Securing India's Digital Future: A holistic approach to data protection in public sector

According to a report by CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team), there was a 51% increase in ransomware incidents in India in the first half of 2022.
Balaji Rao
  • Updated On Jul 7, 2023 at 09:43 AM IST
Read by: 100 Industry Professionals
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<p>Data protection is no longer about how fast you can recover lost or damaged data.<br /></p>
Data protection is no longer about how fast you can recover lost or damaged data.
The past few years have witnessed a paradigm shift in the public sector’s plan of becoming a digital economy through infrastructure, platforms, and software solutions. This is abundantly clear from the 67% increase in the year’s budget focusing on the ‘Digital India’ initiative from ₹6,388 crores in 2021 to ₹10,676.18 crores in 2022.

As part of adoption, migration to the cloud has been a very crucial step, with humongous amounts of data getting stored in the cloud coming daily, calling for a heightened focus on security. According to a report by CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team), there was a 51% increase in ransomware incidents in India in the first half of 2022.

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Therefore, data protection must exceedingly inform the public sector’s digital strategy, with early threat detection and state-of-the-art data backup and recovery solutions at the core of it. Public sector companies need a solution that goes beyond the principles of Zero Trust and encompasses the broader spectrum of security within a single landscape.

The sheer act of cyber warfare can wreak unprecedented havoc on the economy. Let’s delve into what a holistic approach to uncovering, containing, and minimizing threats would look like.

Implementing a Multi-layered Security Framework
To achieve automated and consistent ransomware protection and recovery processes, organizations in the public sector need a solution that has the broadest workload support, rapid recovery, and data protection that is working behind the scenes even before any data is compromised.

Zero-day threat visibility
It is imperative to pre-empt and proactively implement a defensive mechanism against perceived threats before they fully compromise the organization’s data. Therefore, utilizing a platform that can weed out malignant applications by way of cyber deception (decoys, fake assets, etc) can flag priority actionable alerts to manage the issue before it can infiltrate any organizational data. This layer of deception can help fortify existing data protection strategies by helping public sector organizations spot threats from miles away!

Broadest data leakage control
Organizations need to consider a solution that can not only protect their workloads but also defends against the theft of crucial data. Therefore, public sector companies must consider a solution that has the ability to lure bad actors away from critical data by way of threat sensors across the broadest workloads to protect on-prem, cloud, and SaaS environments quickly. Considering the rapidly evolving threat landscape, it is imperative to have solutions that can encompass early detection techniques in addition to data recovery.

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Faster business response
The critical elements of successful data protection are agility and accuracy. The quicker one responds to a threat; the more pre-emptive one can safeguard it. Protection and recovery can be accelerated by a solution that offers a single management console with automated workflows, flexible restore options, and consistent processes. Such a solution can do away with tape backups and multiple-point products, thereby eliminating complex manual tasks and the associated staff frustration.

Zero Trust Principles
To deliver a multi-layered security framework, the backup and recovery solution should be rooted in the principles of zero trust. It should offer features and functionalities that protect the organization’s data and the environment by flagging recon, lateral movement, and unwanted privileged access that silently bypass conventional security tools. Such a solution can empower public sector companies to streamline response tools, access controls, and secure user accounts, among others.

The Way Forward: Identify, Monitor, Recover
Data protection is no longer about how fast you can recover lost or damaged data. Bad actors have realized the usual recovery steps and data encryption and are disrupting the traditional threats to pursue an organization’s data. Therefore, the public sector needs to deploy solutions that can relentlessly adapt to the evolving tactics and techniques of these bad actors and safeguard the nation from ransomware and other cyber-attacks.

Organizations must opt for a data protection solution that not only provides pristine backup and storage of their data – no matter how sensitive it is, but also protects from data leakage, exfiltration, theft, or damage. Public sector companies no longer need to manage multiple cloud service providers but can rely on such new-age modern solutions to bridge this gap, delivering a single solution that comprehensively safeguards sensitive public data from deletion, corruption, and ransomware attacks. Cyberattacks are expected to double by 2025, therefore, we can safely assume it is no longer a matter of if, but when an organization will get attacked. As the battlefield of cyber warfare moves forward, visionary leaders must examine how cyber deception can assist them.
  • Published On Jul 7, 2023 at 09:42 AM IST
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