Byron Horn-Botha, Sales Specialist, CASA Software. (Image: Supplied)
Data is the currency of today’s digital economy – it is the lifeblood of businesses operating in an environment of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Robust and multi-layered data protection measures are no longer a ‘nice to have’ goal but rather a business-critical imperative to ensure business continuity.
Nexsan Unity NV-Series emerges as the cutting-edge solution, offering comprehensive data protection features designed to protect enterprises from data loss, human error, accidental deletion, corruption, unauthorised access and cyber attacks.
The Sophos State of Ransomware 2023 report revealed some staggering statistics, such as 66% of organisations were impacted by ransomware in 2023 alone. The vulnerability of backup systems has surfaced as particularly concerning, as highlighted by the attack on CloudNordic, where ransomware encryption incapacitated both primary and secondary backup systems, leading to a total loss of data accessibility.
Many attacks target backups in order to undermine a company’s ability to recover without paying ransom. This is a strategic move by cyber criminals and set against the backdrop of prohibitive cyber insurance costs and limitations. It serves to amplify the importance of adherence to backup best practices in line with a 3-2-1-1 methodology.
The powerful capabilities of Nexsan’s Unity NV Series in fortifying backup infrastructures against these pervasive threats presents a formative option for backup protection. Unity incorporates immutability as a standard and provides a foundation for businesses considering their data protection strategies in the face of the growing threat of ransomware, cyber attacks and other digital dangers.
In the digital landscape, data breaches and losses can be devastating, leading to significant financial impact, damage to reputation, legal repercussions and even the complete dissolution of an enterprise. It is essential for companies to place strong emphasis on sophisticated data protection strategies to avoid these dire outcomes.
One important point to understand is that Nexsan Unity storage device is not solely intended for backup environments; any data requiring an immutable storage platform can reside within the device alongside backup data or as a standalone for a variety of storage use cases.
The critical role of data
No enterprise is immune to threats or attacks. The reality is that data, regardless of company size, is of the utmost importance and cannot be compromised. It’s important to understand that businesses with fewer resources are often attack targets precisely because of their limited response capacity and, as such, a better bet to pay a ransom – a fact that digital criminals are all too aware of.
SMEs face their own unique set of challenges, primarily rooted in limited resources. Budget constraints often lead to underinvestment in cutting-edge cyber security tools and skilled personnel. Many SMEs rely on IT generalists or external vendors for their data protection needs. This approach might not always offer the level of specialised security required. Additionally, limited funds may mean that training on cyber security awareness and user-targeted threats is inadequate, leaving employees more susceptible to attacks. SMEs typically have less robust disaster recovery and business continuity plans, making it harder to bounce back from data breaches or losses.
Conversely, large enterprises must cope with the sheer volume of data spread across diverse departments and geographic locations, adding to the complexity of security safeguards. The valuable data these organisations hold makes them a constant target for sophisticated cyber threats. Legacy systems pose additional challenges, as integrating and updating them requires significant effort and resources. Moreover, with a larger employee base, the risk of insider threats, whether intentional or accidental, increases, necessitating stringent access controls and vigilant monitoring.
With the market flooded with various add-on security solutions, it’s worth considering integrating data protection directly into the foundational storage solutions your business relies on daily. This approach ensures a more seamless and robust defence mechanism and can provide greater protection than software solutions alone.
A comprehensive toolkit for safeguarding data has become non-negotiable in a world where secure immutable storage can be the first and last line of defence.
Many businesses that have not secured their backup protection end up paying more in ransomware than they would have if they had rather taken the route of guaranteeing their ability to recover from an attack.
Challenges in data security and protection
The challenge is of ensuring data security is universal, yet it manifests differently across enterprises of varying sizes. Both large corporations and SMEs grapple with the escalating complexity of cyber threats, the maze of regulatory compliance requirements and the rapid expansion of data volumes, all of which combine to add challenges. The market’s response to this has been an overwhelming array of add-on security products. However, a more integrated approach, embedding data protection directly into the essential storage solutions that businesses rely on daily, can offer a more effective defence. A robust, comprehensive set of data protection tools is indispensable, with backup systems serving as the critical last line of defence.
This backdrop of diverse challenges across different business scales underscores the need for a resilient and flexible approach to data protection. It also highlights the critical role of solutions like those offered by the Nexsan Unity NV-Series in safeguarding the digital assets of modern enterprises.
CASA Software
CASA Software is a digital transformation organisation comprising a highly skilled team of technology professionals. The company has over three decades’ experience in the South African and sub-Saharan ICT industry.
CASA Software helps customers to transform and optimise ICT operations from mobile to mainframe, including hybrid and multicloud, to accelerate innovation while maximising customer value.
CASA Software partners with software industry technology leaders to enable its customers to realise the value of AI-driven operations and streamlined automation. CASA Software’s solutions are designed to assist customers to securely embrace the challenges of digital transformation and the next AI-driven era of computing.
CASA Software customers include leaders in finance, telecommunications, retail and the public sector.
Visit CASA Software online here.
Contact: support@caafrica.co.za
