Boosting workload defense: Introducing BlueXP ransomware protection’s latest innovations

As cyberthreats evolve, so must the tools that we use to defend against them. NetApp® BlueXP™ ransomware protection, a cornerstone of organizational cyber resilience, includes a suite of powerful enhancements that keep protection of your workloads a step ahead of malicious intent. This blog explores three significant upgrades to BlueXP ransomware protection and how they greatly improve your organization’s preparedness and resilience against ransomware attacks. 

The integration of BlueXP ransomware protection with a leading security information and event management (SIEM) solution from Splunk marks a transformative step in threat response efficiency. Real-time storage ransomware protection information and alerts are channeled directly into your organization’s security operations ecosystem, giving you and your stakeholders immediate visibility into potential threats to your workload data. This convergence is crucial because it speeds your organization’s detection-to-response cycle, enabling a swift, coordinated approach to any security incident. With the vast majority of enterprises facing ransomware threats, the ability to rapidly assimilate and act upon alerts through a unified SIEM platform is invaluable.

BlueXP ransomware protection adds User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to its capabilities through integration with NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights (formerly Cloud Insights) Storage Workload Security (DII-SWS). This integration is pivotal in identifying and in thwarting malicious user activity, including insider threats. DII-SWS scrutinizes user activity to pinpoint anomalies that could signal a breach, and it augments the file activity anomaly detection that BlueXP already provides through NetApp ONTAP^® Autonomous Ransomware Protection technology.  

By mapping DII-SWS detection alerts to specific workloads, BlueXP ransomware protection enables your storage and security teams to directly assess the impact of an attack on the workloads that run your business. At the same time, it uses DII-SWS technology to automatically invoke NetApp Snapshot™ copies to protect those workloads and to block malicious users from causing further damage. This capability is targeted for availability before the end of calendar year 2024

The integration of AI-driven data classification into BlueXP ransomware protection is a game-changer for security prioritization. By determining personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive data, the system confirms that the workloads containing this type of data can receive the highest level of protection. This smart allocation of security resources not only bolsters your defenses where you need them most, but it also optimizes the efficiency of your organization’s protective measures. As cyberthreats grow more sophisticated, the ability to intelligently safeguard workloads containing the very data that hackers are after, and to assess exposure of sensitive data after an attack, isn’t just beneficial, it’s essential. NetApp also plans to make this capability available before the end of calendar year 2024. 

In addition to these major service advances, we are happy to announce more protection options in the cloud. BlueXP ransomware protection now supports detection on NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP primary storage in Google Cloud along with Google Cloud object storage as a backup target.

We have also integrated system security posture insights from BlueXP digital advisor into the BlueXP ransomware protection dashboard. These insights highlight common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE) that affect the security of your workloads, along with the affected workload location, so you can quickly assess and act on issues. By the end of this calendar year, we will also add more flexibility by enabling you to define your own workload groups. 

As you navigate a landscape where data is both an asset and a target, you need a comprehensive strategy for effective cyber resilience that evolves as attacks evolve. The recent BlueXP enhancements are not mere incremental updates—they’re vital tools that support the evolution of your ransomware protection strategy. They equip you with the means to detect threats, to protect your most critical assets, and to recover from attacks with unprecedented agility, speed, and precision. 

See firsthand how you can strengthen your cyber resilience. Start using BlueXP ransomware protection today with our 90-day free trial!  

Needless to say, no ransomware detection or recovery system can completely guarantee safety from a ransomware attack. Although it’s possible that an attack might go undetected, NetApp technology is an important additional layer of defense.