2017 was billed as the worst on record or cybersecurity. WannaCry and Petya showed that ransomware is now particularly nefarious with large-scale impact. No doubt, the continued rise of modern threat vectors has IT on high alert.
MSPs universally know that DRaaS is now best-practice for ransomware recovery. And BCDR offerings garner premium price points with their clients. Yet many worry that appliance-based DRaaS is out-of-reach, or do not know the specialized MSP features to look for in order to efficiently manage the business.
Why Look to DRaaS to Mitigate the Impact of Ransomware
The ransomware the beat goes on, as this year ransomware is expected to comprise 39 percent of all successful ransomware attacks, according to the annual Verizon Data Breach Report. All this has IT professionals on high alert, but not everyone is taking proper precautions.
In our webinar, Using DRaaS to Resolve Ransomware, Kaseya and Unitrends executives detail how proper BCDR makes MSPs clients virtually immune to ransomware. Kaseya recently merged with Unitrends, a provider of BCDR cloud and appliance solutions that drive disaster recover as a service (DRaaS) offerings.
The Threat
Ransomware is a well-known threat, what with all the publicity from recent attacks. Moreover, the threat is getting worse because ransomware works — money pulled in from these attacks tripled last year to over $3 billion.
This is due to many victims paying up, even though they do not always get their data back. Consider Los Angeles Valley College, which paid $28,000 after ransomware encrypted the organization’s data, and the University of Calgary, which had multiple systems crippled and was forced to pay $20,000.
Perhaps even worse, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid $17,000 to get invaluable medical data back. The attack crippled work for 10 days, with workers resorting to fax machine and paper records. All this despite the fact that the center had backup, which was likewise infected.
False Backup Promises
It seems like the simple solution is backup, and many backup vendors are pressing this point – and using scare tactics to do so. However, these promises are not all they are cracked up to be. Your backups, especially if based on Windows solutions, can also be infected. The same is true for cloud backup, as the infection can spread from on-premises to the cloud.
Linux devices are far more resistant. Having backups on a hardened Linux appliance, which can then be replicated to the cloud, offers 100 percent protection against ransomware damage.
The Monster Difference between Backup and BCDR
Everyone knows what backup is – it is the copying or replication of data so you can have an extra copy or two in the event the original is lost or corrupted.
BCDR is a richer solution that advances backup far beyond its original intent. True BCDR is based on backup, but also represents a total plan for recovery and to keep the business running. This means there is a plan for data recovery, designations as to what people need access to data and when, and how this access is provided. This includes location of personnel, and access means, such as a VPN.
BCDR is a high-end service, but with the right technical underpinnings, does not have to be a high-cost solution. Smart MSPs can, in fact, provide BCDR services for just a bit more than they used to charge for simple backup.
Unitrends Ransomware Detection
With a Unitrends MSP appliance, the predictive analytics engine analyzes the data stream and uses a probabilistic methodology to identify if infected with ransomware. After confirmation of a ransomware attack, IT can immediately restore to most recent secure backup.
Early ransomware detection means faster recovery and it provides the tools to meet your organization’s recovery time objectives (RTOs). You can respond quickly to instantly access your backup recovery point (RPO) and revert to pre-attack positions for your network.
To learn more about industry trends around leveraging DRaaS as a defense against ransomware watch our webinar, Using DRaaS to Resolve Ransomware.
