This digitisation trend shows no signs of slowing . In fact , most of the executives I speak with advise quite the contrary – they are continuing to accelerate their digitisation , often taking on IT and business strategies they hadn ’ t even imagined before . They recognise that if they hope to survive and compete in this post-pandemic economy , digitisation and all that it enables is their ideal strategy .

Unfortunately , as we saw countless times over this past year , this haste can at times open the door to ransomware and other types of malicious software programs ( also known as malware ), if the appropriate precautions are not taken .

Although there ’ s a high financial cost for the actual ransom payment , the biggest consequences of ransomware are data loss and downtime . Both of these ransomware outcomes are very costly for businesses , with significant downtime

SURYA VARANASI , CTO , STORCENTRIC resulting in potentially millions of dollars in lost revenue , in addition to a longterm and potentially permanent loss in customer trust and loyalty .

As malware is now also targeting backups , the top precaution we advise our customers to take is to employ an immutable unbreakable backup solution so that they never have to worry about their ability to recover from a ransomware attack . Protecting against a cyberattack is absolutely critical . But , today it is not a question of if , but rather when will we be attacked . It is therefore critical that the recovery piece is in place .

We would advise that the ideal immutable unbreakable backup solution should be designed around the knowledge that attempts at corruption or deletion can come from anyone , anywhere and at any time . The solutions should include auditing , integrity checks , unique file fingerprints , serial numbers and self-healing features that protect files from being corrupted in any way including ransomware .

Not only is this great ransomware protection , but it also addresses organisations ’ increasingly stringent regulatory compliance requirements for HIPAA , SEC17a-4 , Dodd-Frank , FDA 22 , Sarbanes Oxley , PCI and more .

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