Veeam and Sophos in strategic partnership

Issue 7 2023 Information Security

Veeam Software announced a strategic partnership with Sophos. Through the partnership, Veeam Data Platform will integrate with Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR), adding a critical layer of human-led threat detection and response to advance the security of business-critical backups against ransomware attackers who attempt to manipulate, delete or change the customers backup environment as a tactic in their overall attack chain to increase pressure on victims to pay the ransom.

With persistent cyber attackers constantly upping their game, the question is no longer if or when, but how often an organisation will be impacted, making it more critical than ever for organisations to have the right protection and recovery capabilities in place. Together, Veeam and Sophos technologies detect cybersecurity threats, determine the warranted response and rapidly recover impacted data, providing organisations peace of mind knowing their data is always available and easily recoverable.

“The growing threat of cyberattacks can only be addressed by companies coming together to offer customers more complete and integrated protection,” said Danny Allan, CTO at Veeam. “Combining the leader in data protection and ransomware recovery with a leading MDR offering provides customers with the most comprehensive cybersecurity protection and recovery on the market. Keeping businesses running, no matter what happens, is central to Veeam’s overall mission, and by uniting with Sophos to create an end-to-end approach, we take another step in protecting customers from bad actors by strengthening their overall security posture and enabling radical resilience.”

Veeam Data Platform monitors an organisation’s environment to detect potential threats against customers’ production workloads and their backup environment. Should a threat be identified, such as an attacker attempting to tamper with backups, Veeam sends an alert to Sophos MDR—a fully-managed threat hunting, detection and response service that provides a dedicated 24/7 security team that rapidly identifies and neutralises complex attacks, including ransomware, network breaches, hands-on keyboard adversaries, and more. The Sophos MDR security operations team can determine if an attack is occurring and take actions to disrupt, contain and fully eliminate the attacker.

“Active adversaries are remarkably adept at evolving their tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), often outpacing the detection capabilities of many organisations, as evidenced by Sophos X-Ops threat intelligence. The need for secure backups is paramount, and always-on security operations are imperative in fortifying this business-critical data,” said Marty Ward, Vice President of Technology Operations at Sophos. “Sophos MDR is the most widely used MDR offering with more than 19 000 customers worldwide, and we look forward to extending this urgently needed offering to organisations using Veeam. Together, we are keeping organisations running securely.”

Additional key benefits of this strategic partnership include:

• Defending against ransomware: Advanced threat detection and prevention capabilities from Sophos, with immutable backups and versioning provided by Veeam, ensure backup data remains secure and recoverable.

• Improving threat response time: Sophos MDR security operations specialists execute immediate response actions to stop confirmed threats with an industry-leading average response time of 38 minutes, 96% faster than the industry benchmark.

• Identifying internal security threats: Comprehensive monitoring of internal and external threats like malware detects unauthorised or suspicious activity that could compromise backup data.

• Preventing accidental deletion: Backup versioning, audit trails, and immutable storage options safeguard backup data against unintentional actions.

• Maintaining compliance: Robust data protection and security features can help organisations meet regulatory compliance requirements such as GDPR, HIPAA, and other industry-specific regulations.

• Satisfying cyber insurance requirements: Sophos MDR helps satisfy critical cyber insurance requirements, like having 24/7 threat monitoring, reducing the likelihood of claim denial and helping organisations get better premiums.




Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page



Further reading:

What are MFA fatigue attacks, and how can they be prevented?
Information Security
Multifactor authentication is a security measure that requires users to provide a second form of verification before they can log into a corporate network. It has long been considered essential for keeping fraudsters out. However, cybercriminals have been discovering clever ways to bypass it.

Read more...
SA's cybersecurity risks to watch
Information Security
The persistent myth is that cybercrime only targets the biggest companies and economies, but cybercriminals are not bound by geography, and rapidly digitising economies lure them in large numbers.

Read more...
Cyber insurance a key component in cyber defence strategies
Information Security
[Sponsored] Cyber insurance has become a key part of South African organisations’ risk reduction strategies, driven by the need for additional financial protection and contingency plans in the event of a cyber incident.

Read more...
Deception technology crucial to unmasking data theft
Information Security Security Services & Risk Management
The ‘silent theft’ of data is an increasingly prevalent cyber threat to businesses, driving the ongoing leakage of personal information in the public domain through undetected attacks that cannot even be policed by data privacy legislation.

Read more...
Data security and privacy in global mobility
Security Services & Risk Management Information Security
Data security and privacy in today’s interconnected world is of paramount importance. In the realm of global mobility, where individuals and organisations traverse borders for various reasons, safeguarding sensitive information becomes an even more critical imperative.

Read more...
Sophos celebrates partners and cybersecurity innovation at annual conference
News & Events Information Security
[Sponsored] Sun City hosted Sophos' annual partner event this year, which took place from 12 to 14 March. Sophos’ South African cybersecurity distributors and resellers gathered for an engaging two-day conference.

Read more...
The CIPC hack has potentially serious consequences
Editor's Choice Information Security
A cyber breach at the South African Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) has put millions of companies at risk. The organisation holds a vast database of registration details, including sensitive data like ID numbers, addresses, and contact information.

Read more...
Navigating South Africa's cybersecurity regulations
Sophos Information Security Infrastructure
[Sponsored] Data privacy and compliance are not just buzzwords; they are essential components of a robust cybersecurity strategy that cannot be ignored. Understanding and adhering to local data protection laws and regulations becomes paramount.

Read more...
AI augmentation in security software and the resistance to IT
Security Services & Risk Management Information Security
The integration of AI technology into security software has been met with resistance. In this, the first in a series of two articles, Paul Meyer explores the challenges and obstacles that must be overcome to empower AI-enabled, human-centric decision-making.

Read more...
Milestone Systems joins CVE programme
Milestone Systems News & Events Information Security
Milestone Systems has partnered with the Common Vulnerability and Exposures (CVE) Programme as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA), to assist the programme to find, describe, and catalogue known cybersecurity issues.

Read more...