The average cost of a data breach hit an all-time high of $4.45 million in 2023, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report. That represents a 15 percent increase over the past three years. Ransomware accounted for 25 percent of all malicious attacks and 24 percent of all destructive attacks. The cost of a ransomware attack was higher than the overall average, at $5.13 million.
Clearly, data protection should be a top priority for organizations of all sizes. However, traditional storage and backup solutions leave gaps that create vulnerabilities. Immutable storage helps close those gaps.
As the name implies, immutable storage cannot be altered in any way. The technology builds upon traditional write-once-ready-many (WORM) storage techniques, which use low-powered lasers to write data to optical disks. CDs and DVDs still use WORM techniques. However, immutable storage can now be implemented through software, which allows data to be written to a wide range of media and the cloud.
With immutable storage, data is “locked” for a user-defined period of time. It cannot be modified or deleted, even by an administrator, until that time period has elapsed. Data versioning features make it possible to restore from earlier versions of data if data has become compromised.
Immutable Storage Use Cases
Organizations increasingly use immutable storage as a backup target to protect against cyberattacks. Immutable storage is also valuable in any organization that must retain records and attest to their integrity. This applies to chain of custody, legal evidence and data subject to government and industry regulations. Here are six primary use cases of immutable storage.
Improved Security. Increasingly, ransomware attacks corrupt backups as well as primary storage, preventing the victim from recovering data. Because it prevents the alteration of data, immutable storage protects against these kinds of attacks. When combined with data encryption, it also prevents attackers from accessing sensitive data.
Data Integrity. Data tampering and data poisoning attacks are a growing security threat. In these attacks, malicious actors use various techniques to alter, insert, substitute or delete data. This makes it impossible for the victim to know if the data can be trusted. Immutable storage provides potent protection against these types of attacks.
Regulatory Compliance. Many government and industry regulations require that organizations attest to the authenticity of their data. At the same time, data must be readily accessible to meet legal discovery and regulatory reporting requirements. Immutable storage enables organizations to keep data online for ready access but ensures that it cannot be altered.
Data Archival. Traditional storage must be backed up frequently to minimize the risk of data loss. However, constantly backing up inactive data can be costly and time-consuming. Immutable storage allows organizations to archive inactive data while preserving its format in a verifiable data store.
Data Management. Organizations subject to legal and regulatory requirements often implement an array of backup, replication and version control tools to support complex data management processes. Immutable storage provides many of these features in one streamlined solution.
Reduced Risk of Human Error. User mistakes are a leading cause of data integrity problems. The accidental deletion or modification of critical files can cause a cascading series of errors that call into question the integrity of the entire dataset. In this instance, organizations can restore the last known reliable data from a recent backup on immutable storage.
Conclusion
Immutable storage is part of an overall data protection strategy that includes backup, replication and fault tolerance features. Technologent can help you select the right storage and backup strategies for all the data in your environment. Contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation.
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