How Does Cohesity Protect Organizations from Ransomware Attacks?
In an era where ransomware attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and frequent, organizations need robust solutions to safeguard their data. Cohesity which Cristie Data customers can benefit from within the Cristie READY program offers a comprehensive approach to protecting against ransomware by integrating data management, backup, and recovery with advanced security features. Here’s how Cohesity shields organizations from ransomware threats:
- Immutable Backups
One of the core strategies Cohesity employs is creating immutable backups. Immutable data is unchangeable once it is written, ensuring that backup files cannot be altered, deleted, or encrypted by ransomware. This feature allows organizations to maintain clean, uninfected copies of their critical data, even if the primary systems are compromised. These backups provide a secure layer of protection, allowing businesses to restore data to its original state without paying a ransom.
- DataLock and Legal Hold
Cohesity enhances immutability through features like DataLock and Legal Hold. DataLock allows organizations to enforce retention policies that prevent any modification or deletion of backup snapshots for a set period. This guarantees that essential backups remain untouched, even by administrators. Legal Hold further adds protection by locking data when it’s subject to investigation or litigation, ensuring no one can tamper with the critical information during sensitive times.
- Anomaly Detection with AI and Machine Learning
Cohesity leverages AI and machine learning to proactively detect abnormal patterns in data usage and file access that might indicate the onset of a ransomware attack. By identifying unusual spikes in data encryption or file deletions, Cohesity’s built-in anomaly detection system can alert administrators early. Early detection allows organizations to respond faster, possibly isolating infected systems before the ransomware spreads.
- Multi-Layered Security
Cohesity’s multi-layered security framework includes encryption, access controls, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to safeguard data from unauthorized access. Data is encrypted both at rest and in transit, ensuring that even if cybercriminals intercept the data, they cannot decrypt or use it without the proper keys. Additionally, role-based access control (RBAC) limits data access to authorized users, reducing the chances of internal threats compromising the backup environment.
- Instant Mass Restore
In the unfortunate event of a ransomware attack, fast recovery is critical. Cohesity enables rapid recovery through its Instant Mass Restore capability. This feature allows organizations to restore large volumes of data or entire environments swiftly, minimizing downtime. By restoring applications and data to a point in time before the attack, businesses can resume operations quickly without significant data loss.
- Worm-Like Retention Technology
Cohesity implements Write Once, Read Many (WORM) technology, which ensures that once data is written, it cannot be overwritten or deleted for a specified duration. This technology ensures that ransomware or malicious insiders cannot manipulate or erase backup data, providing another protective layer for critical business data.
- Comprehensive Backup and Data Management
Ransomware often targets backup files as they are vital for data restoration. Cohesity’s approach focuses on end-to-end data management, ensuring that backups are securely stored and regularly updated. The system provides backup snapshots, archiving, and data replication to remote sites or cloud storage, which diversifies storage locations and mitigates the risk of a complete backup failure due to ransomware.
- Zero Trust Architecture
Cohesity employs a Zero Trust model, assuming that no entity, whether internal or external, is trustworthy by default. This architecture requires strict identity verification for any user or device attempting to access backup data. By default, no access is granted unless it is verified and authorized, reducing the potential for unauthorized access to sensitive backups and critical information.
- Continuous Monitoring and Alerts
Continuous monitoring is a key aspect of Cohesity’s ransomware defense strategy. The platform provides real-time alerts if any anomalies, such as encryption or mass deletion activities, are detected. This allows IT teams to respond swiftly, limiting the impact of potential ransomware attacks.
- Secure Cloud Integration
Many organizations use cloud services as part of their backup strategy. Cohesity’s platform integrates with various cloud service providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, offering the same robust ransomware protection in the cloud as in on-premises environments. This seamless integration ensures that cloud-based backups are also protected from ransomware and other cyber threats.
- Orchestrated Disaster Recovery
Cohesity offers an orchestrated disaster recovery (DR) feature, which automates the process of recovering from a ransomware attack. In the event of a breach, organizations can restore multiple applications and their dependencies in the correct order, minimizing manual intervention and human error. This process can be automated to ensure faster recovery while maintaining business continuity.
- Compliance and Reporting
Cohesity provides detailed auditing and reporting features that are essential for compliance with regulations like DORA, GDPR, HIPAA, and others. By offering a full audit trail of data access, changes, and recovery operations, Cohesity ensures that organizations can demonstrate their compliance with data protection laws. This is particularly important after a ransomware incident, as regulators often require proof that organizations took proper measures to protect data.
