Cybersecurity Is Not Enough: Businesses Need Cyber Recovery

Until recently, cyberattacks could be compared to break-ins, thefts, or burglaries. Someone or a group of people would bypass your cybersecurity systems, get inside your network, and steal valuable data, like a group of thieves breaking through a vault door to get the cash inside.

As such, many organizations focused on bolstering their network security: better firewalls, more secure encryption, and other defenses to keep bad actors out.

That’s no longer enough. Tech research and consulting firm Gartner summed up the situation in a paper last year titled You Will Be Hacked, So Embrace the Breach: “Cybersecurity breaches are inevitable, but many security and risk management leaders still think they can prevent all hacks by throwing people and money at their defenses. Instead of striving so hard to prevent breaches, they should focus on resilience,” ensuring they can recover their files in the case of a breach.

Simple Backups Don’t Go Far Enough

Data protection and backup solutions have been a core function of IT operations for many decades. Many organizations make regular use of backups to enhance their resilience in case of system failures, human error, or as part of a data recovery strategy.

But a simple backup is not enough to keep pace with the sophistication of modern intrusions. For one thing, network intrusions are not one-and-done, get-in-and-get-out operations anymore. A report from CyberReason in 2022 found that 63% of organizations which had suffered a network attack in the last 12 months had bad actors present in their network for up to six months before they were detected.

Today’s cyberattacks are as sophisticated as our defenses. Many attackers know of the existence of backups and data protection systems and will target them first or at the same time as they hit the main network. After spending months inside the network and gathering administrative IDs and root-level access, they will have complete access to virtually all systems.

Immutable, Air-Gapped, Intelligent Recovery Needed

Many of these cyberattacks are ransomware attacks. Imagine rather than digital robberies these are more like digital kidnappings. When the attackers gain access, they encrypt data anywhere on the network, and offer the decryption key in exchange for a monetary ransom. Considering how costly the loss of data and inability to carry on the organizations primary business or service can be, many companies are tempted to pay the ransom. The trouble is this doesn’t usually result in a good outcome. In that same CyberReason report, it was found that 90% of enterprises were never able to recover 100% of their data after they paid the ransom.

The only real option is to effectively recover. But how is that possible against attackers with root and administrative-level access to the entire network?

A cyber recovery solution is the key to an effective and comprehensive recovery and a critical component of your overall cyber resiliency. There are three crucial attributes organizations should look for in the ideal cyber recovery solution:

• Immutability
• Isolation
• Intelligence

Immutable Solutions Prevent Initial Alterations

An immutable solution limits the ability of intruders to make changes to backup files. Examples of this could be a retention lock on data stored on a Dell Data Domain, or employing multi-administrator verification, as bad actors often rely on scripts and automation and may not easily overcome multi-administrator verification requirements. The right combination of technologies ensures that intruders are not able to alter your backups, no matter which credentials they have obtained.

Isolated Solution Limits Window of Opportunity for Attackers

Preventing any access to backups is ideal. Since firewalls can be breached, a better method of preventing access is to physically prevent it. An air-gapped and isolated vault significantly limits the risk of a network breach.

Intelligence Helps Seal Gaps

An intelligent solution makes it easier to detect potential breaches before they become a major problem.

Even the most diligent cybersecurity professional can’t dig through and verify the massive reams of data many enterprises generate regularly. Many enterprises turn to solutions that can scan the metadata of files to check for the large-scale changes that are indicative of a cyberattack. But many key indicators, such as mass changes in filenames or file contents, require software that can dig through the files themselves and analyze them intelligently to catch a potential breach. As such, businesses need a solution that goes beyond just the metadata to provide the warning signs of a potential attack.

Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery Covers All Bases

Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery enables enterprises to quickly identify suspicious activity and isolate critical data, minimizing the disruption caused by a cyberattack. Accelerated data recovery minimizes downtime and ensures the swiftest possible return to normal operations.