Ransomware is no longer in oblivion, because it can be easily accessed from places like the Dark Web. Therefore, top of mind for enterprises when dealing with this serious threat is endpoint security and backup and recovery.

To reduce the adversity of ransomware, Cohesity Inc. deploys a four-layered threat defense framework, which includes an AWS-powered data govern feature that enables organizations to automate the discovery of sensitive data and detect abnormal access and usage patterns, according to Chris Wiborg (pictured), vice president of product marketing at Cohesity.

“I think the latest stat I saw was something like every 11 seconds there’s a new attack, because I can go into your point with a credit card, sign up as a service, and then launch an attack,” he explained. “The data governance product at first classifies your data to be able to detect anomalies in terms of who’s coming in from where, helping you to proactively understand what’s at threat.” 

Wiborg spoke with Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during AWS re:Invent. They discussed how Cohesity uses a multi-layered threat defense model in its next-gen data management platform. (* Disclosure below.)

Tackling ransomware for the common good

Based on a recent consumer survey conducted by Cohesity, most respondents noted that they would be more reserved to do business with a company whose defense mechanisms against ransomware were not good enough, according to Wiborg.

“So it’s not just an issue I think that was once upon a time just for ITOps, SecOps or CIOs … it’s something the general public worries about,” he stated. “It’s long past the tipping point where this is an IT-only issue.”

Traditionally, bad actors used to go after production data, which was easy to fix by restoring it from backup. Nevertheless, they have become more sophisticated because they first destroy or encrypt the backup, according to Wiborg.  

“You need immutability down to the file system level … so you can’t destroy the backup,” he pointed out. “You’ve got to defend the backup data itself … and increasingly we’re seeing people take in isolation in a different way than they used to.”

Trying to recover from tape takes too long because of different constraints, so Cohesity offers an extra layer of insurance that improves data resilience in the face of ransomware attacks through an immutable and air gap copy in the cloud, according to Wiborg.

“One of the things we announced back in October was a new service called Project Fort Knox. It’s a bunker, an isolated copy of the data in the cloud that can restore quickly,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (* Disclosure: Cohesity Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Cohesity nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE