Attack-Hardened Data Management and Storage Solutions

Following the survival of a ransomware attack, they now unify and secure data across multiple clouds, sites, and on-prem.

I had the opportunity to meet with Nathan Thompson, CEO, and other members of the leadership team of Spectra Logic during the 40th IT Press Tour.

Spectra Logic is a 40-year-old computer data storage and data management company with a complete portfolio of secondary storage hardware including tape automation, NAS, and object storage.

The portfolio of integrated solutions includes Spectra Vail distributed multi-cloud data management software, Spectra StorCycle storage lifecycle management software, Spectra BlackPearl multi-purpose hybrid storage platform, and Spectra TapeSolutions long-term storage and secure digital preservation.

The IT challenges Spectra Logic is helping its customers address are cloud adoption, data management issues, and ransomware. Every company is looking to the cloud. Data management issues include security concerns, legacy applications, overloaded systems, and cloud integration. Ransomware issues include protecting data, avoiding financial loss, protecting brand equity, and hackers are getting smarter.

"Attach hardened" ransomware resiliency was created following Spectra Logic getting hacked for a $3.6 million ransom. Spectra Logic successfully survived the attack without paying a ransom and created a new approach to designing storage solutions.

Here's how they transformed each of their solutions:

Vail

Hybrid cloud environments are putting a huge strain on IT professionals to manage and secure data in multiple clouds and on local storage in multiple sites. Vail, centralizes data management across on-premises and multi-cloud architectures, enabling dynamic on-demand data access, placement, and storage with a single global namespace.

Vail's interface enable policy-based data orchestration that presents all data stored anywhere as a single pool of storage. This streamlines workflows and reduces costs to leverage the power of the cloud without the steep egress fees. Regardless of where the data is created or stored, all files appear in their native format and are accessbile and protected.

• Data can be encrypted, single key per object, locked to your account

• Database encrypted, metadata, object names, and locations

• Endpoints hidden behind firewalls

• Object locking for ransomware protection

• Self-Healing and versioning for data corruption/malicious protection

• Multi-site for physical security

• Glacier to automated tape provides air gap protection

StorCycle

StorCycle Storage Lifecycle Management software helps organizations understand their data and migrate that data to the right tier of storage for cost-effective data access and preservation, as well as to optionally encrypt data to provide additional attack-hardened security.

• Encryption

• Triggered Snapshots on BlackPearl NAS

• Works with disk, tape, cloud

• Reduce attack footprint by moving data

BlackPearl

The BlackPearl Platform is a multi-purpose hybrid storage ecosystem that scales up as object and file volumes grow, adapts as operational requirements change, and enables easy synchronization of data between on-premises and cloud storage. It offers customers flexible storage that provides multiple types of media (cloud, disk, flash and tape).

• Triggered and time-based snapshots to immutable storage

• Multi-factor authentication

• Hooks into Commvault and Veeam for snapshots

• Multiple replication options inside a single BlackPearl to:

• Offsite to 2nd BlackPearl

• StorCycle copy snapshots to tape, cloud

• Self-healing for bit errors

Spectra Tape Libraries

Spectra Stack Tape Library is designed to be easily installed, expanded and managed, starting as a 6U library with 1 to 6 LTO tape drives and 10 to 80 LTO tape slots. The tape library is scalable from 10 to 560 tape slots and 1 to 42 tape drives.

• Cold storage: Media isolation within the tape library

• Encryption at rest for tape cartridges using Spectra’s no-charge, built-in key management system

• WORM option for media

• Ejectable media for Air Gap