2021 has seen further progressed made in forming an agile and hyper-connected digital world, but this has also brought with it new and enhanced threats, especially a continuation of ransomware. Will we see this carry on in 2022?
The answer is yes, according to Mark Potter, Chief Information Security Officer at Backblaze. Potter tells Digital Journal how he is very concerned about the trajectory of increasing cybersecurity incidences.
Potter expects threat to continue to grow throughout 2022, especially with ransomware and related malicious codes. As he explains: “With ransomware threats soaring to record-levels throughout 2021, security will continue to be more important than ever for businesses in 2022.”
The volume of ransomware attacks over the first three quarters of 2021 reached 470 million, which represents a 148 percent increase compared with the same period last year, according to Info Security Magazine.
This directs attention to key parts of the corporate structure, as Potter points out: “The responsibility of maintaining protection will fall to the entire C-Suite, including CEOs, COOs, and CFOs – not just the CIOs.”
This invariably means trying new tactics to try and stem the cybersecurity tide. Potter’s analysis has found: “More companies will look to adopt capabilities that buffer their line of defense, like immutability or object lock protections.”
Potter predicts that: “The 3-2-1 backup approach (having three copies of your data, on two different media with one copy offsite) will evolve from highly recommended to bare minimum with more orgs updating to the 3-2-1-1-0 (having three copies of your data, on two different media, one copy offsite, one copy air gapped and zero errors on recoverability solutions), or 4-3-2 approaches ((having four copies of your data, in three different locations with two copies offsite).”
A 4-3-2 strategy means backups are duplicated and geographically distant to offer protection from events like natural disasters and cyberattacks.
The counterbalance will come in the form of trust solutions, notes Potter. By this he explains: “Nations need domestic capacity to produce trustworthy baseboard-level electronics for use in high-security settings. The temptation for “outsider” nations to include unwanted backdoors or weaknesses has become too great.”
As to what this will mean, Potter clarifies: “In 2022, companies will increasingly be willing to pay a premium for the ability to work with trustworthy and well-reputed industry partners at all levels.”
