In the U.S., the protectors from cyberattacks – the CISA, FBI, NSA and their international partners – have issued a joint advisory on the ransomware trends of 2021, indicating that the problem is in full swing – and likely only getting worse.
However, according to Brian Spanswick, Cohesity CISO and Head of IT, this battle against rogue actors and malicious states and their malignant malware does not have to be as scary as it sounds.
Spanswick says that with improved data management and stronger security architecture, then businesses can develop solutions to backup, defend, and recover their data against cybercriminals.
Spanswick tells Digital Journal how next-generation data management can ensure that ransomware is the least of a typical organization’s concerns in 2022.
Spanswick begins by considering the spectre: “Ransomware continues to plague organizations globally and is becoming an increasingly sophisticated challenge. As the recent advisory warns, malicious actors are focusing their attacks on the cloud, data backup, and MSPs, looking to disrupt supply chain software or industrial processes.”
With the threat landscape ploughed, Spanswick outlines what can be done. As he notes: “To help thwart these attacks and minimize their impact, organizations need to enhance their security postures by embracing next-gen data management capabilities that enable organizations to: utilize immutable backup snapshots, detect potential anomalies via artificial intelligence and machine learning that could signal an attack in progress, and address mass data fragmentation challenges that can also reduce data proliferation.”
There is more to consider as well. Spanswick recommends: “Organizations are also encouraged to embrace data management platforms that enable customers to adopt a 3-2-1 rule to data backups, ensure data is encrypted both at transit and at rest, enable multi-factor authentication, and employ zero trust principles.”
In terms of what next generation technologies can help to muster in, Spanswick describes: “Next-gen data management not only focuses on going beyond zero trust security principles, but it can enable simplicity at scale, AI-powered monitoring and alerts, and 3rd-party app extensibility.”
These can. Spanswick surmises, “play a role in advancing overall security protocols, and helping organizations restore operations promptly in the event of a successful attack.”
