Are your Backups Immutable?

Immutable Backups are the Data Protection Future

The ransomware threat continues to evolve, putting your finances and information at risk. The once-standard protection of having good backups is being undermined, as these backups are increasingly falling victim to corruption, diminishing their effectiveness as a primary defense.

Despite a reported 17% decline in ransomware attacks between 2021 and 2024 according to IBM Threat Index Reports, the 56% jump in active ransomware groups in the first half of 2024 is a clear warning: ransomware is likely on the rise again. Given that traditional backups are no longer the guaranteed protection they once were, what is the best course of action for small businesses? Immutable backups offer a solution.

What is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a type of malicious software, or malware, that encrypts a victim's files, rendering them inaccessible. Once the encryption process is complete, the attackers demand a ransom payment, typically in cryptocurrency, in exchange for providing the decryption key needed to restore access to the data. This can impact critical infrastructure, causing significant disruption and financial losses for small businesses. Moreover, once you have been attacked, your small business is even more likely to be targeted again.

What is a Traditional Backup Strategy

Protecting your valuable data through a robust 3-2-1 backup strategy, coupled with regular restoration testing, is a cornerstone of modern data management. This time-tested approach provides a resilient framework for recovery, reducing the risk of permanent data loss due to hardware failure, human error, or natural disasters.

The 3-2-1 backup strategy is defined as:

• 3 copies: Maintain the original data and at least two backup copies.  ‍
• 2 different storage types: Store your backups on at least two distinct types of storage media (e.g., an internal hard drive and an external hard drive, or a local drive and cloud storage).  ‍
• 1 copy kept off-site: Secure at least one backup copy in a geographically separate location or a dedicated cloud storage facility.  

While the 3-2-1 strategy offers a strong foundation for data recovery, it does not, by itself, guarantee protection against ransomware if your backups are also compromised. Modern ransomware attacks often target backup systems, attempting to encrypt or delete them along with the primary data. 

How is Ransomware Advancing?

Ransomware attackers initially thrived by targeting unprepared small businesses that lacked proper backups, effectively forcing them to pay the ransom to recover their locked data. This strategy worked because businesses could not simply restore their systems.

However, as more businesses implemented data backup procedures, they became less appealing targets for ransomware. Consequently, between 2021 and 2024, ransomware attacks saw a 17% decline. Despite this decrease, early 2024 witnessed a rise in ransomware groups, indicating a shift in their tactics towards directly targeting backup systems.

How are they achieving this? It starts with phishing (learn more about how to protect yourself from phishing). Once they have attained access to your systems:

• Targeting admin credentials: Attackers understand that access to backup systems often requires elevated administrative privileges. By compromising these credentials, they can manipulate or disable your backups. ‍
• Backdoor into the backups: Once inside, attackers employ backdoors to directly manipulate your backups. This can involve destroying them entirely, corrupting them beyond repair, or encrypting the backup data itself. Rendering your backups unusable, you are left with no independent means of data recovery. Once backups are compromised, the attackers effectively lock down your entire network data, leaving you completely reliant on their demand

The Need for a New Approach: Immutability

Immutable backups represent a critical evolution in data protection, specifically designed to safeguard against modern threats like ransomware. At their core, immutable backups are copies of data that cannot be altered, deleted, or modified in any way once they are created for a predefined retention period. This "write-once, read-many" (WORM) characteristic ensures the integrity and availability of backup data, even if primary systems are compromised.  

Common technologies and strategies employed to achieve immutability include:

• Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) Technology: This is implemented at the storage level and prevents any further writes or modifications to the data once it has been committed. ‍
• Object Locking: Cloud storage providers and backup solutions often offer object locking features that enforce immutability policies on stored backup objects for a specified duration. ‍
• Air-Gapped Backups: While not strictly a software-defined immutability feature, physically isolating backups from the network (air-gapping) provides a high degree of protection against remote tampering. ‍
• Version Control with Retention Policies: Some backup solutions maintain a history of data versions and enforce policies that prevent the deletion of older versions for a defined period, effectively creating immutable recovery points.

By guaranteeing the unchangeable nature of backup data, immutable backups provide a reliable path to recovery in the event of a cyberattack or data loss incident. This newer approach ensures business continuity and minimizes the impact of disruptive events.

Benefits of Immutable Backups

The adoption of immutable backups offers a multitude of significant advantages, particularly in today's evolving threat landscape:

Immutable backups are crucial for:

• Ransomware Resilience: They enable reliable system recovery to a clean state by preventing ransomware from encrypting or deleting backup data, thus avoiding ransom payments. ‍
• Protection Against Error: Immutability backups safeguard against accidental or intentional data loss or corruption by internal users, including privileged administrators. ‍
• Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: They help organizations meet stringent data retention and integrity mandates. ‍
• Enhanced Data Integrity: By preventing modifications, immutable backups ensure the recovered data is a true and accurate point-in-time reflection, minimizing recovery errors.

Immutable backups shift the power dynamic in favor of your business, ensuring data recoverability even in the face of sophisticated attacks and human errors.

The New Backup Strategy

While the 3-2-1 backup strategy has long been a cornerstone of data protection, the rise in ransomware groups specifically targeting backup systems necessitates a more resilient approach. To truly fortify our defenses against this evolving threat, implementing immutable backups is imperative.  

Does your business need help implementing immutable backups? The IT Experts at Net Friends are here to help you! Book a meeting today.  

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More Reading:  

Managed Backups: Your Custom-Fitted Parachute for Data Safety
Why Your Cybersecurity Approach Is Backwards
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