Data is one of the most valuable assets an organization holds, and one of the most targeted. Cyberattacks like ransomware can cause irreversible loss, corruption, or theft of critical information, which disrupts operations and damages trust.
Case in point is the recent catastrophic cyber incident that affected prestigious UK automotive manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). This attack was reportedly carried out by a group calling itself Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, possibly involving Scattered Spider, Lapsus$, and ShinyHunters. It is an illustration of how destructive, debilitating, and costly a cyber incident can be. This attack could be considered the most economically damaging cyber event in UK history, with an estimated cost of £1.9 billion ($2.5 billion) to the UK economy. It also resulted in manufacturing operations being shut down for 5 weeks and had a posed significant impact on JLR’s extensive supply chain thought to involve 5,000 suppliers and an estimated 100,000 workers. This incident is still under investigation and details are still inconclusive, but this is perhaps an illustration of just how bad things can get.
Backup and Recovery: Your Last Line of Defense
The need for robust backup and recovery solutions is more important than ever. As ransomware and other cyberthreats continue to evolve, organizations must ensure their data isn’t just stored, but that it’s recoverable to.
Modern data protection solutions go beyond backups; they safeguard against hardware failures, malicious activity, and human error while enabling fast recovery when the worst happens. Without these measures, the consequences can be severe, bringing financial losses, reputational damage, and operational disruptions.
Now, another challenge is emerging on the horizon: Quantum computing. Within the decade, quantum computers could readily crack the encryption algorithms we use today to protect our data, and the IT industry is starting to wake up to this threat. In essence, a rapid migration of encryption methods will need to be rolled out over the next 10 years. For many, this will be non-trivial. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has already announced that it will begin deprecating classical asymmetric algorithms such as RSA by 2030. Plus, with threat actors already harvesting data for later decryption, the transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) cannot wait.
As the market leader in data resilience, Veeam has partnered with Entrust – a specialist in digital security, identity, access management solutions, and unified cryptographic security platforms – to strengthen the foundation of data security and help customers defend against ransomware threats.
Veeam: Built for Data Resilience
When ransomware strikes, confidence comes from knowing your backups are clean, recoverable, and secure. That’s where Veeam steps in. As the market leader in data protection, Veeam helps organizations protect critical data, detect threats early, and recover clean all within one unified platform.
Veeam Data Platform combines immutability, encryption, and intelligent monitoring to safeguard backups from tampering or deletion. If an attack does occur, advanced capabilities like malware detection, automated recovery testing, and clean restore verification ensure you can get back to business quickly and confidently.
Together, Veeam and Entrust provide a trusted foundation for cyber and data resilience by uniting strong encryption and key management with proven backup and recovery. It’s a partnership designed to help organizations not only survive ransomware but recover stronger.
Strong Encryption Starts with Strong and Segregated Key Management
As ransomware techniques evolve, simply encrypting backup data is no longer enough. Organizations also need confidence that the keys that protect encrypted data are secured, governed, segregated and tamper-proof, especially as adversaries increasingly harvest data for future decryption. This is where strong key management becomes essential.
Implementing encryption for backups involves more than selecting an encryption algorithm. It involves a strategic and well-structured approach, including the segregation and management of cryptographic keys. The keys used to secure and decrypt data, particularly backup data, must be handled with utmost care. This is where robust key management systems (KMSs) come into play. A KMS provides a secure environment for creating, storing, distributing, and retiring cryptographic keys. By restricting key access to authorized systems and individuals, a KMS significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized decryption and helps maintain the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data in complex IT environments.
At the core of their functionality, KMS solutions segregate encryption keys from the encrypted data while streamlining the entire key lifecycle from initial generation and secure storage to controlled usage and timely revocation. By employing effective key management practices, organizations ensure that encryption keys are both readily available when required for legitimate operations and firmly protected against potential threats.
Bringing It Together: Entrust and Veeam
The Entrust Cryptographic Security Platform (CSP) Key Management Solution integrates with Veeam Backup & Replication to provide a key management server in the Veeam Backup & Replication environment via the KMIP open standard. For organizations requiring higher levels of assurance, the platform KMS can be seamlessly integrated with a FIPS 140-3 Level 3 Entrust nShield hardware security module (HSM). This optional HSM is used to protect the master key for the KMS. HSMs also ensure that high-quality entropy generated by their embedded random number generator is incorporated into all keys created and managed by the platform vaults, regardless of vault type.
The Entrust CSP is an innovative solution that unifies cryptographic management by combining the rich capabilities used to operate public key infrastructure (PKI), certificate lifecycle management, key and secrets management, and HSMs all from a single, cohesive system. And, you may be wondering, what about post quantum? Entrust nShield HSMs and the Key Management solution offered by Entrust Cryptographic Security Platform are already production-ready for post-quantum computing, helping organizations prepare today for the cryptographic challenges of tomorrow.
Get Started with Entrust and Veeam
To learn more about how Entrust and Veeam strengthen data resilience, protect encryption keys, and prepare your organization for emerging threats like post-quantum decryption, explore our joint solution brief.
Learn More: https://www.entrust.com/products/cryptographic-security-platform