Prepared for Ransomware and Other Data Risks? Think Again

(SPONSORED ARTICLE)

Every October, businesses take time to recognize Cybersecurity Awareness Month. As we approach the 18th year celebrating this initiative, the cyber awareness part is already a given.

Cyber-attacks are everywhere, and they remain a continuous threat. Whether you are a large organization of 10,000 employees or a small mom and pop shop, the only question now is if your organization will be ready when your data is targeted. Chances are you already know somebody that has been affected, if not already your own business.

The ability to protect and recover data when the time comes is no longer an advantage, it’s a requirement to survive.

No one is disputing that data resiliency is critical to avoiding long recoveries and downtime when a cyber-attack inevitably occurs. In fact, recent research from IDC reveals that data resiliency is a top three priority for 76% of IT leaders today, and 95% already use the cloud for some part of their protection strategy. More so, 92% of IT leaders believe the data resiliency tools they use are “efficient or highly efficient.”

On the surface these results seem promising; they demonstrate that IT leaders believe they are prepared for cyber-attacks with the tools and processes they have in place. However, if you lift the hood and dive a bit deeper, further results paint an entirely different picture.

The Big Disconnect

While it’s true most IT leaders believe their systems are highly effective, 65% of those hit by ransomware were forced to pay the ransom, and nearly 50% experienced data loss. The top reason for data loss? Most were unable to determine the correct recovery point and recover corrupted backups. With systems already in place, an organization should always be able to recover their data from an attack, without ever paying the ransom. Yet, time and time again, research proves old systems aren’t designed for new tricks, which leaves companies grappling with lost data, downtime, and millions of dollars down the drain.

The truth is, most of today’s solutions require you to do the work and manage the risk yourself. Yet, when humans are involved, mistakes are inevitable. That is why the number one desire among the survey respondents was to modernize their protection systems with fully automated and non-disruptive infrastructure updates.

Going Beyond Just Ransomware

These modern systems have far-reaching benefits, outside of just ransomware. Yes, they will help IT leaders protect against ransomware, the most prevalent threat, but also many other data risks. While these risks don’t take up nearly as much airtime in the news, they are still a threat to your business and worth planning for.

A natural disaster is one of these risks. As climate change continues to expand, business data will only become more susceptible to fires, floods, superstorms, and hurricanes. These extreme weather events have already become more frequent and destructive; and they are happening everywhere. Whether it's a temporary outage due to record-breaking heat waves, or widespread flooding from a storm, it's only a matter of time until your business will be impacted.

Meanwhile, insider threats are also on the rise because of high employee turnover. According to the World Economic Forum, the majority of businesses admit that they don’t know how much sensitive data employees take with them when they move on to another company. Whether malicious or unintentional, WEF argues that the Great Resignation could actually be one of the biggest insider threats facing organizations in a generation. Unless you are a one-person business, you must also plan for this type of scenario and mitigate the risk.

Whether it's data loss from a ransomware attack, natural disaster, an insider, or even user error (which is more common than you think), automated solutions are designed to reduce these risks and enable a smooth recovery.

The Answer Lies in the Cloud

The cloud enables such automated systems. A solution built in the cloud will actively protect backup data, monitor for attacks, and prepare you for full recovery. More importantly, it will deliver you the resilience you need to respond to unexpected events with minimal disruption so you can carry on with what you do best. IT leaders agree, with 50% indicating cloud is set to play a major role in backup and recovery strategies, disaster recovery, cyber-recovery, and data archive.

However, be wary of and avoid cloud-washed products, which are at best an exaggeration and offer nothing more than on-premises software installed into the cloud. Always do your homework before signing on the dotted line.

As the industry’s only data resiliency cloud, Druva delivers unmatched protection against all data loss and downtime events. Don’t just take our word for it; sign up for the only industry guarantee that provides end-to-end coverage for your data across all key risks, up to $10 million.

W. Curtis Preston has specialized in storage, backup, and recovery since 1993 and has been an end-user, consultant, and analyst. Most recently he has joined the team at Druva as Chief Technical Evangelist. He’s written four books on data protection including, Modern Data Protection, Backup & Recovery, Using SANs and NAS, and Unix Backup & Recovery.