Why Increased Automation and Unification are Key to Protecting Data in Hybrid Environments
The cloud driven transformation of global enterprises has brought powerful benefits – but security teams must equally evolve to ensure new technology does not increase risk.
Security teams need to handle this, without introducing management complexity in the form of multiple new solutions and tools. And they have to do this at the same time as playing a more strategic role in supporting the business to be more agile and innovative. This means selecting partners who can consolidate management interfaces and deliver automation within their environments.
Complexity and risks
Researchers ESG found [1] that 52% of organizations believe that security is now more difficult than it was two years ago.
Meanwhile data security, data protection and compliance regulations are increasingly complex.
Hybrid environments create gaps between security measures across different cloud and on-premises platforms. This is compounded by a lack of visibility of the entire data storage ecosystem.
The task of securing enterprise data also is made harder by the number of operational interfaces security teams now manage, hampering the ability to create one single consolidated view.
Stealthy security
Malicious actors are increasingly designing ransomware to stay dormant on systems, so it can be activated at a later date and breach defenses, including by attacking data backups and even backup systems. Storage is one of the most attractive targets for ransomware groups, but from an IT point of view, it is also one of the more complex parts of infrastructure to manage.
Fortunately, there are steps organizations can take to improve data security across cloud and hybrid platforms.
The first step should be to apply hardened cyber resiliency capabilities consistently across the attack surface to safeguard and protect all of your assets. This includes protecting data on immutable storage, and then building in added assurance for business critical applications through replication.
And organizations should be looking to increase automation around data security.
Businesses need to be able to detect threats in real time, and maintain controls and appropriate access to data. Advanced dashboards and alerting capabilities ensure firms are always aware of the status of their backups, and are able to detect potential threats.
An effective data protection and cyber resiliency strategy incorporates solid ransomware protection practices, including immutable storage, replication, threat detection and access restrictions. These can then be applied consistently across an expanding virtualized storage environment.
The result is a more protected ecosystem—and one that supports rapid response as well as business continuity.
And this works both on-site or within co-locations. And with granular control of data CIOs can simplify regulatory and compliance requirements. Support by Hitachi Vantara makes it easy to get started and adjust as you go, regardless of where your data is stored.
“The often piecemeal approach that organizations have taken with moves to the cloud creates challenges because of lack of visibility. Without a holistic view and management across your entire data/network ecosystem teams will struggle with efficiency and security,” says Kristan Ruona, Hitachi Vantara’s Senior Solution Marketing Manager, Data Protection and Cyber Resiliency.
She adds: “Existing protection is often piecemeal as well, creating gaps in coverage. Automation and a centralized view support a single point of access to stay on top of risks rather than needing to look separately at various tools.”