Is Your Backup Actually Safe from a Ransomware Attack? Not without an Air-Gapped Cloud Backup.

Cybercrime has become less a series of random attacks and more an industry where criminal organizations are forming to hack into companies, lock their data, and ransom it back to them—or to sell it to the highest bidder. Ransomware-as-a-service has increased the frequency of cyberattacks from every 2 minutes in 2016 to every 11 seconds in 2021—in 2023, it’s even faster. While organizations can’t stop cyber-attacks from happening, you can make sure you have as many layers of loss prevention as possible in the event of one.

It’s easy to think that if your network or database is hacked, OneDrive or Google Drives should automatically back up your data—the problem is, these can easily be compromised and deleted in the same ransomware attack that locks the rest of your data. In truth, these backup solutions aren’t there to protect your data in the instance of a cyberattack; they’re traditionally used for accidental user error, a system failure, or other cases of non-malicious data loss, and they are not immune from shortcomings in those instances as well.

So how do I keep my data safe?

Much like working with dangerous materials in the real world, your company’s data should always be safely backed up by an ‘air-gapped’ cloud service like Veeam. Veeam offers solutions for your existing cloud data, your virtual machines, your physical machines, your SaaS infrastructure, and any Apps you may be using for your business as well.

In this instance, these subscriptions backup your data on a regular schedule and store it off-site in a separate location from your company; these backups can make the difference in losing a few days’ worths of data since the last scheduled backup, or losing all of that data to a ransomware attack.

A ransomware attack can take your business offline for weeks if you aren’t prepared for one. It can compromise key data needed for audits and erase years of work that might be essential for your business to keep on file. Using an on-premises or internal backup, or backups that aren’t separated by that additional, external protection of a virtual air-lock leaves you vulnerable to modern, sophisticated cyberattacks. While cybercrime and ransomware evolve to target unexpected vulnerabilities every day, it’s important to arm yourself with the tools to get you back online in the event of your systems being compromised.

What does Veeam offer? What do they use to protect my data?

Veeam boasts a wide range of services, including Backup & Replication with Instant Recovery, Monitoring and Analytics, Backup for Microsoft 365, Backup for Salesforce, and tools for Disaster Recovery specifically if you are the victim of a ransomware attack. While not every business will need multiple instances of Veeam, having at least one cloud solution to protect your organization’s most important information will insure that if you’re taken offline, it’s possible to get you up and going safely—usually faster than some companies can even consider paying the ransom for getting their information back. Coupled with Double-Play Immutability practices, using a backup solution like Veeam offers an almost iron-tight recovery solution if your business’s data is compromised or deleted in the event of a system breach.

If you’re uncertain about the security of your system backup, or would like more information on Veeam and making sure your systems can be restored in the event of a targeted attack, give us a call at 01908 087 000 or send our experienced team an email at sales@10-100.com.