Security Posture Best Practices to Protect Your Backup Infrastructure

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As we start October, the CISA National Cyber Security Awareness Month begins, and it is an excellent time to reflect on cyber resilience goals and determine steps needed to improve security. Despite security teams' best efforts, malicious actors continue to find new ways to infiltrate networks and steal sensitive information. In the aftermath of a breach, organizations must address the immediate damage and implement strategies to prevent future incidents. Earlier this year, we introduced Veritas Cyber Resilience Services, a continuation of our Professional Services team.

As the Services team has grown to meet the need for attack remediation, we also reflect on the incidents and work to share insights with customers. Over the last year, we have supported many customers through ransomware attacks and stolen credentials. These incidents have provided invaluable insights into the vulnerabilities that can lead to such breaches and the critical steps organizations can take to improve their security posture. While we can't share the specifics, we can share almost all incidents could have been prevented with basic cyber hygiene, like enabling MFA. By taking simple and proactive security posture steps now, you can significantly improve your chances of preventing attacks, and quickly recovering if your data is breached.

Organizations can strengthen their defenses and better protect their valuable assets by understanding the best practices and lessons learned from these incidents. A proactive approach to security is essential in today's threat landscape.

Security Posture Best Practices

  1. Access Control and Authentication: Access control and authentication are crucial components of data backup security. By implementing strong access controls, such as Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) and Multi-Person Authentication (MPA), you can prevent unauthorized access to your backup data and systems. Apply role-based access control (RBAC) to provide secure, limited access to your backup environment based on a user's role in your organization.
  2. Data Protection and Integrity: Data protection and integrity ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your backup data. By implementing appropriate measures such as encryption and Immutable Data Vault, you can protect your data from unauthorized access, modification, or deletion.
  3. Security Monitoring and Detection: Security monitoring and detection are essential for identifying and responding to security threats. Send audit logs to external SIEM, SOAR, and XDR platforms where they can be continuously monitored and managed. By implementing appropriate measures, such as User Risk Engine and Threat Hunting, you can detect and prevent attacks before they cause significant damage.
  4. System Hardening and Configuration: System hardening and configuration ensure that your backup systems are secure and resilient. This includes Lockdown Mode on your Veritas appliances, setting up an Isolated Recovery Environment (IRE), Network Access Controls, and keeping your system updated, so you can reduce the risk of attacks and improve your overall security posture.

To learn more about these security best practices, check out our Secure Backup Data Guidelines. For a deeper review of your cyber recovery readiness, review and share the Cyber Recovery Checklist with your team and encourage them to implement these crucial steps to protect your organization's data and strengthen its security posture.

If you want to talk through any of these recommendations and get support from data protection experts, the Veritas Cyber Resilience Assessment Service conducts a comprehensive data protection evaluation and provides proactive recommendations to optimize an organization’s security posture. This includes assistance in deploying Veritas solutions with recommended security and cyber resiliency best practices and aligning with recovery objectives. We also offer a recurring engagement to measure your organization’s state of recovery readiness and advise customers through tabletop exercises derived from actual recoveries and lessons learned. Learn more about Veritas Business Critical Services and get the specialized and proactive support your cyber recovery strategy needs.

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Subhash Kotkar
Principal Product Manager
Cyber Resiliency