Guard against cyber threats by cyber vaulting with FlexPod

As the volume and value of data skyrocket, so, too, does the attention of cybercriminals. The cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving, with more sophisticated threats arriving daily that seek to exploit any vulnerability. Data breaches and ransomware attacks regularly make headlines, shining an ever-brighter light on the urgent need for robust and resilient data protection strategies that go beyond backups. 

Enter the concept of cyber vaulting—a powerful approach to safeguarding your critical data by isolating it from your primary network environment, rendering it inaccessible to attackers. Cyber vaulting is not just about creating backups; it’s about protecting those backups from attackers by creating backups that are immutable, indelible, and inaccessible from production systems and networks. It’s an approach that builds extra layers of protection as we see more attackers holding both primary data and all backups hostage. At the end of the day, a strong cyber-vaulting strategy protects against ransomware attacks at a fraction of the cost of a single breach. 

“Never trust, always verify” is not just a cybersecurity catchphrase; it’s the foundation of the Zero Trust security model. The FlexPod® Zero Trust Framework takes this security model and gives you concrete guidance on how to deploy and operate it by following these core principles. In an era where perimeter defenses alone are insufficient, a Zero Trust architecture promotes security that is not a checkbox event but a continuous process of authentication, authorization, segmentation, and monitoring. 

FlexPod, a converged infrastructure solution from NetApp and Cisco, was architected with this security-first mindset. By aligning with Zero Trust principles, FlexPod provides a robust and secure platform that is essential for protecting your workloads against the ever-present risk of cyberattacks. To understand how FlexPod embraces Zero Trust, read the FlexPod Datacenter Zero Trust Framework Design and Deployment guides. 

The FlexPod commitment to security extends beyond these core Zero Trust principles. It encompasses a full spectrum of security features, including encryption of data at rest and in transit, regular security updates, comprehensive logging and reporting capabilities, and a suite of features and integrations to protect the full stack. By integrating these elements into a cohesive system, FlexPod gives your organization a secure workload foundation that stands up to today’s complex cybersecurity threats. 

The rise of sophisticated ransomware attacks 

Ransomware has evolved dramatically in recent years, with attackers combining vulnerabilities, phishing, social engineering, and lateral movement to breach the most critical systems. According to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, ransomware accounted for 32% of all breaches and 62% of all financially motivated breaches. The cost of just a single breach can run into the millions, and it can require days, if not weeks, for the targeted organization to fully recover. 

High-profile incidents and their impact 

Recent high-profile ransomware incidents have shown that no one is immune. From attacks on healthcare systems to strikes on critical national infrastructure, the consequences are far-reaching. These incidents not only disrupt operations but also erode trust in the affected organizations, highlighting the need for comprehensive cybersecurity protections. 

Battling the threats 

To combat these evolving threats, your organization must adopt a layered approach to cybersecurity that includes both proactive and reactive measures. Proactive measures include the usual, like training your employees, updating and patching your systems, and implementing strict access controls. 

In addition, ransomware protection must extend to all the layers of your infrastructure by using features such as NetApp^® Autonomous Ransomware Protection and by monitoring with robust solutions like Splunk, a Cisco company. Your reactive measures must include having a solid incident response plan and the ability to recover quickly from an attack. 

Cyber vaulting offers proactive measures in protecting your data, and it also deepens your reactive measures. Proper recovery from a cyberattack like ransomware requires validation that your backup data is clean. The only way to confirm that your data is clean is to have a cyber vault where the backups are immutable and indelible. Further, this architecture enables recovery through a clean-room process in which your data can be inspected, validated, and then confidently put back into production. Cyber vaulting provides a secure, air-gapped method to store and to protect your critical data so that your organization can recover from a ransomware attack without paying the ransom. With the ability to restore systems quickly, your business can minimize downtime and maintain continuity even in the face of adversity. 

In response to the ever-evolving threat of cyberattacks in general, and of ransomware in particular, NetApp has released a powerful solution to protect and to recover critical data: cyber vaulting. Cyber vaulting with NetApp is built on the comprehensive platform of NetApp ONTAP^® features that customers have relied on for years. 

The role of NetApp technology in cyber vaulting 

The core tenets of cyber vaulting are:  

1. Creation of a physically or logically air-gapped storage system,  
2. Secure replication of data from source storage systems to the air-gapped cyber vault, and  
3. Protection of the replicated data through immutability and indelibility.  

The NetApp cyber-vaulting solution is built on a foundation of the industry-leading data management software, NetApp ONTAP. With ONTAP, your organization can tailor a cyber-vaulting solution to meet your exact specifications by using features that are built directly into ONTAP and that are included in every ONTAP One license. 

How FlexPod and cyber vaulting work together 

Because all FlexPod solutions build upon the secure foundation that NetApp storage offers, creating a cyber-vaulting strategy is a snap. Cyber-vaulting solutions can be either included directly in the architecture of a new FlexPod platform or seamlessly added to an existing FlexPod deployment. Cyber vaulting with NetApp ONTAP storage systems is intentionally flexible so that the solution can support any workload on any ONTAP source storage system. 

Given the critical nature of secure infrastructure, it was essential that the NetApp cyber-vaulting solution complement the secure foundation that FlexPod brings to all customers. NetApp designed its cyber-vaulting solution to integrate into environments that are based on Zero Trust principles, to deploy on hardened infrastructure, and to expand on ransomware protection and response. From the beginning, cyber vaulting with FlexPod was planned as an additive layer of protection, helping you to redefine cyber resilience. 

Cyber vaulting with FlexPod couldn’t be easier. Follow these simple steps to level up your protection: 

1. Determine your source storage system and the cyber vault system to which you will replicate data. 
2. Define which data will be protected through cyber vaulting and set the protection/replication schedule. 
3. Follow the steps that are outlined in the NetApp Community blog Layered ransomware protection with NetApp’s cyber vault solution to configure your storage systems and to begin protecting your data. 
4. Rest easier knowing that your critical data is even better protected. 

• Blog, Layered ransomware protection with NetApp’s cyber vault solution 
• Solution brief, NetApp cyber vaulting: Multilayered data protection 
• Blog, Where the sum is greater than its parts 
• Blog, FlexPod: A secure foundation for every workload 
• Design guide, FlexPod Zero Trust Framework Cisco Validated Design 
• Deployment guide, FlexPod Zero Trust Framework Cisco Validated Design 
• Technical report, FlexPod ransomware protection & recovery with NetApp Cloud Insights and SnapCenter (TR-4961) 
• Technical report, FlexPod security hardening guide (TR-4984-1123) 
• Blog, NetApp Ransomware Recovery Guarantee 
• Website, FlexPod.com 
• E-book, How to fight ransomware attacks and build cyber resilience 
• Blog, Ransomware protection with FlexPod and Cloud Insights 
• Blog, NetApp unveils BlueXP ransomware protection: A game changer for cyber resilience