by Nikhil Korgaonkar, Regional Director – India &SAARC, Arcserve
Buoyed by a tech-savvy population, India has become a cradle for technology innovation and quick adoption. In the year 2019, disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain made their mark on IT. And, not surprisingly, data was at the heart of everything.
The year 2020 will again, be a year of big data. With the rise of super apps, Wi-Fi enabled services and cross-functional customer platforms, historic volumes of data can be expected across all industries. Experts have already predicted there to be around 44 trillion gigabytes (44 zetta bytes) of data by 2020. If the digital universe was to be represented as stack of tablets it would reach moon ad back 6.6 times. In 2018 IDC revised their prediction for data growth to 175ZB, equivalent to 26 stacks of tablets filled with the data from earth to the moon.
Given this acceleration, cyber criminals will no doubt be ready and waiting with more sophisticated forms of ransomware to steal and damage business-critical data. They are taking a more tailored approach to get control of our digital assets, making it more critical than ever to have solutions in place that secure and protect them.
Below are few predictions from Arcserve for the year 2020.
Ransomware: High-End Data Backup Protocol Defeats Threats
• IT Market Space:
India’s needs are not different from the rest of the world when it comes to cyber security. In 2019, ransomware attacks grew at epidemic proportions, and no sector was left unscathed. Over the next year, more attackers will come up with evolved attack methods, beginning to target the backups themselves.
Companies need to make more investments in more advanced threat detection and remediation software. Along with that, they should ensure companies’ data backup protocols are in line with the modern era. Businesses should also look for cyber security and disaster recovery technologies that integrate easily with one another, as it can help close security gaps that may crop up through accidentally misconfigured software. In 2020, C- level suite should make strong decisions on ransomware recovery plans and have be better equipped to deal with cyber threats.
Top Concerned Verticals for 2020:
Government
With the e-governance applications which collect the personal information of individual, all local government offices should be equipped with the required data protection solutions to counter the continued ransomware attacks against small, municipal bodies.
Healthcare
There is an increasing trend of ransomware attacks on medical devices, creating some serious vulnerabilities in healthcare security. Medical equipment manufacturers are now building cheaper and more scalable devices running on different OSs. They also collect and store patient’s health records. This development greatly expands the attack surface of these specialized devices, propelling victims to pay up huge amounts to cyber criminals.
Banking
Banking and Finance sectors are the ones carrying huge amount of customer information. This includes highly confidential account holder information, transaction details and other financial records. It’s highly essential to have the best data protection solutions to overcome devastating ransomware attacks which are capable of halting the financial processes.
Major ransomware attacks will continue to rise and become crippling. We predict:
- One or more major airport and/or seaport will be inoperable for a minimum 24 hours due to ransomware attack.
- A statistical, security and/or analyst firm will start publishing figures on the number of people who died or were injured due to critical healthcare IT systems crippled by ransomware.
- Ransomware attacks will increasingly be attributed as the main cause of serious public incidents, including potentially affecting major elections in at least one country.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Strategies
Experts say that the organization which has continuous access to its data is the one that will achieve success in business. The year 2020 will be pivotal for data management and vendors will have to more clearly explain what the true definition of data management is and whether that aligns with what they’re actually offering to their customers. Analysts define data management as a very wide and all-encompassing concept that covers data protection, cyber security, analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, among other things. Proper data management mechanism will promote the business continuity of an organization.
Cloud is here to Stay and Stand High
Organizations will dedicate more resources to deploy cloud infrastructures successfully, standardizing a security model that works across different vendors to reduce gaps, avoid misconfigurations, and ensure critical data, workloads and applications remain resilient. Further, to match the pace at which organizations are moving to the cloud, we will likely see the emergence of more offerings that enable an easier and user-friendly experience. For instance, automation that eliminates manual steps in the migration process and won’t disrupt or impact production systems.
Disaster Recovery and Climate Change
Specific parts of India have experienced severe natural calamities such as floods in the past few years. The recent Orissa floods in 2019 damaged the IT economy of the state. These natural calamities forced the IT industry to halt their work processes, which in turn affected the revenue of respective organizations. Thus, businesses need to adjust their disaster recovery plans to better anticipate natural disasters that could halt their operations and IT services. Disaster recovery and business continuity solutions must be implemented to prevent extended downtime, data loss, or financial damages due to natural disasters.
Channel Partners’ Contribution
As the ransomware threat continues to change paths to hold organizations’ data, the channel partners and MSPs who offer combined solutions of cyber security and disaster recovery to their clients will perform well in 2020. There will be more alliances between cyber security and data protection vendors to meet the demand of the current market. It will be a critical task to select the best solutions from the available options in the market. MSPs have also found themselves as the targets for a myriad of ransomware attacks, so they must be proactive in taking this two-pronged approach to ensuring cyber resilience.
