EXPERT OPINION
to back up their most critical machines
rather than focusing on their most
business-critical data.
So rather than having backup and recovery
policies based on the criticality of each
server, we will start to see organisations
match their most critical servers with
their most important data. In essence, the
actual content of the data will become
more of a decision-driver from a backup
point of view. The most successful
companies in the digital economy will be
those that implement storage policies
based not on their server hierarchy, but on
the value of their data.
What are the implications
for organisations which do
not employ robust data
protection schemes?
Organisations that fail to implement
a robust data protection scheme put
themselves at serious risk of suffering a
data breach and causing potentially fatal
damage to the business. When it comes
to system downtime, businesses risk
both reputational damage and the cost
associated with downtime.
If customer data is stolen, clients will
lose trust in the business and may look
to competitors. In addition, if employees
aren’t able to access critical files,
productivity will plummet. Companies
without a robust data protection scheme
should look to implement one as a matter
of urgency.
What best practice approach
should organisations take to
data protection?
StorageCraft recommends organisations
assess and test their recovery plans for
ransomware prevention, remediation,
systems failures, any type of natural
disaster, on a regular basis, being once a
year, twice a year, etc. It is the only way
to know whether they can meet their
Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and
Recovery Time Objectives (RTO).
In the event of a ransomware attack,
businesses should first identify and
locate their business-critical data and
take steps to protect it. This step includes
email security systems, firewalls, regular
software updates, clearly audited
administrative and access policies
and user education. Prevention is not
foolproof, which is why a ransomwarespecific
plan for remediation and recovery
is essential. Thwarting ransomware is
dependent on an organisation’s data
locality (i.e., on-premises, in the cloud
or in cloud-based applications such as G
Suite and O365) and preferred recovery
location. Critical elements of a successful
plan for ransomware remediation and
recovery include:
Immutable snapshots: To ensure
unstructured data can be recovered,
companies should protect their
information with continuous immutable
snapshots. Data captured this way is
‘frozen’ and cannot be overwritten or
deleted by ransomware attackers. This
ensures an organisation can revert to a
secure set of data.
Orchestration: A successful recovery
process requires that business-critical data
and applications are prioritised. Companies
using cloud-based recovery should predetermine
the order in which their data
and applications will be recovered. This
‘orchestration’ ensures minimal downtime,
once data recovery begins.
Immediate recovery: Considering
one minute of downtime costs US$5,600
according to industry analyst firm,
Gartner, the speed of recovery following
a ransomware attack is a crucial element
of the remediation and recovery process.
Solutions such as StorageCraft VirtualBoot
provide the ability to recover virtual
and physical infrastructures – and both
structured and unstructured data – instantly.
Failback: After a successful cloud-based
recovery, the last step in remediating a
ransomware infection is returning the
data infrastructure to its original location
and resuming operations as usual. The
planned failback process should have a
minimal impact on production applications
to minimise any additional downtime and
adverse effect on the business.
What are some of the key
challenges organisations face
when it comes to data protection
and how can StorageCraft help
to address these?
A recent survey, commissioned by
StorageCraft, discovered that nearly 50%
of IT decision makers are struggling with
data growth and believe it is only going
to get worse. Further to this, 51% are not
confident that their IT infrastructures can
perform instant data recovery in the event
of a failure. It’s clear that exponential data
growth and its safe storage is a challenge
for organisations and an area that
businesses need additional support.
The findings also reveal a concerning
disconnect between an organisation’s
confidence and its actual ability to recover
from a ransomware attack. While 68% of
respondents believe they have a clear plan
in place and could quickly recover from a
ransomware attack, nearly a quarter (23%)
do not test their recovery plans. Of those
that do test, nearly half (46%) only test
their recovery plans once a year or less.
Further highlighting the difference
between the perception and reality of
being able to recover from a ransomware
attack, the majority (86%) of respondents
confirmed they suffered data loss in the
IF THE DATA
IS BREACHED,
SUBJECT TO A
RANSOMWARE
ATTACK OR
UNAVAILABLE
FOR A GIVEN
PERIOD OF TIME,
IT CAN PROVE
CATASTROPHIC TO
A BUSINESS.
www.intelligentdatacentres.com Issue 15
41