When it comes to their backup recovery solution, many companies primarily focus on storage technologies that ensure high speed data recovery to maintain business continuity. That's why hard drives (including SSD) and the cloud play an important role. But the constant threat of a ransomware attack and technological developments also make tape essential.
In the event of any kind of data loss - be it due to a technical failure, human error or an attack by cyber criminals - it is the backup recovery system that helps companies out of the unfortunate situation. In order to always have this lifeline available, it is important to use professional software for data backup that can handle different storage technologies, from on-premise to cloud storage. The solution should also enable the 3-2-1-1 backup strategy: This includes creating three copies of the data, one original and at least two additional copies. Storing the backup copies on two different data carriers; making a copy in another location and another copy on immutable storage.
Permanent renaissance of tape
The era of tape dates back more than seven decades to 1951, when UNIVAC introduced the UNIVSERVO tape drive. This makes tape one of the longest-lasting storage technologies and its use is still increasing significantly today. For example, Strait Research predicts, that the tape market will reach a volume of 2030 billion US dollars by 9,39, which corresponds to an average growth rate of 7,5 percent. Some analysts even report that up to 80 percent of medium and large companies use tape storage. There are various reasons for this growth.
Backup to tape meets many RTO requirements
It is important for companies to be able to quickly restore the data in the event of data loss using their backup recovery solution. Downtime in operations costs money and it is important to keep downtimes as low as possible by setting the RTO (Recovery Time Objective). In the past, hard drives or cloud storage were superior to tape in this regard. However, these storage technologies are at high risk of being encrypted in the event of a ransomware cyberattack.
With the latest generations of tape technology, this relationship has changed: Backup with the latest LTO-9 technology offers companies a comparatively inexpensive storage option with a very high storage volume of 18 TB per tape. LTO-9 also achieves a native transfer speed of 400 MB/s and 1.000 MB/s with a compression of 2,5:1, which significantly contributes to meeting RTO requirements.
Backup and tape provide security against ransomware attacks
However, the best and fastest backup will not help a company in the event of a cyber attack if the data is encrypted by cybercriminals so that the owner cannot read it. Security specialists assume that over 90 percent of ransomware attacks also involve encryption of backups. However, if a backup recovery solution also creates the data backup sets on tape, this risk is significantly reduced.
The latest version of LTO technology provides multi-layer security support including hardware-based encryption. Additionally, LTO-9 supports immutable storage. A WORM (Write-Once-Read-Many) format prevents the deletion or modification of the backup data sets by unauthorized parties, such as cybercriminals. This means backups are effectively protected against ransomware. Other technologies, such as air gapping, additionally increase the security of data backup.
The important role of tape in the backup strategy
Tape, especially with the powerful and secure LTO-9 technology, is a critical component in any backup strategy. It offers storage volume at extremely affordable prices and has been a mature and reliable technology for decades. Tape backup is now so fast that it can meet many recovery needs.
In times of extremely high risk of falling victim to a ransomware cyberattack, the security of tape backup is one of the greatest advantages. Therefore, professional backup recovery solutions such as Arcserve UDP are able to seamlessly integrate modern tape storage into the 3-2-1-1 backup strategy. Only with the right combination of backup recovery solution and different storage technologies can companies be prepared for any data loss.
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About Arcserve Arcserve offers exceptional solutions to protect the valuable digital assets of companies that require complete and comprehensive data protection. Arcserve was founded in 1983 and is the world's most experienced provider of business continuity solutions for securing multigenerational IT infrastructures with applications and systems in any environment, on site and in the cloud. Companies in over 150 countries around the world rely on Arcserve's highly efficient, integrated technologies and expertise to reduce the risk of data loss and prolonged downtime while reducing the cost and complexity of data backup and recovery by up to 50 Reduce percent. Arcserve is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with numerous locations around the world.