Blocky for Veeam® – your last line of defense against ransomware
Backups with Veeam are deemed the best bastion against ransomware. But once the line is breached, only a system like GRAU DATA’s Blocky for Veeam® can protect your precious backup data.
Statistics show that around 395,000 new malware versions are spawned daily, one smarter than the other. So, the solutions to counter them must be equally intelligent. Given the huge number of existing and new attack scenarios, it is no longer enough to work with blacklists to exclude certain types of attack. It is far too easy for new attack patterns to slip through the net. It is therefore better to only allow explicitly permitted applications to access the important backup data and rely on zero trust security. Really important data Security products such as Blocky for Veeam® by GRAU DATA precisely offer this, providing an effective last line of defense to keep backup data safe.
Billions scammed with ransomware
Application whitelisting, the approach adopted by Blocky for Veeam®, creates a defense line that effectively blocks malware programs no matter how well they are disguised. Even malware software that has already infiltrated the system can not destroy the backup data!
More than half a billion malware programs are ransomware aimed at extortion. One of the targets of ransomware are backup systems, like those of Veeam®, the market leader in data replication and data backup. Hacker attacks accompanied by demands for high ransom payments are a common occurrence. In 2019 alone, such demands totaled a hefty €10 billion according to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). 45 % percent of the affected companies and organizations paid up. However, half of them still did not get their data back.
The USA remains the top target
As Veeam® quoted in a trend report, drawing on an independent survey of 4,200 IT managers, that year 79% of companies and government bodies had fallen victim to ransomware attacks on at least one occasion.
Blocky uses whitelisting
With Blocky for Veeam®, backup data under attack would have been so well-protected that cyber criminals would have had no chance of-extorting a ransom. Blocky takes a digital fingerprint of every process and prevents any written access if this fingerprint is not explicitly approved for the respective process. And since only the Veeam® backup application with its fingerprint is whitelisted, data cannot be deleted or manipulated in the backup repository.
By contrast, standard defense mechanisms, such as virus scanners are often far too porous.
WORM & fingerprint technology
The WORM (Write Once Read Many) technology integrated in Blocky acts as a protective shield and only allows whitelisted applications to access files via the Windows filter driver. For storing data, the Windows file system thus effectively becomes the WORM file system and Blocky automatically turns the data repository into the WORM volume. This is one of the key functions of Blocky for Veeam®, along with all processes which must be explicitly approved by the relevant administrators based on the fingerprint check. As an additional security feature, the application DLLs are also stored in the fingerprint. Blocky’s WORM technology protects backup data like in a tresor, even if a ransomware has entered the Windows system of the backup server.
Ease of operation, low overhead, and attractive pricing
Besides a single-sign-on (SSO) in the active directory, to operate and configure Blocky a separate password is required. In addition, the Blocky software is linked to the Veeam® repository server via a unique ID. And the good thing is that despite the scalability, Blocky shows a very low overhead. No actions are generated when reading and writing. Overhead occurs only for deleting and changing data in the WORM volume and needs approx. 2-3 percent of processer performance.
As Blocky for Veeam® is purely Windows-based, no additional hardware or Linux server is needed, and administration is correspondingly easy. Another major advantage is that Blocky for Veeam® is highly scalable. It can be perfectly integrated into existing infrastructure, for SMB customers with 50 TB backup data up to enterprises with multiple sides and Petabytes of backup data.
GRAU DATA offers Blocky for Veeam® to end-users and Veeam® partners at attractive prices, and also provides technical training for Blocky resellers, who are familiar with Windows and Veeam®.
Recap of advantages
- Easy to operate, configure, and administer
- As Blocky is purely Windows-based, no Linux server or additional hardware are needed
- Highest security and scalability teamed with very low overhead
- Attractive prices, as well as technical support and training for Blocky resellers
In an interview following the release of the 2023 trend report mentioned above, Dave Russell, Veeam® Vice President for Enterprise Strategy, expresses his delight for Blocky’s effective and simple backup cyber protection. While many Veeam® solutions are based on Linux, he was impressed what GRAU DATA achieves with Windows-based Blocky:
“I like how unobtrusive it is, how easy it is to set up and install, and to integrate into the existing Veeam® infrastructure. It is a bit like a padlock on your door. It means that you do not need to change your door or even replace the lock, but just add to it instead. Try it out, see if it meets your needs. It’s a great solution. Just let it run silently in the background. It is the best kind of technology there is. You can compare it to an iPhone or some other smartphone. The beauty of it lies in its simplicity, and its strength in its discretion.”
Conclusion: Data protection is gaining high importance, especially in response to cyber attacks. GRAU DATA’s Blocky for Veeam® is a simple, yet highly efficient solution for protecting backups in Veeam® against ransomware. Even if malware has infiltrated the Windows system, the backup data are still WORM protected and save like in a tresor Blocky for Veeam® rightly earns its reputation of being “Your Last Line of Defense.”
Source cover image: Pexels.com / Thitichaya