NetApp has announced new data security capabilities that will help customers strengthen their cyber resilience. With these innovations, security teams will be able to leverage the planet’s most secure storage system to adopt a proactive approach to data security at the storage layer.
Technological advances have spurred a new cycle of innovation, both in cyber threats and in cybersecurity protection measures. The growing accessibility of artificial intelligence has enabled cybercriminals to automate their attacks, which in turn compels companies to resort to machine learning to automate their detection. Additionally, as quantum computing approaches viability, companies urgently need to protect their sensitive information from malicious hackers who might attempt to steal and store it for easy decryption when quantum power becomes available in the near future.
NetApp is a pioneer in smart data infrastructures that are secure by design and comprehensive. The company provides its clients with the confidence needed to protect and access their data without interruptions, backed by a 99.9999% availability guarantee. Based on this foundation, NetApp is now announcing new cyber resilience capabilities that extend and enhance its clients’ sophisticated security strategies.
“Security teams must include storage in their security strategies, as it represents the last line of defense for their data, and proper storage can play an active role in protecting the business,” stated Jaime Balañá, Technical Director of NetApp for Ibero-America. “Backups and recovery are important parts of security at the storage layer, but NetApp’s comprehensive security capabilities expand the role of primary storage with integrated detection and response against ransomware, allowing customers to adopt a proactive approach to keeping their data safe. With integrated security capabilities protecting our clients’ data across any workload and location, NetApp has made storage as critical to a solid cybersecurity strategy as perimeter and endpoint security tools.”
To help clients enhance their cyber resilience at the storage layer, NetApp has introduced new data security capabilities, including:
- Post-quantum cryptography: NetApp has integrated post-quantum cryptography into its storage portfolio for file and block workloads. NetApp’s secure-by-design storage protects customer data against quantum threats, building trust among clients, partners, and regulators. By leveraging NIST-standardized encryption algorithms—globally recognized standards—companies can rely on a proven and future-ready defense with quantum-compatible storage.
- Ransomware protection updates in NetApp BlueXP: Updates to BlueXP’s ransomware protection enhance the service’s ability to provide a comprehensive and orchestrated defense for NetApp ONTAP® workloads. New features include role-based access controls specifically designed for ransomware, granting security teams granular permissions tailored to effectively combat these threats, as well as support for ransomware protection in native cloud workloads. These advancements provide companies with improved control and protection, safeguarding critical data and maintaining operational resilience in an increasingly complex threat environment.
- Backup and recovery support for workloads in NetApp BlueXP: The backup and recovery feature of NetApp BlueXP offers integrated, simple, secure, and cost-effective data protection for ONTAP data. With these new updates, clients will benefit from a redesigned user interface that facilitates the integration and definition of a 3-2-1 data protection strategy for their workloads, including Microsoft SQL Server, VMware, and Kubernetes applications.
- NetApp security professional services: NetApp offers expanded professional services for security assessment and system fortification to help clients evaluate and further strengthen their strategies, activating the integrated security capabilities in NetApp that help keep their data protected.
“Integrating resilience against cyberattacks into data storage infrastructure has never been more important. Nearly 80% of respondents in our Cybersecurity Decision Maker IQ research indicated that they had experienced a significant security incident in the past 12 months, and 40% considered the lost or compromised data to be one of the most severe consequences of the worst security incident in their organization,” states Krista Case, research director at The Futurum Group. “NetApp is integrating critical cyber resilience capabilities into its data storage infrastructure and services, including granular role-based access controls to help prevent malicious access attempts and secure data encryption capabilities for the quantum era.”
These updates complement NetApp’s comprehensive security capabilities, which include integrated security, ransomware protection, backups, disaster recovery, and data classification, all offered through BlueXP’s ransomware protection. This SaaS-based control plane also includes features like integration with SIEM, enabling greater connectivity between storage and overall security strategies. Integrated security features such as NetApp ONTAP Autonomous Ransomware Protection with AI (ARP/AI) protect clients from data loss and downtime through proactive ransomware detection at the storage layer across hybrid cloud, including ARP for native cloud. Throughout the year, NetApp will expand ARP/AI cyber resilience protection to include block storage workloads.
NetApp’s statements regarding unreleased offerings and future plans are for informational purposes only, are subject to change without notice, and should not be considered when making purchase or other decisions. Such statements do not constitute any commitment, obligation, warranty, or endorsement of any kind by NetApp, including availability, functionality, pricing, or timelines.
No ransomware detection or prevention system can guarantee complete security against a ransomware attack. While there is a possibility that an attack may go undetected, NetApp technology acts as an important additional layer of defense.