CDSA

Ransomware attacks are unfortunately here to stay, hurting organizations small and large. But using Wasabi hot cloud storage and Veritas’ backup applications can protect all of one’s data and mitigate the impact of ransomware attacks on an organization’s IT infrastructure.

Ransomware is, “without a doubt, one of the biggest headaches” for an organization, Drew Schlussel, senior director of product marketing at Wasabi, said Oct. 25 during the webinar “A Practical Guide to Ransomware: Immutable Backups with Wasabi + Veritas.”

It is important to “store multiple copies of your backups” as a result, he said. Also handy is “immutability,” he told attendees.

Telling a story to help explain the scenario, he said: “Karen is a hacker working for a global ransomware syndicate. Karen is paid to find vulnerable corporate systems where her ransomware can easily encrypt all of the production data and backups to ensure the victim pays the ransom because they have no other options. Karen drives a Mercedes SL 500 and vacations in Fiji because her targets over the last year didn’t have a solid, tested data protection strategy that included immutable backups. We hate Karen (and my apologies to anybody listening, whose name is Karen.”

Continuing to illustrate the scenario, he said: “Brad is a system administrator working for a hospital specializing in the treatment of pediatric cancer. Brad is paid to make sure that doctors and nurses have the right data at the right time to make the right decisions…. Brad knows all about Karen and her nefarious syndicate. That’s why he has a solid data protection strategy that incorporates industry best practices .. and has recently added the use of Object Lock” from Wasabi, Schlussel said.

“Brad uses Wasabi hot cloud storage for his offsite backups and was stoked to learn that he can now leverage Object Lock with net backup to ensure maximum data security and recover. By the way, after Brad demonstrated the hundred percent effectiveness of his data protection strategy with a no cost recovery exercise from his wasabi cloud storage, he was promoted to IT director and he’s taking his significant other on vacation to Fiji next winter. Brad likes Wasabi and Veritas together. We like Brad,” said Schlussel.

The big question that many have is: “Why are bad actors attacking backups?” The answer, Schlussel said: “Because that is the way that they maximize their ransomware demand and exert maximum pressure on their victims to pay the ransom. This is a well-known tactic. You’ve seen articles probably about various backup vendors strengthening their protections, adding additional defense in-depth measures to secure the data and to secure the administration of their applications. They get it. They understand that without the backups, you are defenseless, you have no other recourse, and you’re going to pay the ransom. And that just isn’t a viable solution for most of the people — for any of the people out there who are in a position of providing data for critical business functions.”

But Wasabi and Veritas solutions can be used together to stop the ransomware attackers, he said.

Vilas Belagodu, Wasabi VP partner and product management, went on to explain how immutability is used to lock the objects “in such a fashion that bad actors cannot encrypt the data with their own private keys.”

Additional benefits of Wasabi, the company said, include: Storage bills tend to be too complex but Wasabi offers predictable pricing and it’s also easy to understand.