Closing the Gap: Cyber Security and Disaster Recovery
Check out why to integrate resilience against attacks and efficient recovery as cyber threats surge.
Faced with the ever-increasing threat of ransomware attacks and data breaches, organizations are becoming more vigilant in their efforts to achieve a state of cyber resilience. But while improving their cyber security posture, many still need to upgrade their disaster recovery (DR) and data backup processes. Brian Dutton, director of US sales and client services of Assured Data Protection, explains why businesses must better integrate their cyber and DR strategies to close gaps, reduce risk, and ensure business continuity.
Cybersecurity threats are becoming more prolific because they have been woven into an organization’s risk assessment plans. For many, it’s no longer a matter of ‘if’ but when. But businesses and government organizations aren’t taking this lying down. According to recent estimates, businesses will spend more than $188 billion on information security in 2023 as more and more organizations look to achieve a state of cyber resilience, which means establishing a level of preparedness for cyber-attacks and responding accordingly.
However, despite the enormous investment in cyber security, there is a growing disparity between cyber resiliency and disaster recovery and backup, which can lead to big problems in the event of a data breach or ransomware attack. Often, organizations need an adequate recovery plan, facing the prospect of days, even weeks, of downtime while restoring lost and corrupted data. This defeats the idea of cyber resilience altogether and calls into question the investment in cyber security tools when the organization hasn’t factored in what happens in the aftermath of an attack. An organization’s ability to bounce back from an attack is just as important as its ability to repel an attack in the first place.
The Divergence of Cyber and DR
Despite the obvious connection between cyber security and DR, the two have recently diverged, with organizations placing more emphasis on cyber defenses. While organizations have understandably updated their cyber defenses and protocols, they haven’t synced them with their DR and backup plans. It’s become a bit of a blind spot, especially if they rely on third-party solutions to recover data in the public cloud. The more disparate the data – scattered across on-premises, public, and hybrid cloud environments – the harder it is to recover. The last thing the board wants to hear, while the company is still reeling from an attack is that remediation will take longer than expected, and business operations will be disrupted. It’s a risk that businesses simply cannot afford to take.
DR has traditionally been seen as a response to natural disasters, such as floods or fires, power outages, and anything that compromises operations to company data centers or on-premises solutions. Cyber threats are no different, and the more dependent organizations become on data and public cloud infrastructures, the more intrinsic DR and backup will become to achieving a fundamental level of cyber resilience.
See More: How To Become Cyber Resilient Amid Increasing Threats
Immutable Backup
Large enterprises and medium-sized organizations traditionally managed the DR and backup function in-house, using their own servers and data centers. But as more data and systems came online, it became a costly and time-consuming process, compounded by the migration to hybrid cloud infrastructures and the growing dependence on cloud and SaaS platforms to support specific functions and remote working. The sheer scale of the cloud can make organizations more vulnerable to attacks. Still, it also requires a backup solution that can scale to meet the size and scope of an organization’s digital footprint that can accommodate critical data and assets. The answer today lies in having a third-party immutable backup in place that an organization can fall back on in the case of an emergency.
These flexible and scalable solutions act as a second site where you can replicate and restore all your critical infrastructure to prevent any disruption or downtime to business operations. It’s more advantageous to have a fully managed solution to archive and recover data across on-prem, public, and hybrid cloud environments. Not only will this secure off-site location help to keep operations running and ensure business continuity, but it’s also managed by a team of professionals around the clock, giving you the time you need to diagnose the attack and the extent of damage it’s caused, and what needs to be done to resolve the situation. Safe in the knowledge that operations are still up and running.
See More: 4 Key Aspects of Data Backup and Recovery
Closing the DR and Cyber Gap
DR and backup solutions have evolved to ensure organizations can fall back on immutable backups the moment a cyber-attack compromises data and systems. They are compatible with the full range of cloud infrastructures typically used by organizations today. They can be up and running within minutes rather than waiting hours or days to resume normal operations. They’re also cloud-based and can be quickly integrated into corporate cyber security and DR strategies to boost cyber resilience and deliver a more holistic approach to prevention and recovery.
CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs can finally connect the dots between cyber resilience and disaster recovery, consolidate resources, and drive cost efficiencies. With ransomware attacks so prevalent now and pressures from management to shore up defenses, it’s not surprising that many organizations fail to see the link between cyber security and DR. Fortunately, with resources spread too thinly across the cloud and on-prem, organizations are beginning to realize they need immutable backups that allow them to recover data the moment they’re compromised.
How can merging cybersecurity with DR safeguard your business? Let us know on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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