From SMBs to Enterprises: Why Immutable Backups Should Be Your Next Investment

| Updated on December 17, 2024

“In a world where data breaches and cyberattacks are on the rise, immutable backups offer the peace of mind organizations need. 

Chris McNulty (Senior Director, Microsoft 365 Security)

Do you know, that in July, there were 60 publicly disclosed ransomware attacks, which was a 58% increase from 2023? (TRM: Ransomware in 2024

Looking at the increase in frequency and sophistication of such cyberattacks, the dread that my business could be the next in line always clouded my mind. That is why, I decided to adopt immutable backup solutions for my business. Now, my mind is at peace knowing that my business data is securely protected and cannot be tampered with, and I can even easily restore it if needed.  

This is not it, these solutions bring various other perks, which I will share with you ahead in this article. So, stick to the end and learn why immutable backups are considered an excellent investment for organizations, be it SMBs or enterprises. 

What Are Immutable Backups?

You can understand immutable backups as a kind of vault where you can store your valuable items without any worries because this vault prevents anyone from tampering with or stealing them. 

Now for businesses, this vault safeguards their data in a way that no one including administrators, and hackers can corrupt, delete, alter, or tamper with it. Meaning that even if your system gets compromised, this vault will remain safe and protect the sensitive data of the business. 

Why Every Business Needs Immutable Backups

As a business owner myself, I can confirm that businesses these days rely heavily on data. We need to collect some sensitive customer information in order to carry out routine operations, and we are obliged to manage all that data responsibly. 

But you can understand how difficult it can be to manage the mountains of data, immutable backups are one such solution that supports businesses to manage data and ensure compliance with strict data retention laws like HIPAA and  SOX.

It proves to be an effective solution against the sophisticated cybercrime these days. You can gather from the graph below that digital attacks are only going to become more advanced and prevalent in the coming years. Therefore, it is a necessity for businesses to turn to such advanced data security solutions.  

Cybercrime is expected to skyrocket in the coming years

Benefits of Immutable Backups for SMBs and Enterprises

It does not matter if you own SMBs or enterprises, immutable backups are an effective data management solution, providing numerous advantages including. 

  • Protection against ransomware – Ransomware has become a common concern in today’s world. Usually, hackers encrypt valuable business data and demand hefty amounts for its release. The stolen files can be overwritten or deleted during such attacks. But immutable backups are tamper-proof and ensure a clean copy of those files always remains available to you for recovery. 
  • Data integrity and compliance – You might know that certain industries like healthcare and finance are required to adhere to some data retention policies and audit trails. The solutions help ensure compliance with these laws by keeping the data safe and in its original form. 
  •  Guarding from inside threats – You are certainly wrong if you think that all the threats come from outside. Humans are known to make mistakes. There is always a possibility that an employee with access to sensitive information might intentionally or accidentally alter the critical data. Immutable backups prevent this too by preventing unauthorized changes, including those from insiders.

Real-World Use Cases

Let me tell you two real-world stories that will help you understand how immutable backups can benefit both SMBs and enterprises.  

SMB Success Story

One of my friends leads a local marketing agency consisting of around 50 employees. A few months ago, a ransomware attack encrypted their primary system. This could have been a business-ending event. But thankfully, they were able to restore operations within hours due to their immutable backups. 

Enterprise Resilience

I attended a webinar where they talked about a multinational banking corporation that was stuck by a sophisticated cyberattack but was able to successfully use the immutable backups to get through it, demonstrating compliance with international financial regulations and maintaining customer trust.    

How to Get Started with Immutable Backups

Getting started with immutable backups requires a lot of thought, planning, and resources. But to give you an idea, I have summarized the whole implementation process in the few steps below. 

1. Assess the needs and requirements of your business. 

2. Research and choose the right solution. 

3. Create a suitable strategy. 

4. With strong measures, integrate it with your existing system. 

5. Train your teams to monitor and maintain backups. 

6. Review and evolve your strategies. 

FUN FACT 
Immutable backups serve as a digital time capsule for your data. They allow you to preserve the exact state of your data at specific points in time, ensuring you can always travel back to a snapshot of the past — even years later.

Challenges in Implementing Immutable Backups

Despite the numerous benefits, there were some challenges as well that we faced while implementing immutable backups. – 

  • We had to go overboard with our budget to afford storage solutions, hardware, and other cloud services to ensure immutability. 
  • Due to the lack of in-house expertise, we had to hire a dedicated team of professionals to manage and implement everything. 
  • Managing the retention of data was nothing less than a headache, keeping the data for too long was costly, and too short a period could expose us to various risks. We had to frame retention policies depending on the laws and needs of our business. 

The Future of Immutable Backups

No question, that data protection is one of the top priorities for businesses and immutable backups prove to be an effective solution for it. In the future, with technology, we can expect cyberattacks to be more sophisticated and advanced but to counter it, we will also have improved security measures. 

Looking at the current landscape, I can confidently say that the future of immutable backups is filled with exciting possibilities including the integration of advanced technology like artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum-resistant encryption, zero-trust models, and many more.   

Conclusion

To summarize everything we discussed in this article, I can say that, implementing immutable backups is an incredible strategy for all kinds of organizations, ranging from SMBs to large enterprises. It can enhance the cybersecurity posture of companies and prove to be especially advantageous against ransomware attacks. 

By preventing everyone, including the administrators and hackers, from tampering with or altering the files, it safeguards sensitive organizational data from both outside and insider threats. 

Ensuring security, compliance, and quick recovery in case something happens, these solutions offer peace of mind to business owners. So, if you still haven’t implemented immutable backups in your business, then this is your sign to adopt this excellent strategy today!




Related Posts