Immutable backups to hot cloud storage stop ransomware threats cold

Pax8
Veeam

Before you click away thinking this is another doom and gloom post about beefing up your security to the point where you’re working in a bunker cut off from the world, we want to assure you< it’s not. Instead, think of this as an instructional tale on leveraging immutable backup and hot cloud storage, so you can tell ransomware cybercriminals to take a hike if they try to hold your data hostage.

The Chilling Reality of Ransomware

We’ve all heard the warning when it comes to ransomware it’s not a matter of IF, but rather WHEN. We have to admit that the latest statistics paint a pretty bleak picture, but we don’t want them to get you down. We’re including some stats here simply to give you a frame of reference. It’s definitely an issue that can cost a lot of people a lot of money, if they don’t have a solution in place to keep their data safe and warm.

Ransomware attacks in the US increased 185% and increased 144% in the UK in the first 6 months of 2021.1 50% of MSPs reported that ransomware attacks evaded antivirus/anti-malware solutions.2 The average ransom paid increased 171% from $115,123 in 2019 to $312,493
in 2020.
3
Only 8% of companies got all their data back after paying the ransom.4

You can dig deeper into the ever-increasing frequency and devastating effects of ransomware attacks on this Veeam page and with this Wasabi infographic.

Building a Sound Backup Strategy

The first key to protecting yourself from a ransomware attack is to establish a strict process for backing up data. You want to limit a cybercriminal’s access to your backups. You also want to make sure the backups you create don’t contain any corrupt data. We recommend adopting Veeam’s Golden Backup Rule that takes the standard 3-2-1 approach a step further and expands it to 3-2-1-1-0.

3 : Maintain at least 3 copies of your data

2 : Store backups on at least 2 different media

1 : Store at least 1 copy offsite

1 : Store at least 1 copy offline, air gapped, or immutable

0 : Have verified backups with 0 errors

3-2-1-1-0

Freezing Out Ransomware Attackers

As part of establishing a sound 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy, you’ll want to guarantee the integrity of your backup datasets by instituting an immutability protocol. An immutable backup is one that protects your data from being altered or deleted by anyone, including yourself, for a period of time, which is determined by its immutability policy. When a backup is stored as an immutable object, or as a series of immutable objects, the immutability policy dictates when that object can be removed or altered. This not only protects the data from accidental modification or erasure, it also keeps ransomware attackers from being able to encrypt that backup and hold it hostage.

Wasabi hot cloud storage delivers immutability through its Object Lock feature that is fully interoperable with Veeam Backup and Replication V10 and V11. This powerful combination enables backup and recovery for Exchange, SharePoint, and OneDrive for Business data with hot cloud object storage to leverage the limitless capacity of the cloud. A single interface from Veeam keeps the management of backups simple, while Wasabi’s limitless hot cloud storage provides exceptional data accessibility, durability, security, and immutability.

Blazing Hot Data Recovery

The final and arguably most important piece of any data protection strategy is the ability to quickly restore clean, so you can resume normal operations. This is where hot cloud storage comes into play. With a Veeam + Wasabi data protection solution, even recovery data is treated as hot data, so it can be accessed in milliseconds. This reduces the time it takes to create backups, and it provides almost instant access to your data to speed up your disaster recovery time. You’ll not only avoid having to pay some exorbitant ransom to a cybercriminal, you also won’t be burning through losses while you wait for your data to be restored.

Maximum Data Protection with Veeam + Wasabi

The Veeam + Wasabi partnership solution delivers exceptional performance at a low cost that first-generation backup solutions simply can’t match. It’s< a hot cloud backup solution for MSPs and their clients that leaves ransomware criminals shivering out in the cold.

Visit the Pax8 Veeam and Wasabi webpages to discover the features and benefits you’ll get when you combine industry-leading backup and restoration with immutable hot cloud storage.

Also check out  the “Lock Down Your Data with Cloud Backups and Object Lock” webinar and the “Veeam and Wasabi for Maximum Data Protection” solution brief to learn more.

Schedule a call with a Pax8 Solutions Consultant to get started with a Veeam + Wasabi data protection solution today.

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