NetApp leads with AI-powered ransomware protection in Australia

The increasingly prevalent data breaches plaguing Australia's supply chains have exposed significant vulnerabilities, leading to a pivoting of strategies in both the government and industrial sectors, particularly in relation to post-incident remediation and reporting. The impeding modifications to crucial infrastructure and ransomware regulations are intended to place resilience centre-stage in cyber-attack contingency plans, emphasising the necessity of swift operational resumption. Moreover, notable companies locally have begun adopting disaster recovery strategies, with AI-driven solutions such as NetApp's Ransomware Recovery Guarantee helping their ANZ customers remedy systems and restore vital data expediently, thus attenuating financial and reputational damage.

In the context of surging ransomware threats, intelligent data infrastructure company, NetApp, has announced the introduction of cyber-resiliency capabilities intended to better safeguard and recover client data from ransomware threats. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) directly into enterprise primary storage, NetApp is taking the lead in delivering real-time ransomware combat solutions. This not only protects primary and secondary data for organisations, whether stored on-site or in the cloud, but further provides a more robust final line of defence against the most critical of data violations.

An escalating trend in ransomware attacks has seen cybercriminals targeting critical infrastructure and supply chains, disrupting operations and causing potential costs amounting to millions of dollars. As reported by Forrester, due to the growing risk of ransomware, 87% of C-suite executives and board-level directors rated ransomware as a high or top priority for their organisation as per the NetApp 2023 Data Complexity report. Consequently, NetApp's cyber-resiliency solutions update will not only provide protective solutions, but also ensure the speedy recovery of lost data and the resumption of operational proceedings, thus lending their customers increased confidence in the security of their data.

Regarding this initiative, Mignona Cote, CSO at NetApp, stated, "NetApp is taking an aggressive and proactive approach to protecting our customers' data against cyber threats using artificial intelligence. We are the first storage vendor to explicitly and financially guarantee our data storage offerings against ransomware. Today, we are furthering that leadership with updates that make defending data comprehensive, continuous, and simple for our customers."

In striving to construct data storage and management systems that maximise data security while meeting data governance and compliance standards, NetApp is introducing multiple updates. The inclusion of the ONTAP Autonomous Ransomware Protection with Artificial Intelligence (ARP/AI) aims to enhance real-time enterprise storage ransomware protection, leading the industry in adaptive AI/ML models built directly into primary enterprise storage, and capable of detecting the latest ransomware attacks with over 99% precision. Furthermore, the public preview of NetApp BlueXP Ransomware Protection offers an end-to-end ransomware defence that provides single-click identification and protection of critical workload data, pinpointing and responding to potential attacks and ensuring a swift restoration of workloads.

The extension of NetApp Keystone Ransomware Recovery Guarantee to their leading storage-as-a-service offering, demonstrates NetApp's commitment to their clients' data security. If snapshot data cannot be recovered through NetApp's framework, they have guaranteed compensation, adding another layer of protection for their customers.

Wojtek Malewski, Director of Solutions Engineering at NetApp Australia & New Zealand, conveyed, "As Australia's incident response matures with the government's focus on critical infrastructure protections and legislative reforms, organisations are increasingly focusing on solutions that prioritise resilience over prevention. The biggest threat to a business following a ransomware incident is not the theft of data itself, but the time and resources spent repairing systems and restoring data to resume normal operations."

The most recent cyber-resiliency updates from NetApp enable organisations to proactively address cybersecurity threats in complex hybrid and multicloud environments, utilising AI to detect threats and prevent disruptions to their operations.