Technology Reseller v37

COVER STORY technologyreseller.co.uk 23 Data-defined protection Historically, the lack of automated tools left the provisioning of protection subject to individual stakeholders. And traditional criteria for determining protection, like business size or total data footprint, are now less relevant to the modern enterprise with today’s scalable cloud infrastructure. So, in a data-defined protection strategy today it’s important that deployment aligns with business objectives, based-on the urgency of each system under protection. When addressing data-defined protection organisations need to consider four key areas: information governance, disaster recovery, service vs. purchase and user productivity. Governmental and industry regulations impose requirements for handling data that businesses must satisfy or risk compliance and certification. Requirements for record retention, email archiving and discoverability fall under information governance. Traditional solutions were expensive, labour-intensive and prone to failure. Today, technology exists for ensuring the long-term survivability of semi-active or inactive data, while reducing costs and improving the performance of more critical areas of protection. The ideal solution for archiving and document retention is one that automates backup to a secure target using low-cost, scalable storage. Disaster recovery Data loss becomes increasingly costly as organisations depend more on data to function and achieve their goals – and as an organisation grows naturally so does the amount of data it holds and generates. At the same time, risks are more pervasive. Malware and ransomware infections are on the rise, and businesses are increasingly targeted due to the value and sensitive nature of data. Backup is essential to mitigate these A blended approach to data protection is crucial. One that combines prevention and protection to ensure organisations can mitigate disruptions, preserve historical data and maintain business agility. Striking a balance between the need to protect your data and the need to protect the access to that data is difficult for any business, compounded by the rapid adoption of remote working. Ultimately, organisations need to know they have the right protection across all their different systems and different types of data they hold. Organisations need to find their cyber resilience sweet spot. Destination resilience With the rapid pace of innovation, and the evolving ways we work and do business, it’s now common for data to be spread across a wider range of physical and virtual locations. As a result, data protection needs to be aligned closely with urgency to ensure that businesses can maintain their agility while protecting their most valuable assets. Several factors will determine the appropriate type of protection and urgency, including the nature of the system, the purpose of protection, and the procedures and technology available to achieve desired outcomes. The nature of the source is a strong indicator for the type of protection it requires. A system that acts as a repository will require a lower level of protection than a server hosting active, critical applications and data. By aligning data protection with urgency, businesses can ensure predetermined service levels for all types of data, eliminate unnecessary demands on internal resources and maintain business agility. threats. Whether an organisation uses a traditional backup approach or Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), any solution designed for recovery should provide simple procedures for restoring files, folders and full systems in the event of human error, hardware failures, malware and natural disasters. If a user becomes infected with a ransomware virus, an IT admin should be able to revert to an earlier, non-corrupt version without being forced to pay a ransom to cyber-criminals. The cyber resilience sweet spot To stay productive in this remote world, employees need always-on access to critical data. A lost or stolen laptop, coffee spill or server outage can be extremely costly for data-dependent organisations – and are even more hazardous in a remote work environment. It’s important to have the right tools to protect from common forms of device data loss and failover capabilities for when a server or database experiences an outage. Data protection should offer businesses advanced feature sets for ensuring always-on access to critical data, servers and applications for any type of disruptive event. Organisations of all sizes need this level of cyber resilience in order to thrive. And businesses have more options than ever for blending data protection to create a holistic strategy. Carbonite backup, disaster recovery and high availability solutions help businesses of all sizes and in every industry improve the resilience of their systems. Carbonite’s Data Protection Platform enables businesses to deploy comprehensive protection for any physical, virtual, cloud, legacy or heterogeneous environment. From simple, secure cloud backup and disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS), to high availability and non- disruptive migration. Carbonite offers all the tools necessary to deploy a comprehensive data resiliency strategy for any type of data, on any system, across any distance. Read the full e-book to find out how Carbonite helps businesses align protection with the type of data being protected here: https://go.carbonite. com/data-protection-and-cyber- resilience-ebook.html With living rooms now boardrooms, and playrooms now classrooms, the modern enterprise is no longer contained within traditional office walls. And the critical data that organisations hold and use every day is more vulnerable than ever. Finding your cyber resilience sweet spot