AirGap for Immutable Data Backups for MSPs
Data immutability is not a new concept, but it is the latest and greatest reinforcement of business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and your small to medium-sized business (SMB) clients. Tasked with understanding the evolving cybersecurity landscape, MSPs must respond to emerging threats with the latest technology to fulfill competitive service level agreements (SLAs). Due to targeted and intelligent ransomware attacks and the number one root cause of data loss – human error – immutable vs. mutable data has been a hot topic in the channel.
In this article, we discuss the concept of unchangeable data related to backups and disaster recovery (BDR). What do these buzzwords mean, and how do both structures impact MSPs and recoverability? Keep reading for an in-depth examination of immutability and mutability to assess the security of your current stack and recovery capabilities following a data loss incident.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Immutability vs. Mutability
Immutable data refers to data that cannot be modified after it exists. Once immutable data is created, its state cannot be changed. Any operations performed on immutable data result in new data creation rather than modifying the existing data. This characteristic ensures that the data remains constant and consistent throughout its lifetime, making it more reliable, highly accurate, and always available for recovery.
Conversely, mutable data refers to data that can be modified after creation. Unlike immutable data, mutable data can be altered through various operations by anyone with data access. This fundamental difference means that the values and properties of mutable data can change over time, making it susceptible to unintended alterations and more complex to manage and secure.
When applied to BCDR, immutable backups preserve the integrity of data backups to proactively prepare for a ransomware attack or other data loss incident. Because the backups cannot be changed once completed, healthy backups are ready and waiting to deploy to production servers for rapid recovery.
Mutable backups, on the other hand, can easily be tampered with, modified, encrypted, changed, or deleted—all typical tactics used by today’s cybercriminals. Capitalizing on mutability’s vulnerability, bad actors purposefully attack backups to force ransomware payments from unprepared victims.
The Mechanisms Behind Delivering Immutable Data
Immutable data is created with an initial value that cannot be altered. It’s then kept in a detached, immutable storage archive where its value is protected. Instead of modifying existing data by adding, removing, or modifying elements, immutable data operations create new data structures that reflect the desired changes while leaving the original data unchanged.
This approach preserves the state of the original data throughout its lifetime, allowing for efficient historical data analysis. For this reason, immutable data is referentially transparent, meaning the identity of the data does not change over time. As a result, any references to immutable data within a protected system remain consistent and predictable, making immutable data structures safe to share. MSP technicians can securely collaborate with code reliability across teams and concurrent processes.
Because immutable data can’t be modified, there’s no need for complex garbage collection mechanisms to reclaim memory from outdated or unused data. To support simple memory management, immutable data structures can be safely discarded using secure data deletion processes. These vendor-determined processes should include various guardrails to ensure data deletion is only executed at the request of authorized individuals.
How MSPs are Benefiting from Immutable Data Backups
The permanency of immutable data, backups, and storage directly relates to disaster recovery preparedness. High-performing MSPs have been moving from mutable data to immutable security, gaining popularity as a cybersecurity best practice. While the obvious benefits relate to data protection and restoration, MSPs prioritize immutable BCDR solutions for several reasons.
- Data integrity: Immutable backups protect backup data from external influences, such as cyber-attacks and accidental deletions internally. Acting as a shield, immutability guarantees backup data integrity, assuring that the data remains unchanged, accurate, and reliable.
- Resilience to ransomware: Ransomware attacks often intend to destroy backups or disseminate sensitive backup data on the dark web. This potentially business-fatal threat forces many SMBs to pay the ransom without any other recovery options in place. Immutable backups are critical to your ransomware disaster recovery plan because they’re impenetrable, enabling safe restoration without potentially compromised backup copies.
- Compliance requirements: Highly regulated industries like healthcare, finance, and government must adhere to strict data protection and retention regulations. Immutable backups support these standards, providing evidence of built-in cybersecurity and backup health to meet industry standards and cyber insurance requirements for MSPs.
- Reliable disaster recovery: During any cyber incident, immutable backups strengthen rapid recovery with reliable restoration. MSPs can move forward confidently, knowing backups can be restored to a known good state. This reassurance enhances the overall continuity of business operations and speeds recovery to keep clients moving with minimal downtime.
>> See how Robert Cioffi, COO and Co-Founder of Progressive Computing, recovered from the 2021 Kaseya attack relying on immutable data, backups, and storage.
