How Secure is your Data?

Technology continues to shape our business landscape as companies look for competitive advantage through digital transformation and the smart use of IT. Insight and information are key business enablers, as customer data and intellectual property increasingly fuels strategic thinking and business development initiatives.

The amount of stored data is growing at a phenomenal rate and cyber security threats are at an all-time high, making the consequences of a data breach both financially and reputationally punitive.

Flexible working, cloud computing and software-as-a-service developments have moved data outside traditional company perimeters, and hybrid workstyles can lead to complacency over data management and safety.

Ransomware attacks illegally encrypt data, making it unusable by the owner, and security breaches of all types are increasing operational downtime as criminals target enterprises with sub-optimal protection. Data loss due to human error, system failure, and malicious employee actions are also on the rise, and regulation and compliance rules increasingly require business leaders to demonstrate robust protection is in place, to avoid litigation.

Immutable Data Storage

Data that is mutable is changeable - but immutable data cannot be changed, tampered with, or modified in any way, making it permanent and unalterable – and any attempt to change or tamper with it is immediately detectable.
Immutable data has the highest levels of protection, and storing it off site in our highly secure and resilient Channel Island datacentres provides assurance and compliance levels that are second to none.

How does it work?

System flags trigger the moving of backed-up data to the immutable tier at specified time periods, creating a secure and archived record of a company’s continually evolving business. Stored immutable data sets become a trusted repository of an organisation’s data.

Preservation and restoration of all achieved information enables rapid recovery from unforeseen system downtime, using the most recently stored and secure versions of documents, file and records.

Immutable data storage uses a protocol known as S3 - a set of policies and procedures that protect stored data in S3 buckets. Only authorised users have access to the encrypted data which has robust security features, policies, versioning, and multi-factor authentication – ensuring the highest levels of protection.

The system uses encryption keys and cryptographic techniques to protect the data stored in S3 buckets, including server-side or client-side encryption, a process of encrypting and protecting the data before it is uploaded to S3.

How safe are you?

Leaving aside the ‘deep tech’ detail of immutable storage, one thing is for sure - todays cybercriminals and bad actors who are looking to exploit your data vulnerabilities are highly advanced and sophisticated. Regardless of whether your systems, data, and applications run on your own infrastructure or in the cloud - immutable data storage can be used.
Microsoft 365 and public cloud services like Azure have many benefits, and Sure is a formalised and accredited Microsoft partner - but Microsoft systems don’t actually create independent, accessible, and external copies of the data, so organisations subject to specific industry compliance and regulation are likely need more rigorous and accountable storage and security.

Our S3 immutable storage services operate from our strategically located, highly secure, and resiliently connected datacentres on both Jersey and Guernsey – so whatever your current storage and security situation, we recommend a discussion with one of our professional services experts to review your current arrangements and assess whether more robust and advanced protection is required.