, and Commvault, you can build best-in-class defense-in-depth to guard against ransomware threats.

These solutions complement each other beautifully, delivering powerful synergies. When you’re considering best-of-breed technologies like these, it’s helpful to think in terms of core competencies. Both provide a broad array of features, but Commvault’s core competency is backup and data management across a wide variety of workloads, platforms and use cases. Zerto's core competency is business continuity and disaster recovery. These are often seen as separate disciplines, and may be handled by separate teams, in large enterprises. Running Zerto and Commvault side-by-side gives you the best of both domains.

In-depth defense with the cloud experience

The even better news is that both solutions are available through HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform, which brings the cloud experience to wherever your data resides – in the data center, in colocations, and at the edge – with all the security and performance of on-premises environments:

• HPE GreenLake with Commvault delivers enterprise backup, recovery, and protection – hardware, software and services – combined in a single solution.
• Zerto is available as an offering within HPE GreenLake for Data Protection, a suite of cloud services that eliminates risk of data loss, mitigates threats from ransomware, and delivers rapid data recovery. Zerto provides journal-based continuous data protection (CDP) technology for disaster recovery and application and data mobility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

3 ways to shut down ransomware risk

With these solutions in place, you can:

1. Protect your data from edge to cloud.

Data is growing at an incredible rate at the edge, and the risks are growing alongside it. Many data breaches now start at the edge, and the trend has only been compounded by the move to work-from-home and work-from-anywhere strategies. At the same time, businesses are stepping up their adoption of public cloud, moving into hybrid cloud, and trying different cloud platforms. Companies are looking for data management and protection solutions that can help them become more resilient not only at the core, but also at the edge, while closely aligning to the cloud.

Both Zerto and Commvault are designed for maximum performance in today’s highly distributed environments. And with HPE GreenLake cloud services, you can rely on HPE compute, storage and networking – all of it built from the ground up with security in mind – to support every type of workload you have, everywhere your data is located.

As the Ponemon study that we mentioned above makes clear, detection and prevention are very much on IT leaders’ minds. Commvault has tools that proactively identify bad actors in the environment. ‘Honeypot’ files are used like trip wires that flag suspicious activity.

And Commvault’s ThreatWise is a full-blown deception tool – it drops threat sensors that mimic valuable assets in your environment, such as file systems, VMs, databases, and network switches. These decoys help lure and divert bad actors, tracking and containing them before they become major threats. ThreatWise has the ability to limit the window of exposure and alert users about ransomware activity before data leakage, exfiltration, theft, or damage. It’s all about the additional layers of security that Commvault brings to the table to minimize the impact of an attack.

2. Customize your defenses and leave no workload behind.

With Zerto, you can tailor your protection and customize SLAs based on the specific needs of each application, whether it’s running on VMs, containers, or cloud instances. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution. What you need for an e-mail server, for example, might not be the same as what you need for a web server that's powering your mobile app and bringing in millions of dollars. You can customize and apply solutions in a strategic manner, depending on the unique needs of each workload, application, and data set. No matter the application or where it’s running, Zerto’s proven CDP technology lets you achieve RPOs of seconds and RTOs of minutes in order to radically reduce data loss and downtime.

Commvault extends your defenses to the bare metal side, protecting a wide range of databases, file systems and hypervisors, and integrating with many cloud platforms. You can recover your data anywhere, anytime, for any reason. Commvault’s twenty-six years of innovation on a core code base delivers comprehensive data protection, data availability, and data remediation in the event of an attack.

Technology services consulting from HPE and Commvault services can help you customize and build out a solution that provides maximum protection. Commvault offers over 35 security features that can be enabled to suit your security requirements. For example, it offers proactive and preventative features to mitigate attacks, including ransomware hardening, encryption, and role-based access. You can monitor for threats with built-in anomaly detection and auditing capabilities and leverage automated workflows to expedite recovery in case of an attack. You might want some guidance in deciding which capabilities you need. Some organizations will want immutable copies, for example, or air gapping – the ability to send a copy of data off-site with no connectivity. Others may be fine without these capabilities. We can help ensure that your ransomware protection fits your specific business requirements.

3. Achieve cloud economics with a pay-as-you-go approach.

The HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform brings the convenience and simplicity of pay-per-use cloud economics to Commvault and Zerto. Commvault’s partnership with the HPE GreenLake platform is a longstanding one, delivering robust backup-as-a-service that provides customers with significant efficiencies versus purchasing upfront. Zerto is also available with HPE GreenLake, and in 2023 customers can experience Zerto in a new way when it’s added to the HPE GreenLake Data Services Cloud Console under the name HPE GreenLake for Disaster Recovery—yet another way to engage with Zerto in whatever ways best suit your business.

In contrast to traditional purchasing methods that often result in IT projects being either overprovisioned or under-provisioned, the HPE GreenLake platform meets customers’ needs flexibly, with a bit of headroom, enabling them to flex based on data demands – whether it’s cyclical demands in the business cycle, growth demands or M&A activity.

The pay-per-use model also provides greater opportunity to invest capital where it’s needed.

Ready and resilient

Businesses don't always know what their security needs will look like in six months’ time. They might acquire new SaaS tools, new datasets, new users. The rapid scalability of the pay-as-you-go model ensures that they won’t be put into a corner, and they will have the agility to move quickly in the direction that’s needed.

Ransomware isn’t going away. Of course, it’s just one part of the overall security picture – though a big part.¹ But companies are fighting back and putting in place the right platforms to ensure that any incidents they encounter won’t impact their data. The key goal is resilience – the ability to adapt, flex and respond, no matter how the threat evolves. With HPE GreenLake, Zerto, and Commvault, you’re ready for the future, and you’re protected at every link in the chain of prevention, detection, response and recovery.

Learn more about HPE data protection and backup solutions – a suite of on-premises and cloud-based data protection solutions and services.

Read about security risk management services from HPE and how we help you fortify your data’s confidentiality, integrity and availability.

1. See, for example: Ransomware: Mitigating the Threat of Cyber Security Attacks.

Kevin Cole is the Director, Technical Marketing and Training, at Zerto, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. He leads teams focused on creating and sharing Zerto’s story and unique differentiators to the market through a variety of channels. With Zerto since 2015, Kevin’s recent work has focused on Zerto for Kubernetes, Zerto for ransomware resilience, and the positive outcomes that customers are seeing with the joint power of Zerto and HPE GreenLake together.

Jeff Carlat is Director of the HPE Global Strategic Alliance at Commvault responsible for the global Commvault business relationship with HPE. He works across HPE and Commvault to identify, drive and take to market innovative solutions and initiatives aligned to Hybrid Cloud, Intelligent Data Services, Data Availability and SaaS delivery of backup and recovery. Jeff brings together organic IP and technology with partner technology, consultative and GTM assets providing a simplified approach for customers to transform to the ever-changing landscape necessary for survival and to meet their SLAs.

Cloud Services Experts
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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