3 ways CISOs can transform backup data into a security asset

Here are three ways to transform backup data into a powerful security advantage:

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  1. Enhanced threat hunting

  Using advanced backup systems for threat hunting offers several key advantages. Its isolation from primary environments enables stealthy, passive threat hunting that can’t be evaded by adversaries—especially ransomware gangs that embed evasion techniques into their ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) platform to bypass EDR and XDR tools. Backups also provide historical and organization-wide visibility, so analysts can uncover long-term patterns of malicious activity and connections between seemingly unrelated events.

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  2. Improved data compliance

  As AI-enhanced security tools gain traction, integrating Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solutions with advanced backup systems delivers a powerful boost to data protection. DSPM tools help identify sensitive data and provide visibility into its location, users, and security posture. When paired with modern backup systems, security and compliance leaders can quickly uncover unprotected assets, optimize backup and recovery based on data criticality, and assess the blast radius of a breach to accelerate incident response.

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  3. Comprehensive incident response and recovery

  A robust incident response and recovery strategy is crucial for minimizing the impact of security incidents on an organization. Backup data plays a vital role in ensuring that recovery is swift and complete, reducing downtime and data loss. Beyond restoration of data, advanced backup systems are also valuable for incident response. They can detect threats early and share these threats with SOC tools for faster triage. Incident responders can perform file system forensics across backup snapshots to gain deeper insight into the attack timeline, and hunt for IOCs in a secure and isolated environment—without interference from, or tipping off, adversaries who may still be active in the network.