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Addressing Cyber Protection and Data Protection Holistically, summary of IDC White Paper

According to IDC survey research there are two inextricably intertwined statistics that are driving a fundamental change in how enterprise IT operations are organized and functioning.

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Practically every aspect of the modern world is driven by data and our reliance on digital assets will only increase in the future.

Cyber Protection and Data Protection

IDC views data security and availability as cornerstones of an IT transformation strategy.

It also readily acknowledges that managing data protection across increasingly hybrid environments is becoming more complex as threats become more diverse and sophisticated. Furthermore, the nature of this transformation is increasingly challenging because it entails distributing and collecting data from diverse systems and geographies, reducing visibility and control of the data for IT staff.

Ultimately, the growth of malware sophistication, ransomware, and targeted attacks is multiplying the major threats to data availability and accuracy, so taking stock of existing defenses and processes is critical.

93%

of organizations have experienced a cyberattack within the past three years

40%

of respondents cite sophistication of attacks and complexity of security

$250,000

the cost for an enterprise for an hour of downtime

Data protection and cybersecurity are merging to become cyber protection

Although cybersecurity and data protection have traditionally been treated as separate disciplines, IDC believes they are quickly merging into complementary, linked capabilities. The result is a new IT discipline of cyber protection within IT operations. Cyber protection tools may be separate or integrated with threat detection software. These components include backup, off-site disaster recovery, malware detection and protection, intrusion detection, encryption and authentication, and secure tiered storage, including off-site and/or cloud capabilities.

Furthermore, new technologies are becoming key to cyber protection. These include using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques to spot the anomalous behavior that often precedes an attack. This is because systems must be able to detect zero-day attacks: dangerous exploits that have not previously been encountered, where waiting for a known threat signature is ineffective.

Data storage and integrity will be enhanced by blockchain technologies

Additionally, the growing prevalence of data storage and backup archiving in the cloud, alongside the parallel rise in malware attacks on data integrity, is contributing to the increased importance of scalable means to ensure and publicly attest to data integrity. Companies, their customers, their business partners, and other actors (e.g., parties in lawsuits pursuing eDiscovery) increasingly need proof that data, regardless of the repository in which it has been stored or backed up (e.g., in public or private clouds), has not been tampered with, and that what was stored or backed up and what was recalled from storage or backup is identical. Blockchain technology is emerging as an effective technology for ensuring data authenticity.

In order to effectively adapt to the exponentially increasing amount of data now being collected (especially through edge computing and IoT devices) and the changing cyber threat landscape, IDC recommends that IT organizations take the following actions to effectively implement an IT transformation:

  • Create a cyber protection center of excellence that focuses on data security and availability in IT transformation operations.
  • Embrace a strategy of cyber protection by more closely integrating data protection, disaster recovery, and data security operations.
  • Design cyber protection into infrastructure architectures, not incorporate it as an add-on.
  • Leverage automation and AI/machine learning to maximize responses to evolving threats.

Acronis is at the forefront of cyber protection solutions

The Acronis cyber protection platform includes a worldwide network of cloud datacenters capable of offering backup as a service for customers and service provider partners as well as on-premises backup. This solution is designed to cover servers, virtual machines, traditional applications, cloud-native applications, edge and mobile devices, and any combination thereof. This can include hybrid cloud (on-premises to public cloud) as well as multicloud (public to public cloud). This broad architectural coverage helps ensure that an entire environment is under the Acronis cyber protection umbrella.

Acronis’ cyber protection strategy is based on five vectors:

Safety

A reliable copy of the data is always available.

Accessibility

Protected data is available anywhere, anytime.

Privacy

Access to and visibility of data is restricted to authorized parties.

Authenticity

Data copies can be proven to be exact replicas of the originals.

Security

Data is protected against threats and malicious agents.

Acronis integrates these concepts across its product lineup

According to IDC, and outlined in the full whitepaper available for download, Acronis has designed its solutions to offer IT organizations better control of their cyber protection environment through global policies, role-based data management, and encryption. Security is enhanced using active AI-based ransomware detection, alerting, and automated recovery with certified data authenticity via blockchain technology. Finally, the Acronis product architecture is designed for universal scale-out deployment with simple implementations and management. This gives Acronis an opportunity to separate itself from the traditional data protection and recovery software vendor pack, by applying a platform of solutions that tackle increasingly complex data protection initiatives and threats; its service provider partners and enterprise customers will be the beneficiaries.