Investing in a Private Cloud Solution Can Help You Avoid a Data Breach like the SolarWinds Attack

Imagine installing a sophisticated lock system, being broken into, and then learning that it was the locksmith’s materials that were faulty. That’s how many of FireEye’s customer’s felt, when the cyberattack protection and response services company announced that they’d been hacked and that the security vulnerability was sourced to one of its software providers, SolarWinds.

The significance of a cybersecurity breach like the SolarWinds attack

In short, FireEye was performing a routine check of its own systems when it discovered a “back door” into their IT management provider SolarWinds’ systems. After reporting the breach to the FBI and other authorities, it became increasingly evident that the breach was tied to Russian Intelligence efforts and has a broad reach, impacting various US government agencies. The full extent of the breach isn’t yet clear, but it appears to be part of a months-long, extensive spying operation.

SolarWinds has hundreds of thousands of clients (which include many government agencies, defense contractors, and Fortune 500 companies) and in a recent statement, they said that ~18,000 clients were potentially vulnerable to the attack.

This is big news because not only was an industry-leading cyberattack response company hacked but their forensic tools were also stolen. So, what does this mean for SolarWinds? Millions of dollars in remediation and investigation costs. In fact, according to a recent IBM report, the global average cost of a data breach is around $3.9 million.

Now, imagine your organization’s employee and client data in the hands of cyber thieves. Small and medium-sized organizations are attractive targets as they lack the understanding and resources to protect their vulnerabilities against attacks.

How a private cloud solution can protect your organization

The SolarWinds attack isn’t the first time in recent years that we’ve seen a breach like this. It’s reminiscent of the 2017 release by Shadow Brokers of hacking tools developed by a US Intelligence agency (EternalBlue). Those tools became the core of the WannaCry ransomware attack that affected significant portions of the world.

So, how can organizations protect themselves? The easiest and most effective way is to invest in a private cloud solution that has advanced security capabilities.

Benefits of a private cloud — it does what your team can’t

Staying ahead of these types of cybersecurity attacks is next to impossible. Experienced, dedicated cybersecurity experts did not become aware of the FireEye/SolarWinds attack until recently, despite the fact the breach had been initiated months earlier in March. That means that SMB’s, like law and accounting firms that don’t have robust in-house security teams, are particularly vulnerable. They don’t have the resources or the expertise to predict, prevent, or recognize these types of cyberattacks.
Private cloud solutions, like Abacus Private Cloud (APC), are designed with Artificial Intelligence to proactively monitor and stop behaviors that signal data breaches — which means you get proactive rather than reactive protection. APC also:

• Separates each customer’s data in a dedicated virtual server, with unique encryption keys
• Creates 30-day system snapshots that offer network, workstation, and file restore points enabling quick recovery
• Mirrors all backup files across multiple secure data centers, which eliminates any single point of data failure
• Monitors each customer’s system health 24/7

While unfortunate, the reality is that even experts fail to predict and prevent sophisticated cyberattacks. Investing in a private cloud solution like APC can strengthen your business by limiting exposure risk, mitigating damage and disruption, and focusing on discovery and recovery. This is the best business continuity solution for highly regulated professions, like the legal and accounting industries.

How to get started with APC

If your organization collects any type of proprietary information or personal identification information, you need to take your cybersecurity measures seriously. If you do become attacked, the monetary and reputational damages alone could be impossible to recover from. However, partnering with a secure cloud solution like APC can put your mind at ease and shift some of the compliance responsibility off your shoulders and onto our’s.

If you are interested in how your business can benefit from hosting your data within a private cloud environment, give us a call at 1-800-726-3339 or fill out the form online to get a free demo of Abacus Private Cloud today.