BaaS Underpins the Federal Zero-Trust Security Requirement
Agencies continue to migrate to the cloud seeking greater operational efficiency, but underlying that efficiency is data readiness, which is contingent upon agencies having a comprehensive data protection solution in place, says Richard Breakiron, senior director of strategic initiatives for Americas public sector at Commvault Systems.
Major cloud service providers such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services offer agencies backup tools, but less well known is the fact vendors such as Commvault back up key and even classified workloads for those companies.
The government mandates the Department of Defense and other agencies have backup systems in place in the event of a cyberattack, system failure or natural disaster, but the cost is often seen as a “boat anchor,” Breakiron says. Historically, DOD has prioritized new weapon systems and operational capabilities over backing up existing ones.
“In the past 10 years, it became very apparent — across both industry and federal government — that that is a failed strategy,” Breakiron says. “If you cannot recover from a ransomware attack or classified spillage, if you do not have a system in place beforehand, you will have mission failure.”
LEARN MORE: Why zero-trust architectures should include data protection and cyber recovery.
BaaS underpins the federal zero-trust security architecture requirement because data is a pillar of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Zero Trust Maturity Model, he adds.
Commvault backup and disaster recovery systems alerted Colorado’s CIO to a new server coming online and accumulating data in February 2018. The server was quarantined, and when the state’s data team revealed they hadn’t stood it up, it became clear they were in the first stage of a ransomware attack.
In that instance, BaaS functioned as an automated alert system, thanks to basic artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“Is that a cyber tool? Maybe not in some people’s minds,” Breakiron says. “But in my mind, it is because it recognized a cyber event that was occurring up front, gave necessary alerts and prevented the attack from happening.”
