According to Sophos, The State of Ransomware 2023 report, the average cost to recover from a ransomware attack excluding any ransoms paid is $1.82M and this number is only going to go up in the future. In today's data-centric landscape, an important line of defense against ransomware and cyber threats is the implementation of immutable and indelible backups. Far from being just standard backups, these are robust and secure solutions, engineered to be unchangeable and non-erasable. Immutable backups guarantee that your data remains intact and protected, providing a reliable safeguard for your digital assets.
Essential Data Security
Imagine Azure NetApp Files (ANF) snapshots as secure checkpoints for your data. These snapshots are point-in-time, read-only copies of your data, securely stored within the ANF volume. While inherently immutable, they can still be deleted. The goal is to protect these snapshots by copying the "daily" snapshot to a protected Azure blob space, which is configured to be both immutable and indelible.
This Azure blob space is not just any storage location; it is safeguarded by a data protection policy that prevents any changes or deletions of the snapshot until its predetermined retention period has expired. Immutable backups provide a range of benefits:
- Ransomware Protection: Immutable backups are protected against ransomware attacks that attempt to encrypt or delete your data.
- Threat Prevention: These backups guard against both internal and external threats that might try to compromise or destroy your backup data.
- Regulatory Compliance: Immutable backups help ensure compliance with data regulations that mandate the maintenance of data integrity and authenticity.
- Reliable Disaster Recovery: In the event of data loss, immutable backups enable a quick and accurate restoration of data.
The Scenario: Ensuring Data Durability
The process begins with the creation of an ANF snapshot in your production environment. This snapshot is a recorded state of your data at a specific moment in time. ANF Cross Region Replication (CRR) then replicates the volume, including the snapshots, to a secondary Disaster Recovery (DR) region.
In the DR region, NetApp BlueXP takes over, automatically copying the ./snapshot directory to a WORM (Write Once, Read Many) Azure blob, ensuring the immutability and indelibility of the backup. The defined lifecycle of this Azure Blob dictates the duration for which the backup will be retained. See the NetApp BlueXP screen shot below.
In summary, the key to securing your data's future is through the use of immutable, indelible backups. Azure NetApp Files and NetApp BlueXP not only allow you to create backups but ensure that your data remains unaltered and secure, prepared for any potential data threats. Your data is well-protected, providing peace of mind and operational continuity. Would you like to see for yourself how BlueXP can protect your data in Azure NetApp Files? Try this guided demo.