Written by Jon Toor, Cloudian CMO
As demonstrated by the 90 percent increase of ransomware
attacks from 2016 to 2017, defending data against malicious software that locks
up files until a ransom is paid remains a frightening concern for enterprises.
Tricking enterprises worldwide, unauthorized parties access victims' data and
encrypt it, making data inaccessible to the user. To obtain the encryption key,
the user must give up a ‘treat' to the attacker, usually in the form of
hard-to-track cryptocurrency.
So, how does one stop these ‘trick or treat' ransomware
attacks?
Defensive strategies such as malware detection software and
security training programs help. But if you're serious about keeping your candy
bag out of harm's way, you should also consider the silver bullet that can act
as a final line of defense: your storage system.
Enterprises need advanced storage solutions that can limit ransomware's
effects when defensive measures fail. Object storage, a form of
unstructured data storage that eliminates the scaling limitations of
traditional file storage, offers two functions that could provide an answer:
"write once, read many" (WORM) capabilities and versioning.
WORM eliminates the fear of ransomware attacks by making
data unchangeable until a specified time limit has passed, preventing malware
from encrypting data and locking users out. Because the data cannot be altered,
it cannot be encrypted by ransomware. WORM protects data at the backup target
layer, where malware cannot access it.
Versioning produces a new copy of data whenever it's altered
but it retains the original copy. Therefore, when a ransomware attack hits, a
copy of the unencrypted file remains.
With
ransomware attacks on the rise and data security remaining a top concern for enterprises,
businesses are rethinking their IT strategies entirely. Privacy concerns and
policies such as GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act and data breaches,
are causing enterprises to turn to object storage for its secure storage,
scalability and low cost. According to Gartner, 80% of enterprise data will be
stored in some form of object storage by 2021.
By
adding object storage to your enterprise IT strategy, wicked ransomware attacks
will quickly become a ghost of the past.
##
About the Author
Jon Toor is chief
marketing officer at Cloudian, a provider of object storage for large-scale enterprises.