Nasuni Study Reveals Data Security Strategy Disconnect

The ransomware problem is getting worse. A few years ago, news of a million-dollar ransom was frightening. Now the complete toll of an attack on a large organization can grow to hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet recent research reveals a profound data security strategy disconnect. While the vast majority of organizations think they are prepared for an attack, only a fraction of them actually respond and recover effectively. According to a recent Nasuni survey of 1,150 IT leaders:

• 97% of IT leaders were confident in their cybersecurity protections and preparedness
• 75% were confident they can recover from and cope with a destructive cyberattack
• 73% dealt with a cyber attack within the last year
• 74% of those attacked endured costly downtime, data loss, reputational damage, or were forced to pay a ransom
• Only 20% of the organizations surveyed easily detected and recovered from the incident

Why are companies so overconfident when it comes to their data security strategy? The marketing claims of solutions providers may be partially to blame, but the gap may have more to do with the target of these attacks. In holding your company’s data hostage, a ransomware attack holds your organization captive. Your business can’t function normally until your people, applications, and machines have access to the files they need.

The key to eliminating this ransomware preparedness disconnect is to develop a data security strategy that provides you with justifiable, provable confidence. An effective ransomware defense plan should be:

Reliable

Only 49% of the businesses surveyed have taken steps to be sure their data is backed up, immutable, and easily recoverable. All three of these variables are critical in terms of the reliability of a data protection and recovery plan. Backup to the cloud might keep your data safe, but if you cannot recover that data easily, then the resulting business downtime is going to be very, very expensive.

Testable

A surprising 60% of companies don’t have a well-rehearsed plan in place if an attack occurs. Not only do you need a plan – you need to be able to simulate recoveries and test that plan on a regular basis to make sure the technology is going to work as expected.

Proactive

No defense strategy is going to be 100% effective. Your ransomware solution should actively search for and detect the early signs of an attack and trigger an immediate response.

Real-time

A mere 47% of the organizations have tools capable of detecting a ransomware attack in real time. Yet speed is essential. Ransomware can spread rapidly through large organizations, so the faster you respond, the greater your chances of containing the attack.

Rapid

Finally, your ransomware defense strategy should allow your business operations to return to normal as soon as possible. According to our research, 54% of companies suffered an attack that resulted in downtime and other costs.

Here at Nasuni, we have been helping enterprises store and protect their file data for more than a decade. Early in the ransomware era, we discovered that the Nasuni File Data Platform, which continuously versions data to the immutable object store, is uniquely suited to mitigating this threat. The core platform allows companies that have been victimized by ransomware to recover millions of files in minutes. Our proactive Ransomware Protection service monitors customer systems, identifying and quarantining threats early to further accelerate recoveries.

The technology gives IT leaders peace of mind, too, since they can simulate malware events and test their recovery, providing them with a reliable plan if – or when – a real attack happens. With Nasuni, IT leaders can eliminate the data security strategy disconnect and proceed with justified, testable confidence that both their file data and their business are both protected against ransomware.