Daiwabo Co., Ltd enhances malware protection with Veeam

For over 30 years, Daiwabo Co., Ltd used a mainframe (i.e., host computer) for core business functions such as sales management, inventory control, and accounting. They also used additional application servers and decentralized file servers at each factory.

"In light of the increasing operational load on mainframes and the decline in COBOL engineers, we have been working on a project to migrate to an open system since around 2019,” said Takeshi Ueda, General Manager of the IT Department at Daiwabo Co. Ltd. “At the same time, from the perspective of security and governance, we integrated the file servers that were distributed across each base with the aim of centralizing backup operations and access rights management at head office."

Alongside file server integration, Daiwabo Co., Ltd implemented Veeam Data Platform to back up their application server data and post‑migration core system data.

“We valued that our newly introduced network storage (Appliance Products) could be designated as a backup target, and that Veeam offered robust backup capabilities,” Ueda said.

The company had strengthened security and established a business continuity plan by centralizing access rights management through file server consolidation, implementing backup operations using Veeam Data Platform, and building systems to prevent and detect unauthorized intrusions.

The Veeam Solution

When ransomware strikes, the biggest challenges are restoring OS, applications, and data. Attackers demand ransom in exchange for decryption keys—yet paying is inappropriate, and even with the key, full restoration is not guaranteed.

“Although we were already backing up with Veeam Data Platform, our backup storage was still on our internal network, meaning it could also be attacked. We therefore decided to store secondary backups entirely outside our internal environment with Veeam Data Cloud Vault,” said Ueda.

Veeam Data Cloud Vault is a fully managed cloud storage service isolated from internal networks, ensuring immutability and encrypted data protection. “It’s immutability was especially important. Since we already used Veeam Data Platform, seamless operations were also a major advantage,” says Ueda.

Kenichi Yamamoto of Systems Department adds: “Even as administrators, we cannot alter or delete data stored in Veeam Data Cloud Vault. That provides strong assurance. At the same time, old data is automatically deleted when its retention period ends, so storage usage does not grow uncontrollably.

Setup and configuration were completed in‑house without requiring an integrator. “Because it's fully managed, deployment was smooth. Japanese localization of system messages would make it even easier,” Yamamoto comments.

Secondary backups run daily, with a 30‑day retention period, the minimum for Veeam Data Cloud Vault.

Daiwabo Co., Ltd tested restoring from Veeam Data Cloud Vault using a backup system. Since the OS and applications of each VM on the core system after migration were all backed up as images, restoring data without having to build a new system environment is another feature of Veeam Data Platform and Veeam Data Cloud Vault. "We tested restoring from data from the previous day and from several days ago. Thanks to the procedure manual provided by Veeam, we were able to confirm that restoration was possible smoothly," said Yamamoto.

Ueda concludes: "We urgently needed to further strengthen security, including measures against ransomware, which is causing increasing damage in Japan, especially in our newly built open-source mission-critical system. From the perspective of data protection, introducing Veeam Data Cloud Vault as a secondary backup method to the cloud has reduced our concerns and increased our sense of security. I think companies that feel uneasy about simply storing backup data on their internal network should consider Veeam Data Cloud Vault."

• Strengthened business continuity planning
  Even in the event of ransomware infection, business disruption can be minimized.
• Reduced anxiety and increased assurance
  "From the perspective of data protection, introducing Veeam Data Cloud Vault as a secondary backup method to the cloud has reduced our concerns and increased our sense of security," said Ueda.
• Rapid restoration of systems and data
  Because 30 generations of data are stored, it is now possible to quickly and smoothly restore your system to a clean state before it was infected with ransomware.