NetApp pioneers AI-driven ransomware defence for customer data

NetApp, the intelligent data infrastructure company, today announced the integration of enhanced cyber-resiliency capabilities to better arm customers against the escalating menace of ransomware threats. These capabilities uniquely feature the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in enterprise primary storage to combat ransomware in real-time. This milestone initiative from NetApp provides holistic protection for both primary and secondary data, regardless of whether the data is stored on-premises or in the cloud.

"NetApp is taking an aggressive and proactive approach to protecting our customers' data against cyber threats using artificial intelligence. We are the first storage vendor to explicitly and financially guarantee our data storage offerings against ransomware," said Mignona Cote, CSO at NetApp. The company has embraced the task of ensuring a comprehensive, continuous and simplified approach to data protection for its customers.

With cybercriminals increasingly targeting critical infrastructure and supply chains, where disruptions could potentially result in millions of dollars in losses, the need for real-time and robust data protection has become paramount. According to the NetApp 2023 Data Complexity report, 87% of C-suite and board-level executives have ranked ransomware as a high, or the top, priority for their organisation. In response to this challenge, NetApp has updated its solutions, utilising the power of AI to restore customer confidence that their data will remain safe and accessible when required.

The new updates from NetApp include ONTAP Autonomous Ransomware Protection with Artificial Intelligence (ARP/AI) which offers next-generation real-time enterprise storage ransomware protection. By using adaptive AI/ML models directly built into enterprise primary storage, it is anticipated that even the newest ransomware attacks can be detected and mitigated with expected 99%+ precision and recall.

NetApp has also launched the BlueXP Ransomware Protection, which coordinates an end-to-end, workload-centric ransomware defence. This allows customers to protect critical workload data with a single click, detect and respond to a potential attack accurately and speedily, and recover workloads within a few minutes, thereby securing their valuable data and minimising costly disruption.

You Qinghong, Solutions Engineering Lead, Greater China, ASEAN and South Korea, NetApp, emphasised that "NetApp's data-centric, inside-out approach to cyber resilience embeds AI-driven protection directly into the storage infrastructure, providing defence at its most critical point – where the data resides, in owned data centres or anywhere in the cloud."

Further update includes Application-Aware Ransomware Protection via NetApp SnapCenter 5.0. Offering immutable ransomware protection for applications, the SnapCenter will now apply NetApp's leading ransomware protection technologies – previously used with unstructured data – to application-consistent backup.

NetApp's latest cyber-resiliency updates not only proactively address cybersecurity threats in increasingly complex hybrid and multicloud environments but also leverage AI to identify threats and prevent disruptions to their operations. This innovation exemplifies NetApp's dedication to improving cybersecurity measures and its commitment to providing customers with unparalleled data protection solutions in today's complex IT infrastructure.