Asigra evolves backup/recovery to address security, compliance needs

As backup and recovery products and solutions evolve, they are beginning to intersect with security and compliance. Online backup and recovery software company Asigra has announced a new version of its software that addresses the risks posed by ransomware and non-compliance with Article 17 of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Both should be a concern for organizations of all sizes, from global enterprises on down to small/medium businesses.

Let’s take a look at the new capabilities that Asigra is bringing to market with the version 14 release of its Cloud Backup software, and why these capabilities are an important evolution in backup and recovery.

Ransomware has certainly become a huge threat over the past few years. It’s predicted to become a $11.5 billion global “industry” by 2019, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, and anyone can become a target. Asigra describes how the ransomware attack techniques have become more sophisticated over the years.

In the early days of ransomware attacks, the bad guys would plant a virus on a desktop or somewhere on a network, and once it was detonated the malware would encrypt all the local data. Victims who were smart enough to have a recent data backup could recover without the paying the ransom. Those victims without a backup had little choice but to pay up to unlock their data. Seeing they were missing out on revenue opportunities, the attackers upped the stakes by also destroying backups when they encrypted the primary data. In defense, IT administrators took to creating multiple backups, one of which was kept offline to ensure there was always at least one way to recover lost data.