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How does object storage help defend against ransomware?

Object storage should be part of your enterprise cybersecurity stack. Although it's not the same as a security tool, it does help optimize cyber defenses.

In 2021, ransomware attacks were predicted to happen every 11 seconds. By 2031, experts expect ransomware gangs to target businesses, consumers, and devices every two seconds.

Ransomware is an increasingly growing form of cyberattack. Ransomware-as-a-service is selling like hot cakes on the dark web. Anyone can pay for malware to infiltrate your entire system and demand money in return for access.

A victim has to think about data restoration and make a decision whether to pay or not to pay. To avoid such headaches, one can take many steps to mitigate the risk of a ransomware attack

One such method is to maintain and test encrypted offline data backups regularly. To take it a notch higher, you need to make sure the backup is immutable.

In this blog, you will learn how immutable object storage backups are an ally in your fight against ransomware.

What is object storage?

Object storage is a technology that deals with data as an individual or discrete unit called objects. It stores, manages, and manipulates data in large chunks instead of separate files and folders.

This non-traditional storage system attaches extra metadata to each object, making it easy to access data without hierarchy. It stores objects in a unified address space, which will require a unique ID to access.

Key benefits of object storage

Easy to search

In the object storage framework, the metadata resides in the object itself. This makes life easy for IT admins because they do not have to build a separate database to attach metadata to the object.

Moreover, it allows them to create, change and add custom metadata. This simplification of custom metadata makes searching and navigating much easier compared to file storage.

Unlimited scalability

Yes, file storage can store millions of files, but it has a limit. One of the biggest advantages of object storage is its ability to scale without limitation. Companies can keep adding data and nodes as and when needed.

Cost-effective

Businesses that require larger storage space need a budget-friendly system to store unstructured data. Due to the unlimited scalability, object storage is cheaper compared to traditional storage systems.

In block storage, due to its static nature, you pay even if you do not use it. With object storage, you can add as you want and pay only for what you use.

Increased resilience

When an object is created, it automatically copies onto more than one node. In case of a disaster or cyber attack, businesses do not have to panic as they will not lose data. Object storage delivers a fast, reliable, and efficient recovery system.

What’s the role of load balancing in the fight against ransomware?

Load balancing guarantees business continuity in a crisis. In the event of a ransomware attack, it allows data retrieval to continue while minimizing data loss. 

In an event of a failure or a ransomware attack that renders data and servers inaccessible –- a load balancer redirects incoming traffic across multiple data centers. When it detects an anomaly, backup data will not be assimilated into the main storage. 

While some industries may have a recovery time objective, some business sectors allow a downtime of zero. With load balancing in place, the failover will be a seamless process. The end-user will not feel any disruption.

How does immutable object storage fight against ransomware attacks?

Immutable means fixed or the inability to change for any reason. Object storage backups are naturally immutable and come in handy when securing data. Unlike in a file system, object storage does not replace data or overwrite them.

When you store data on an immutable backup system, it can only create, read, and delete. Through versioning, an existing backup will retain the previous version before saving the updated version. This facilitates recovery to the previous version state of the object.

So, recovery is seamless when threat actors restrict access to your server. With a load balancer in place, integrating object storage into your data management system should be an easy decision.

Additionally, object locking is a technique you can combine with object storage to ensure data immutability. This administers an unchangeable retention period on objects. And during that time, object modification or deletion is not possible. This prevents external data encryption and provides a solid defense against ransomware.

Ransomware attacks have penetrated all business sectors. Organizations are panicking in the face of uncertainty. 

The best way to prevent attacks is to follow tight security protocols. Through object versioning and locking, object storage and load balancing provide a solid defense against ransomware.



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