Scality has announced the results of a survey of 500 IT decision-makers across France, Germany, the UK, and the US to gain insight into the role that immutable data storage currently plays in an organization’s overall cyber security strategy.
Key findings include:
- 94% either already rely on immutable data storage or plan to implement it within the next 12 months, and an additional 2% plan to deploy it within the next three years.
- 69% consider immutable data storage essential to their corporate cyber security.
Immutable data storage plays a key role as an essential last line of defence within a cyber resilience toolkit; especially against the risk of ransomware attacks. With immutable storage, data cannot be deleted or modified once written, increasing data safety and ensuring that organizations have the ability to restore data with 100% accuracy in the event of a breach.
Survey insights: vertical market and regional nuances
Comparisons among IT leaders surveyed across vertical industries and specific countries reveal a number of notable differences:
Vertical market:
- Manufacturing organizations (95%) are most likely to deploy immutable storage. 84% consider it essential to their corporate cyber security.
- Financial services firms (74%) report the lowest reliance on immutable storage. 60% say it’s essential to their corporate cyber security.
Regional:
- A majority of IT leaders across all regions currently use or plan to use immutable data storage: The US has the highest level of current or planned immutable data storage deployments, with 98% of respondents either having implemented it or planning to do so within the next year. This is followed by France at 96%, Germany at 94% and the UK at 85%.
- While a relatively low number (12%) of IT leaders worldwide who currently use immutable data storage do not regard it as ‘essential’ to their cyber security strategy, a larger percentage resides in the UK: 24% of UK respondents have deployed it but say it is not essential to their cyber security compared to 11% in France, 9% in the US, and 6% in Germany.
Does traditional immutable storage still leave a window of exposure?
The survey reveals the criticality of immutable storage, but it’s important to note that not all immutability is created equal, says Scality – some forms still leave a window of exposure.
Unlike forms of immutability enabled by traditional solutions (such as NAS/file system snapshots, dedupe appliances, Linux-hardened repositories or tape), true object storage solutions are inherently immutable at the core architecture level. According to Scality such a system implements proper protocols and true object storage semantics to preserve data in its original form the very moment it is written – which is not the case for other immutable solutions that can introduce time delays before data is immutable. Each object, even those written nanoseconds apart, can never be overwritten, deleted, or modified. This architectural reinforcement provides a crucial last line of defence against ransomware attackers’ attempts to encrypt data and extort victims.
Immutable data storage is an insurance policy against ransomware. While the survey data shows IT leaders resoundingly agree that immutability is a cornerstone of cyber security strategy, 31% still did not report it as essential. Here’s the reality: being able to restore quickly from an immutable backup means the difference between a successful and unsuccessful ransomware attack. Without storage that’s truly immutable, you’re vulnerable to cybercriminals’ demands. The perception among some respondents that it’s not essential to cyber security is misguided and represents an opportunity to shift more IT leaders towards achieving a modern, inherently immutable object storage solution as a much-needed last line of defence to keep data locked and immune to ransomware exfiltration, modification or destruction.
Paul Speciale, CMO, Scality
Read the Scality blog What is true immutable storage? for more information.
