Ransomware prevention has rapidly become a top priority in cybersecurity due to the increasing sophistication and frequency of cyber threats.

As these threats become more advanced and widespread, businesses are struggling to protect data. Maintaining operations has become increasingly challenging in the face of these escalating risks, according to Dave Russell (pictured, left), senior vice president, head of strategy and acting chief technology officer at  Veeam Software Group GmbH.

Veeam’s Dave Russell and Emilee Tellez talk to theCUBE about ransomware prevention.

“Two weeks ago, we came out with our third Ransomware Trends Report, not of Veeam customers, but of the whole industry. There were 1,200 organizations that were hit with ransomware,” Russell said. “It’s getting worse, meaning the variant of attacks is increasing. The number of people who responded, ‘Hey, people are going after my backup repositories, my safety net is increasing and cyber insurance coverage is essentially decreasing.”

Russell and Emilee Tellez (right), senior technologist at Veeam, spoke with theCUBE Research’s Dave Vellante and Rebecca Knight at HPE Discover, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the increasing complexity of ransomware threats, the importance of proactive incident response planning and the role of strategic partnerships in enhancing data security. (* Disclosure below.)

Ensuring data security with proactive ransomware prevention

Effective incident response planning is crucial for mitigating the impact of ransomware attacks. Veeam recently conducted an incident response workshop with top customers, simulating a ransomware attack to help them understand and refine its response procedures, Tellez clarified.

“We got them all together, and we gave them the opportunity to go through what it looks like when you’re hit by ransomware from a blackout. You have no communications, you have no email and you have no access to phones,” she said. “What are your steps? And it was staggering to watch some people say, actually, you know what, we haven’t gone through this exercise before, and we really need to be straightening up and tightening up what we need to do because practice is only going to help us in the long run.”

In conclusion, the fight against ransomware requires collaboration between technology vendors and businesses to develop and implement effective security strategies, according to Russell. Veeam’s partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. exemplifies how such collaborations can enhance data protection.

“We’re a pure play software organization,” he said. “HPE, greatest infrastructure provider on the planet, literally, centuries of engineering years. They put into everything you can imagine, tape, disc, flash, etc. A big part of it is trying to reduce the friction between daily best practices and the reality of what’s going on.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of HPE Discover:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for HPE Discover. Neither Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Intel Corp., the primary sponsors of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE