On Ransomware Protection. Q&A with Paul Speciale

Q1:  What is ransomware protection?

Ransomware protection is an umbrella term that spans a blend of tailored technologies, refined tools and dynamic strategies to support cyber resiliency. It can prevent cybercriminals from succeeding with their malicious software attacks aimed at entering companies via individuals’ accounts and credentials. According to a ransomware trend report from Veeam, 94% of ransomware events now target backups.

Q2: You have recently announced a new release of Scality ARTESCA. What are the main features for such release?

ARTESCA 2.0 offers a number of new capabilities. Probably one of the most significant features is dedicated protection for Veeam environments. We see security requirements on seven levels in the data center and have expanded ARTESCA’s features to do them justice.

It has application-level resiliency, with: 

• Veeam “direct to object” backups and SOSAPI support, and automated enforcement of Veeam-validated IAM access control policies
• Amazon S3 object locking immutability with configurable data retention policies and compliance mode

It offers network and data resiliency, including: 

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for secure UI logins and automated firewall rules on deployment
• Secure HTTPS/TLS S3 termination and AES 256-bit data encryption-at-rest

It includes storage resiliency: 

• 1 to 6 servers for growth to 5 petabytes with dual-level data protection
• Distributed erasure coding renders data indecipherable to low-level and data exfiltration attacks, metadata in secure repository on intrinsically immutable object storage layer

Integrated appliance resiliency:

• Integrated, security-hardened Linux operating system, precludes root access, reduces exposure to CVEs to limit a wide range of attack threats

Geographic replication resiliency: 

• Asynchronous replication to separate security and management domain for “air-gapped” offsite storage
• Eliminates the “all data in one place” problem

It is also highly competitive in terms of costs. 

Q3: Specifically what are the benefits of a secure S3 object storage software?

Scality’s S3 Connector ensures ultra simplicity, security, bucket versioning, S3 Object 

Lock to provide WORM capabilities, and easy track storage use with UTAPI

Q4: What kind of applications would benefit from this new release?

Predominantly modern workloads in the context of edge environments, big data analytics, medical imaging/healthcare, Governmental or financial institutions, Internet of Things, AI/ML, M&E, and archiving of unstructured data, to mention just a few.

Q5: You mention your goal is to have a reduced attack surface that minimizes security risks. What kind of risk? How does it work in practice?

ARTESCA 2.0 provides upgraded security hardening for improved malware protection. The improvement includes a new hardened Linux option which in turn obviates OS access, reduces exposure to critical vulnerabilities, and limits a wide range of potential malicious attacks. There is then MFA, unused network port lockdown, S3 object lock and also auto-configuration of firewall rules, as well as asynchronous replication for virtual air-gapped offsite storage.

Underpinned by the Veeam v.12 platform, immutable data storage is also provided. Users need not worry about data security due to hardened ransomware protection and connected recovery solution with object locking for immutability and ensured data retention.

Q6: Who are the top early adopters of ARTESCA?

Government & public sector (including cities and local public organizations), manufacturing, finance, healthcare, medical imaging, media & entertainment and small deployments for service providers implementing BaaS offerings for clients.

Q7: How is ARTESCA positioned in the market of cloud-native data storage?

ARTESCA 2.0 is designed from the ground up as a simple-to-manage and secure object storage solution for cloud-native applications. ARTESCA 2.0 provides high-performance enterprise object storage with some of the strongest cyber-resilience and data protection features in the space. Cyber security challenges all companies and the application of ARTESCA 2.0 is very broad.

Q8: You mentioned that “ARTESCA makes data storage simple and secure for CISOs and their teams.” How does it work in practice?

Cyber resiliency is a key focus for many business and public sector leaders today — but especially for CIOs and CISOs. Most technology-savvy businesses now understand that cyber security requires a multi-level solution, starting with best practices for the “human layer” at the top, down to data security for mission-critical assets at the bottom of the infrastructure stack. ARTESCA 2.0 makes data storage simple and secure for CISOs and their teams. It’s both affordable and easy to deploy in any environment, no strings attached. As we all know, ease-of-use is actually useless if the solution isn’t unbreakable and immutable against the ransomware risks of the real world. ARTESCA 2.0 delivers the full package that today’s organizations are looking for — enterprise-grade security, simplicity and maximum performance at a price that won’t give CFOs heartburn.

Q9: Is ARTESCA 2.0 now available?

ARTESCA 2.0 has been available since early June 2023

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Paul Speciale, Chief Product Officer at Scality

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News: ARTESCA 2.0 delivers enterprise-grade data security and value starting under $4,000 per year