The consequences of a data breach can be catastrophic, both for businesses and their customers, writes Graham Brown, country manager for SA/SADC at Commvault.
At the same time, the value of data as a critical business asset is something enterprises need to harness to ensure competitiveness. It has never been more important to be able to rapidly detect, protect, and respond to potential threats and attacks, while also improving data visibility and governance.
To leverage advanced data insights, threat detection, data protection, security, intelligence and recovery, organisations need a single platform that marries modern cyber resilience technologies with advanced security and data intelligence.
The threat is growing
Cybercrime has become big business, and today, organisations of all sizes face unprecedented threats, not only in terms of the volume of attacks, but also the damage that a breach can cause. From significant business disruption to brand reputation damage, compliance challenges and subsequent penalties, the stakes are increasingly high, and the likelihood of an attack is too.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 report highlights that 72% of organisations have reported an increase in cyber risks over the past year, with ransomware and cyber-enabled fraud being major concerns.
Having backup and recovery in place is simply no longer enough to counter the threat – it has become essential to create not only cyber security, but cyber resilience, which means that data security solutions need to collaborate seamlessly with other solutions within the cyber-recovery ecosystem.
Data protection must work hand in hand with core security tools and services, and integration with AI and next-generation toolsets is a must for advancing security posture and elevating data governance, not to mention faster, smarter, and more connected security insights.
A single platform is the ideal solution
Unified management allows for enhanced visibility and active management capabilities, while data security posture management helps organisations find, categorise and act on sensitive data, scan for new threats across critical data assets and remediate the threat.
To fight the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) within cybercrime, business also need to embrace AI to help detect threats earlier, limit exposure and reduce recovery costs. AI can also be used to assist in establishing policies, starting and pausing tasks like backup, and reducing manual effort through generative AI and automation.
Simplification, consolidation, seamless integration
The reality of the world is that a ransomware attack is coming, and all businesses need to be prepared for the threat. It is critical to have cyber resilience in place to improve security posture, including early detection and clean point recovery as well as immutable, air-gapped backups, comprehensive reporting security and more, in a single solution that simplifies processes while reducing cost.
By consolidating data silos and automating data management workflows, organisations can improve data visibility, governance, and security posture. This enables faster threat detection, response, and recovery, reducing the risk of breaches and data loss.