Maximize production uptime with OT system protection

Frequently Asked Questions

• What types of OT systems does Acronis support?

  Acronis Cyber Protect provides backup and recovery for OT systems running on Windows or Linux. For example, this includes OT systems operating in Zones 2, 3 and 3.5 of the Purdue Model, including, but not limited to Zone 2 Supervisory Control Systems like HMI, SCADA and Jump Servers, Zone 3 Operations Systems like Historians and I/O Servers, and Zone 3.5 (OT / IT DMZ) Systems like Patch Servers and Historian Mirrors. Acronis Cyber Protect is also commonly used to protect non-OT systems operating in Zone 4, Enterprise and Business Network Systems, including an extremely broad range of hardware platforms, virtual machines, cloud workloads, operating systems and applications.

• How does the Acronis backup process work for OT systems?

  Acronis protection of OT systems running on Windows and Linux uses an agent-based architecture in conjunction with very flexible and highly customizable backup plans. Given the importance of stability and the reliance on very old versions of Windows and Linux in real-time production settings, it is common for businesses in manufacturing and industry to use image-based backup for their OT systems, automatically executed at least once per day.

• Is the Acronis backup process secure and compliant with industry standards?

  Acronis Cyber Protect offers optional strong encryption based on AES-256 for OT system backups in transit and at rest regardless of how and where backups are stored. Acronis encryption is also FIPS 140-2 compliant. This helps businesses to achieve compliance with industry-specific standards like IEC 62443 (for OT systems in general), NERC CIP (for the North American power generation sector), and GxP (for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices and other industries).

• How frequently can Acronis backups be scheduled?

  Backup plans in Acronis Cyber Protect offer great flexibility in backup frequency, anywhere from multiple times per day to daily, weekly or monthly. OT system backups can also be triggered automatically in response to specific events, like an OT system reboot or OS detection of a bad block on a hard disk drive (often an indicator that the drive is about to fail).

• How are Acronis backups of OT systems stored and protected?

  Acronis Cyber Protect offers a broad range of backup storage options for OT systems, including: a secure partition on the hard drive; local storage hardware (e.g., directly connected via SATA or USB); local network storage (NAS or SAN devices); private or public cloud storage; and in the Acronis Cloud, our secure global data center network. Connection to a network is not necessary to use Acronis Cyber Protect; many businesses in manufacturing and industry use Acronis to protect their OT systems in air-gapped environments.

• Can Acronis perform backup and testing operations on OT systems without affecting real-time production operations?

  Acronis Cyber Protect is designed to back up OT systems without disrupting real-time production operations. It is not necessary to schedule production downtime or to reboot OT systems to perform backups. Even the initial installation of the Acronis backup agent can be performed on a live OT system without disrupting its operation or requiring a reboot.

• Can Acronis perform granular restores or full system recoveries of OT systems?

  Acronis Cyber Protect offers a variety of backup types to accommodate diverse data protection needs, including full-image backup, file-level backup, incremental backup and differential backup, all with rich version control capabilities.

• What deployment architectures does Acronis support?

  Acronis Cyber Protect offers flexible deployment options. The on-premises deployment option, with the Acronis Management Server installed on hardware or a virtual machine on the same premises as the systems it is protecting, is most commonly used in OT environments and is especially valued in air-gapped environments. Other deployment options include cloud-based deployment, in which the Acronis Management Server runs on a virtual machine hosted in the Acronis Cloud, and hybrid deployment, which uses both cloud-based and premises-based Acronis Management Servers to allow some system backups to remain on-site while enabling the use of cloud storage, disaster recovery and immutable storage options.

• What is the 3-2-1 backup rule, and how does it apply to OT systems?

  The 3-2-1 rule of backup is a widely recommended best practice in data protection, including in OT environments. It recommends maintaining three backup copies (including the primary production system) on at least two different storage media types with one copy stored off-site. Maintaining three copies of data helps protect against a range of potential system outage causes, e.g., hardware failure, cyberattack and human error, by improving the ability to restore a copy from local or off-site storage. Using two different storage media types minimizes the impact of losing one type of storage media, e.g., a ransomware attack that propagates through all local storage devices it can find online, but cannot affect offline media like tape drives. Storing one backup copy off-site preserves recovery capabilities even in the event of a local disaster like a fire or flood. Given the high cost of downtime in real-time production environments, the 3-2-1 rule is a recommended best practice for protecting OT systems.