What is Immutable Data?

Prior to my career in information technology I spent time in seminary. One of the most intriguing learning tracks focused on how religious content was documented and disseminated to the masses. Naturally, it's important that religious institutions ensure their texts are accurate. This was a complex task prior to the printing press, which allowed you to mass produce content accurately. For context, scribes would gather in a room and one resource would read from a primary copy, while a room full of scribes would copy. As you can imagine, common issues would include documenting the wrong words. For example, the English language contains numerous homophones, which are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently (read vs. reed, too vs. two, write vs. right, etc...) This represented a unique challenge to early religious movements that were eradicated upon the invention of the printing press, which allowed for data to be mass produced in an immutable format.

At this point, you're probably wondering what the bible and the printing press have to do with information technology. In the context of backups, immutable data is that which cannot be altered or deleted. This was a crucial element in ensuring that a religious movement gained traction, and it's an essential element in ensuring that your business weathers the storms that it will face.

Why do I need immutable backups?

Ransomware is the common issue that immutability protects against. As you're aware, ransomware is one of the greatest threats that businesses of all sizes face. InfoSecurity reports that ransomware is expected to produce $30 billion in damages in 2023. In my role as a client advocate, I see companies across the spectrum struggle with this on a daily basis. From local mom-and-pop businesses to global enterprises with thousands of end users and vast cybersecurity budgets; ransomware is a problem that we will all face and it is critical that you take measurable action to ensure that you have a multi-layered defense. Immutable backups are a critical aspect of your plan.

Traditional backup strategies are not as effective. How often have you heard organizations hit by ransomware declare that their backups were also infected? In fact, ransomware attacks targeting backups are on the rise. Immutable backups add an extra layer of protection by offering a clean backup copy, which will allow you to recover.

Another element that often goes unspoken is bad actors. While we don't like to think that our employees could act maliciously, it is possible. Immutable backups help ensure that data is unaltered and the admin/user cannot delete backup copies. This effectively protects you from yourself.

Vendors have embraced this concept and you see a large variety of backup and business continuity vendors, such as Veeam, Zerto, Rubrik and more add these features into their rich software solutions. These vendors allow you to prohibit the deletion of data, for a period of your choosing. This is also true of vendors who offer BaaS (backup-as-a-service) and DRaaS (disaster-recovery-as-a-service). While interviewing potential vendors, it's important that you request that their unique process be presented thoroughly, so you can make the best decision for your business and administrators.

If you'd like to understand how air gaps can be utilized to protect your data, you can read What is an Air Gap?

If you'd like assistance with understanding the best immutable data solution for your organization, I have a very simple process that prioritizes your needs above a vendor and/or manufacturer. Here's a quick summary of the process:

1. Listen - I perform a needs assessment to understand your unique requirements. Simply, I actually listen to you.

2. Research - I know you're very busy, so I want to gather relevant data to provide a summary of the technology landscape that factors in your requirements.

3. Decide - Once you review the data, which includes multiple options, you select the solution that's right for you. I'll help you negotiate the best rates and ensure a smooth implementation, plus ongoing support. You don't have to deal with a sales rep from Glengarry Glen Ross.

I'm here to help,

DB