- Prevention of insider threats: As authorized users, SMB employees pose a significant risk to data security. Internal team members often modify or delete critical data accidentally and sometimes intentionally, but data loss is preventable. Immutable data backups protect against these threats by preventing even privileged users from altering or deleting data.
- Simplified management: Backup management is more efficient with immutable backups because there’s no need for complex access controls and audit trails to track modification. With data backed up immutably, MSP technicians can focus on more valuable aspects of backup and recovery operations.
- Reduced business risks: By ensuring the immutability of backups, MSPs can quickly mitigate operational vulnerabilities associated with data loss, corruption, or unauthorized access. Minimizing these risks enhances the overall reliability and effectiveness of a security-first approach to BCDR.
Immutable Data, Backups, and Storage Across Axcient x360
Axcient is a 100% MSP-dedicated BCDR solutions provider with built-in data immutability on all products. Created exclusively for channel security, Axcient solutions are secure by design – not by configuration. Utilizing patented technology, Axcient embeds data security best practices into products, so there’s no chance of configuration errors causing catastrophic losses. With these proprietary, always-on security features, MSPs sleep soundly, knowing protected systems are automatically strengthened with immutability for accelerated recovery.
Chain-Free, Image-Based Immutable Backups
Knowing how your backups work is essential to implementing a robust BCDR solution that enables automated efficiency with zero-touch, built-in protections. Legacy backup solutions are built on a foundation of backup chains, where incremental backups depend on previous backups in the chain. Modern, Chain-Free backups aren’t dependent on any backup chains because there are no chains. Within this architecture, each backup is independent and self-contained, eliminating the risk of data corruption or loss due to issues with previous backups in the chain.
Every change to the protected data is immediately captured and stored, ensuring no changes are missed and continuous data protection is maintained. At the same time, Chain-Free backups create immutable snapshots of data at regular intervals by capturing the state of the data at a specific point in time. These snapshots are stored securely and protected from modifications in an air-gapped archive. Now, near-instant recovery is available without base image requirements, consolidation, or staging space needed.
AirGap Anti-Ransomware and Data-Deletion Protection
Axcient’s x360 AirGap technology is another built-in, proprietary feature included and on by default within all Axcient BCDR products. Acting as an MSP’s last line of defense, AirGap utilizes Axcient’s Chain-Free backup technology to deliver immutability using an enforced security archive for a minimum amount of time. Continuous native snapshots of the filesystem are automatically taken by AirGap and stored in the archive separate from the actual filesystem. AirGap coverage encompasses all data deleted by anyone for any reason.
Of course, that’s not all of the immutability protections included in AirGap. To combat today’s sophisticated cyberattacks—most notably, ransomware—MSPs need more than just a safety archive to maintain data immutability. AirGap has critical security capabilities and data protection safeguards to ensure reliability.
- Honeypots trick attackers into thinking they’ve accomplished their dirty goal of deleting data, but it’s just an illusion. To them, it appears that they’ve successfully executed the attack, but in reality, the immutable data is safe and secure on isolated storage tiers. MSPs always have the last laugh and never consider paying a ransom.
- Human factor controls limit the number of authorized security individuals in your MSP who can create and fulfill data deletion requests. Only a select few can complete both actions, and no single individual can both request and delete data, further strengthening backup immutability.
- Time gaps between data deletion requests being created, verified, and executed give MSPs ample time to stop malicious activity before it’s too late. The length of time between processes varies to prevent bad actors from recognizing patterns and replicating AirGap’s behaviors.
To Sum It All Up
Embracing immutable data presents a pivotal opportunity for MSPs to elevate data protection strategies to new heights of resilience and security. By adopting immutable data principles with a trustworthy BCDR vendor, MSPs can fortify backup and recovery solutions against various threats, including ransomware attacks, data corruption, and insider threats.
The immutable nature of data ensures its integrity and consistency, empowering MSPs to deliver unparalleled reliability and peace of mind for you and your clients. As the cybersecurity landscape evolves, MSPs equipped with immutable data solutions stand poised to shield clients’ critical data assets with unwavering confidence and efficiency, reinforcing your role as a trusted and knowledgeable BCDR provider.
Take the first step in making your data immutable with Axcient’s consolidated and comprehensive BCDR solutions: x360Recover for flexible appliance-based or appliance-free backup and recovery, x360Cloud for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace backup, and x360Sync for secure sync and share. See how Axcient delivers uninterrupted business continuity and rapid disaster recovery for over 5,000 MSPs and their clients, leveraging innovative automation and MSP-specific features designed to efficiently and profitably Protect Everything™.
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