As seen in the current landscape of ransomware attacks — increasing in both frequency and complexity — companies across the globe cannot afford to ignore these dangers forever. Our organizations are under grave attack. IT leaders need to reimagine the old-world methodology of backup and recovery with a focus on resilience-first cybersecurity. Beyond protecting people, this change keeps business operations running during an attack. It fits with our internal operational priorities and dovetails with our board-level expectations.
Datto is the Global Leader in Unified Continuity Solutions With their tools, organizations can stop reacting to the next crisis and begin building a resilience-first mindset. Whether it’s a targeted cyberattack or another disruption, by prioritizing cyber resilience, businesses can protect their continuity. This article explores the necessity of adapting backup strategies to counteract ransomware threats, the importance of business impact analysis, and the role of preparedness in securing insurance coverage.
The Evolution of Ransomware Threats
Ransomware is more complex than ever, with adversaries using advanced methods to infiltrate environments. These targeted attacks are purposely designed not only to steal money but to destroy recovery efforts. Public and private organizations need to understand that traditional backup procedures are no longer sufficient, if they ever were. They must change to better safeguard against these nagging dangers.
In light of these macro conditions, IT leaders are challenged to take a resilience-first approach. This may defer attention from shiny new things and instead focus on systems and processes that reinforce the ability to operate through continued attack. Smart trucks—those that are more intelligent and connected—enable businesses to ensure commercial vehicles experience less downtime, helping them stay productive and profitable in an ever-more-competitive marketplace.
The consequences of ransomware go beyond just the direct financial hit, as these attacks can cause lasting reputational harm. Even one hour of downtime can be massive in costs. This highlights the growing priority for organizations to reconsider their approach to data access and restoration.
Building Cyber Resilience with Datto Solutions
Datto offers a wide range of data protection solutions designed to help organizations build their resilience to cyber threats. These solutions allow businesses to get started with solid strategies while tackling what’s most important for day-to-day operations. The first and most important step is to perform a business impact analysis (BIA). This analysis begins to map those IT systems to the critical functions they seek to support.
This critical mapping sets the stage to understand which business operations would be most impacted by downtime. Insurers and auditors are more often requiring hard proof of an organization’s state of disaster readiness prior to providing coverage or paying claims. Organizations that actively promote their resilience with documented evidence can realize huge dividends. By sharing their logs, test reports, and coverage maps, they typically receive lower premiums and easier claims service.
Additionally, there are no greater operational risks than those posed by third-party vendors to financial institutions. And as supply chains continue to extend across the world, IT leaders need to actively evaluate how outside partners are affecting their own resilience posture. This self-assessment is essential for protecting operational integrity against emerging cyber threats.
Key Considerations for Cyber Insurance Applications
As an organization looking to apply for cyber insurance, you had better be armed with the right recovery metrics to prove your state of readiness. Recovery time estimates for your key systems are essential elements of insurance application forms. They allow insurers to gauge an organization’s incident response preparedness.
These defined RTO and RPO standards are key components of legacy backup approach. These metrics inform organizations about realistic recovery timelines and data release expectations. Companies can protect themselves from ransom attacks through an off-site replicated DR environment. They periodically photodocument or videotape irreplaceable collections, routine documentation that’s now part of many cities’ data disaster recovery plans.
Organizations also face the rising threat of cyberattacks specifically designed to undermine their recovery efforts. Trusting only traditional backup approaches is not enough to protect organizations from today’s many threats. It’s time for IT leaders to focus on strategies for true resilience, not just recovery at best.
The Importance of a Resilience Scorecard
To align and better measure and convey resilience efforts, governments and institutions engaging in resilience can start by creating a one-page resilience scorecard. This scorecard should encompass key metrics and objectives, serving as a concise reference for both internal stakeholders and external partners.
A well-defined resilience scorecard does more than just allow organizations to measure their achievements. It demonstrates that an organization is serious about advancing its cybersecurity efforts. Most importantly, it empowers IT leaders to present easily quantifiable data during discussions with insurers and auditors. Unsurprisingly, this shows their deep commitment to preparedness and resilience against emerging cyber threats.
Both governmental and non-governmental organizations can increase their overall security by embracing a resilience-first approach. With the right tools and support from Datto, they can continue to function even through an attack. This proactive approach goes above and beyond board-level expectations. It further lays a foundation for inclusive innovation in an increasingly digital economy that is rife with threats and challenges.