Ransomware Data Recovery With SaaS Backup
Ransomware Data Recovery With SaaS Backup | CloudAlly
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Overcoming Ransomware: The Critical Role of SaaS Backup in Data Recovery

Ransomware is the fastest growing malware threat as per the FBI. Employee training and anti-phishing policies help to mitigate the risk of ransomware. However, given the ingenuity of hackers, your data needs a ransomware safety net – one that only backup can provide. Cloud backup provides accurate and easy recoverability of data enabling you to quickly recover from the ransomware attack. The CISA too recommends backup as a key “precaution to protect users against the threat of ransomware”. But does your backup solution facilitate reliable ransomware recovery? That’s only possible if the solution enforces immutable backups that prevent backed up data from being modified, corrupted, or deleted.

What is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a type of malware that, when activated, denies access to the organization’s data until a ransom is paid. How does it spread? Ransomware’s main vector is social engineering scams like phishing emails, spear-phishing, and/or whaling. With social engineering reported as the entry point in 22% of all breaches, ransomware has got a great vehicle to race about in. And racing it is. After targeting smaller businesses and local government agencies, ransomware is moving to the big league. From logistic behemoth Maersk to pharmaceuticals like Merck, tech-savvy Garmin to a just-in ransomware attack on Canon and thousands in-between.

When infected by ransomware, your organization’s wheels are brought to a grinding and devastating halt. Companies with sensitive or financial data are particularly at risk, including government agencies, healthcare systems, and financial organizations. Recovery is cumbersome and costly requiring the services of a data recovery specialist. Which is why some organizations buckle in and pay the ransom to recover their files.

Ransomware on the Cloud

As Verizon’s Data Breach Report highlighted – hackers will go where the data is. Which increasingly is on the cloud and SaaS platforms like Office 365 and G Suite. Sophos’ State of Ransomware 2020 reported that 59% of attacks where the data was encrypted involved “data in the public cloud including cloud-based services such as Google Drive and Dropbox” 

How Can SaaS Backup Help With Ransomware Data Recovery?

Quick data recovery improves your disaster recovery capability and is critical in blunting the financial and business impact of data loss or corruption due to ransomware. Backup is the only surefire way to restore business-critical data seamlessly and rapidly. The US Government recommends backup to quickly restore a non-encrypted version of data, thus recovering quickly from ransomware and reducing its damages. More specifically, it recommends backup on the cloud rather than backup on-premises. This is because the backup storage is abstracted from the infrastructure being attacked. 

“Backups are critical in ransomware recovery and response; if you are infected, a backup may be the best way to recover your critical data.”

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

Organizations are heeding the recommendations. More than twice as many companies suffering a ransomware attack recovered their data via backups (56%) than by paying the ransom (26%).

However, your data is only as secure as your backups. Recently, an organization was attacked by ransomware with the target being their on-premises cloud backup data. The increasingly remote workforce brings its own set of security vulnerabilities to the table. This is why it is also recommended to backup with a secure solution that guarantees immutable backups and accurate recovery. 

Reliable Ransomware Data Recovery With Cloudally’s SaaS Backup

CloudAlly with its immutable, secure, and comprehensive backups helps you easily recover from ransomware attacks. CloudAlly’s differentiators for ransomware data recovery with SaaS backup:

  • Cloud Backups with Unlimited Storage: CloudAlly stores your backups on stringently secure AWS storage. As the backup infrastructure and storage are in the cloud, Cloudally’s SaaS backup provides a buffer that can prevent a ransomware attack on the primary data from corrupting the secondary backup data in the cloud. This is not possible with on-premises backup
  • AAA Security Framework: CloudAlly’s solution utilizes the industry gold-standard in managing risks associated with application access – Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting. 
    1. Authentication: CloudAlly uses OAuth for permission-based access when possible, eliminating the need to enter or store user credentials on the CloudAlly system. Furthermore, Multi-factor authentication (MFA)/ Two-factor authentication (2FA) is used to minimize the risk of unauthorized access using stolen credentials.
    2. Authorization: CloudAlly supports fine-grained permission-based management with role-based security. Thus administrators too are prevented from deleting and accessing backup data or manipulating security controls.
    3. Accounting: All activity including login, backups, and restores, is logged and can be easily viewed via your CloudAlly account activity tab.
  • Built-in Immutable Backups: CloudAlly’s backups are immutable. This means that the backup data cannot be manipulated or deleted. Only retention and GDPR modifications are allowed, and they have to be explicitly requested by customers. 
  • Data Encryption At-rest and In-transit: CloudAlly’s stores your data on stringently secure Amazon S3 storage and encrypted using advanced AES-256 bit encryption algorithms. Transmitted data is encrypted and secured using SSL (HTTPS) enabled servers.
  • Comprehensive Backups: For recovery from ransomware to be effective, you need to recover from a backup that’s both accurate and comprehensive. CloudAlly’s backup of  Microsoft 365 (Office 365), G Suite, Salesforce, Dropbox, and Box encompasses all data stored within. For instance, the Microsoft 365 backup includes Mail, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks, Groups/ Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint.
  • Easy Recovery with Well-Indexed Data: CloudAlly not only ensures that you have an uncorrupted, accurate “clean slate” of data to restore from, but it also eases the process of recovery. Our backups are indexed by content type, date, name, from/to email id, attachment names, and more. These advanced search filters let you perform granular searches. Thus you can quickly recover data in order of priority/urgency which helps with ensuring business continuity. Historical snapshots allow you to visually select the data you want to restore from any point-in-time. You can restore data to any users. And you can export backups to your own storage.
  • Stress-free Recovery With Unlimited Retention: CloudAlly’s Backup comes with unlimited retention. This coupled with flexible recovery options, makes restoring data a tension-free, three-click exercise. This significantly blunts the stressful impact of a ransomware attack. 

Ransomware can cause irreparable damage. Mitigate the risk with easy, accurate recovery using CloudAlly’s secure SaaS backup.

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