Understanding Immutable Backup: What You Need to Know

IT leaders stand to offer more than cloud backup and data recovery as disaster recovery strategies evolve in the digital age. So, all the right stuff for businesses and applications that must remain online while recovering from a breach or natural disaster once cloud backup is your protect your files securely.

Most businesses and organizations of all sizes across the enterprise have stored data in their cloud revolvers for safety purposes. This method allowed organizations to avoid or mitigate damaging publicity and customer backlash during a cyber-attack. Your data and application can be recovered from the cloud almost within minutes. That is mind-blowing, and it’s becoming more concerning by the day as some experts expect to see 175 zettabytes of global data takeoff in just two years. Let’s start with some basics.

Backup and Data Recovery and Cloud Computing

The process of copying and uploading data is called cloud data backup, which allows the files on your computer to be backed up to a remote storage unit for recovery if they are lost. So traditional backups are mutable, whereas immutable is a more advanced form of backup.

Data loss is one of the biggest nightmares for businesses, and it can result from anything, such as network downtime, software bugs, or severe weather conditions. According to a recent survey, 80% of respondents made backup their IT priority. However, more than cloud backups are needed due to the evolved nature of cyber security threats. More leaders have committed to immutable backups as they are a strong line of defense against corruption.

What Exactly Is an Immutable Backup?

The immutable backups meaning that the users, system administrations, systems, or applications that created the data cannot delete it.

Like cloud backup, when data is lost due to a natural disaster, network problems or a security breach by bad actors, and you are going crazy just trying to get everything back up so your business can start running again? The new backup copy of your data should be immutable. Mission critical ensures that if the worst comes to be, and your data gets breached or lost due to an incident out of your control, you have a recovery plan in place that the immutable backup can help with today.

But what makes the immutable and mutable backups so different from each other?

Immutable vs. Mutable Backup

Since mutable backups can be easily edited, deleted, or encrypted, they allow administrators to apply patches and upgrades quickly. They provide flexibility for addressing severe ransomware but can be corrupted more easily. Now, they are considered fair game for malicious actors looking to preemptively neuter post-attack information.

In contrast, immutable backups lock data from edits or corruption, thus making them copy-proof. Once the attacker is done with an attack, you cannot change or delete data because it causes a loss to your reputation. While a little less malleable, immutable backups work wonders against ransomware and hacking. You cannot update or remove apps and data from that backup! Despite malware and ransomware threats, they are more broadly seen as best practices for IT leaders.

What Makes Air-Gapped Data Backups Different?

Air gaps protect a server or storage outlet from outside network activity, such as malware, ransomware, and viruses that can spread to connected systems. However, air-gapped applications and data have no more protection than immutable backups. Air-gapping and immutable backup strategies are two well-known data backup and recovery techniques in IT, even though they target similar use cases.

It has a degree of immutability with air-gapped data, preventing access to it and no methods over the network for corruption. Nonetheless, air-gapping is not entirely set in stone: an attacker or administrator can still remote into the server. That it can still delete, encrypt or corrupt data on the server.

Immutability, on the other hand, takes data reinforcement to a whole other level and literally locks it so that no one can use, change, or delete anything. Immutable backups make certain that the data is on lockdown, no matter where it has been stored or who its administrators are.

What Are the Benefits of Immutable Backups?

With the evolution of cyber threats, a different breed of backup has emerged – mutable and immutable backups. Non-modifiable backups pause time, locking down the data just like an object lock. These provide secure backup copies since they cannot be encrypted or tampered with by any external party for an agreed-upon period. A classic answer would be to get back the settings and data when a device is broken or dead by retrieving from the cloud — i.e. immutable data. That time is how long you want between cloud backups.

As cybersecurity threats continue to advance, the benefits of more protection through immutable backups become clear.

Immutable backups to safeguard against ransomware and cyber threats are catching the eye of IT leaders. During ransomware attacks, cybercriminals encrypt organizations’ data and demand a ransom to restore it. Most data breaches and attacks will be successful if the designated backups are not immutable, such as with malware or a virus. Since they can be deleted and corrupted easily, hackers usually target businesses with mutable backups to ensure maximum ransom profit. An Immutable backup is helpful if the data gets displayed during an attack or natural calamity.

The importance of having multiple backups and how to couple your immutable backup with cyber security solutions.

Cybersecurity regulations and insurance stipulations that envelop many businesses today require the ability to restore from immutable backups. They defend from penalty fees and gory front-page news, keeping customers off the headline. A comprehensive policy such as the zero-trust model, MFA, resiliency plans, encryption policies, and regular attestation tests with automated alerts must also be prepared. Such measures are effectively the first line of defense against potential cyberattacks.

Can you save your immutable backups on the cloud?

Organizations moving to cloud backups find themselves utilizing the Immutable backup. These backups are just as good in terms of utility and value as an on-premise backup, but the results can be different when it comes to performance, size, and up-front cost.

Cloud backups are a more adaptable and scalable solution than traditional on-premise strategies that require heavier lifting, more extensive deposits upfront with unpredictable costs over time, and disappearing data all the way around. CIOs are seeing demand for cloud-based immutable backup solutions instead of longer latency local storage.

How secure are immutable backups?

Immutable backups provide excellent protection against data manipulation, corruption, encryption or deletion, and malware, viruses, or ransomware. Data and users need to be protected from hackers, so one of the tools built into an organization should plan cybersecurity strategies with other components.

Conclusion

Adding immutable backup capabilities to your disaster recovery plan can provide a solid defense against cyber threats. Immutable backups are not foolproof, but they allow for a level of resiliency that the data never changes and can always be restored. If you want your business to stay secure in an ever-fluctuating digital environment, consider replicating the above approach, among other security measures.