50 Immutable storage is surging to the forefront as an essential last line of defense against ransomware. Why? Because, as cybercriminals have gotten more sophisticated, backups now sit squarely in their crosshairs. These bad actors know organizations are more likely to pay a ransom if they’re successful in deleting or encrypting backup data. Reports show 93% of attacks target backup repositories with a 68% success rate. What’s more, Veeam’s 2023 Data Protection Trends Report found that in 75% of these events, cybercriminals succeed in debilitating their victims’ ability to recover. Without immutable storage, you’re sunk. But not all immutability is created equal. Some forms of immutability still leave a window of exposure. Want to see an at-a-glance version of the true immutability checklist? Download it here. What is true immutability and why does it matter? At Scality, we consider true immutable storage to be an essential part of every IT organization’s cybersecurity toolkit. A survey we conducted with independent research firm Vanson Bourne found that 94% of IT leaders in the U.S., Germany, France and the U.K. currently rely on immutable storage. While it’s encouraging to see the widespread adoption of “immutable storage,” the question remains: How many of these solutions are truly immutable and, ultimately, ransomware-proof? Immutable storage refers to a data storage paradigm where, once data has been written, it cannot be modified or deleted for a predetermined period, thus thwarting ransomware attacks. But in reality, most immutable solutions fail to provide the level of protection they promise. For example, file systems commonly make data immutable with scheduled, periodic snapshots that may have hours or days between the last snapshot taken. This approach results in data retention gaps and creates the potential for data loss. Other file system-based solutions can achieve instantaneous immutability via support for the S3 Object Lock API. However, because the underlying file system is still inherently mutable, data remains vulnerable to attacks below the API layer. True, intrinsic immutability — only achieved by S3 Object Lock implemented on a native object storage architecture — closes these windows of exposure. The S3 API enables data to be constantly saved and stored at petabyte-scale each and every time it is written. Meanwhile, the underlying object storage architecture ensures stored data can never be overwritten or deleted, even if an attacker is able to bypass the API layer. This means data can always be restored from any backup — no matter what. Comparison of immutability: Legacy file vs. S3 proxy vs. true native object store Legacy file storage offers no API-level immutability, and S3 Object Lock API implemented on an inherently mutable file-system architecture leaves data vulnerable to attacks below the API layer. Only a native object store provides immutability at both the API level and architecture level.A word of caution: Not all object storage vendors support true immutability. As you’re vetting solutions, ensure that they deliver instantaneous immutability without a window of exposure, enable configurable retention policies and compliance mode, and are built on a true immutable object storage architecture. Does your immutable storage solution have cracks in its armor? Since some immutable storage solutions only enable short-term immutability or make it difficult, if not impossible, to quickly restore data to its original state, it’s critical to evaluate whether your solution has vulnerabilities. Many options are more about preserving data states at particular points in time rather than preventing the alteration or deletion of the actual data. Others present problems with management complexity, short-term immutability, limited scalability, and performance degradation impacting the ability to restore quickly. For all these reasons, the following solutions are considered insufficient when it comes to immutability: NAS/file system snapshots Dedupe appliances Linux-hardened repositories Tape S3 proxies (S3 API implemented on mutable architectures) Truly immutable solutions are intrinsically immutable at the core architecture level Only solutions based on native object storage design are truly immutable because they preserve data in its original form the very moment it is written, and never overwrite existing data. This isn’t the case for solutions built on mutable architectures that allow delete and overwrite commands. With native object storage, data sets — even those written nanoseconds apart — can never be overwritten, deleted, or modified, regardless of the level of access privileges an attacker may acquire. This architectural reinforcement provides a crucial last line of defense against ransomware attackers’ attempts to encrypt data and extort victims. Is your storage solution truly immutable? Your true immutability checklist: To be sure your object storage solution is truly immutable, make sure your solution checks ALL the boxes below to deliver the highest level of protection: Instantaneous data lock – When configured properly, the second you store object-locked data, it is immutable. There’s no time delay like there is with a snapshot, whereby data is modifiable until the snapshot is taken. If you have true immutable data storage, your data is instantaneously unchangeable. No deletes or overwrites, ever – Ransomware attackers commonly encrypt or delete backups to prevent you from restoring. Only solutions based on native object storage design provide intrinsic storage immutability, meaning data is never overwritten or deleted. If any changes are made, a new version of the object is created, leaving the original data intact. Support for AWS-compatible S3 Object Locking APIs – A significant improvement to S3 happened in the last few years: API-level immutability is now possible through S3 Object Locking APIs. All popular enterprise applications use the AWS API. Without it, applications like Veeam won’t be able to manage your storage immutability. By allowing the application to access storage over the S3 API, you have a fully integrated backup solution. Immutability at the API level helps defend against willful or mistaken attempts to overwrite data by a user or application issuing S3 commands against a data set, which can happen in a ransomware attack. Configurable retention policies – Businesses have their own unique requirements when it comes to keeping data for custom or extended time periods. With configurable retention policies, you can customize the duration that your data remains fully immutable, whether it’s days or years. Compliance mode for extra fortification – For additional protection, this mode prevents even the system superadmin from changing immutability configurations. True, intrinsic immutability = S3 Object Lock implemented on native object storage architecture Object storage scales to petabytes, is easy to deploy, simple to use and is your best line of defense to keep data safe even if the worst happens. But don’t just take our word for it. Around the world and across industries a vast majority of organizations are deploying immutable storage, but their data may still be vulnerable. Your data deserves the strongest form of immutability — make sure your solution is delivering it. For more information on the immutability survey, read the press release here. Read here to learn more about how Scality works with partners like Veeam to ensure you have unbreakable ransomware protection, true data immutability and operational efficiency, without sacrificing performance or flexibility.
