Category: technology

What is Insider Data Exfiltration?

Mr. Filip Cotfas, Channel Manager, CoSoSys

Data exfiltration refers to the unauthorized copying, transfer, or retrieval of data from a company computer or server. It can be performed by a variety of actors: by outsiders through malware or phishing attacks that can lead to data breaches, by malicious insiders looking to inflict harm on an organization for their own or other entities’ gain, or by careless insiders who leak data by accident. Most often, data exfiltration is a deliberate attempt to appropriative sensitive and valuable data.

Types of Data Exfiltration

There are several ways in which data is exfiltrated on-site by malicious insiders. The most common method, is outbound emails. Legitimate users attach files containing sensitive data to emails and send them to their personal email accounts. They can also copy-paste sensitive information directly into the body of emails or forward confidential internal communications to their own or competitors’ email addresses.

The second most popular data exfiltration method is uploading sensitive data to cloud storage websites.  Information can be exfiltrated from cloud storage when data is uploaded to insecure or misconfigured services. Misconfiguration in particular is a common cause for data leakage when uploaded files are accidentally left exposed to the public. Malicious insiders may also intentionally misconfigure services to give access to unauthorized third parties or make files accessible to themselves from a personal device. Uploading sensitive information to personal cloud drives from company computers is also a frequently used data exfiltration technique.

Another common data exfiltration method is the use of unauthorized removable devices to copy confidential files. Insiders can download sensitive data from the corporate network and store it locally on their work device. Those files can then easily be copied onto USBs or other removable devices connected to the computer. This technique allows employees to steal data without requiring internet or network connection. In fact, by taking their devices offline, insiders can sometimes bypass security policies in place against this type of data theft.

Preventing Data Exfiltration

Sensitive data classification is essential for effective data exfiltration threat detection. While most organizations will flag categories of data such as personally identifiable information (PII) safeguarded under data protection legislation, as sensitive, they often disregard other categories of data that could be deemed sensitive in the context of their industry.

It is therefore important that companies evaluate the data they produce and identify which categories are critical to their business operations and which need to be protected to vouchsafe their competitive advantage. Once these types of data are discovered, organizations can put security controls in place to protect them.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions, that allow sensitive data to be defined based on a company’s needs, can be used as part of cybersecurity strategies to ensure data security. DLP tools come with predefined profiles for common types of protected information such as PII and intellectual property but also allow for customizable policies to suit a particular organization’s requirements. Once sensitive data is defined, DLP solutions monitor and control its transfer and use.

By monitoring sensitive data and logging any attempts to violate policies, DLP tools allow security teams to spot suspicious user activity and identify employees acting with malicious intent. DLP technology is particularly useful against the two most popular data exfiltration techniques: it can block files containing sensitive information from being transferred to personal email addresses or cloud storage services and even prevents confidential information from being copy-pasted into the body of an email.

When applied on the endpoint, DLP solutions such as Endpoint Protector can also ensure that its policies remain active on a work computer whether it is in the office, used remotely, and regardless of whether it is connected to the internet or not.

Insider data exfiltration is a real threat to company data security and organizations wishing to protect their most valuable data must look for ways to mitigate it. While this can prove a daunting task because it involves insiders with privileged access to confidential information, tools such as DLP solutions can help companies avoid data theft through exfiltration.

Keysight Delivers New IoT Security Assessment Test Software

Bangalore, October 14, 2021 – Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS), a leading technology company that delivers advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, has delivered a new Internet of Things (IoT) Security Assessment software solution that enables IoT chip and device manufacturers, as well as organizations deploying IoT devices, to perform comprehensive, automated cybersecurity assessments.

Increasing numbers of connected IoT devices enable hackers to leverage cybersecurity vulnerabilities for a range of attacks including malware, ransomware and exfiltration of data. According to Statista, the total installed base of IoT connected devices worldwide is projected to grow to 30.9 billion units by 2025 from 13.8 billion units expected in 2021.

“IoT device vulnerabilities are especially dangerous as they can facilitate sensitive data breaches and lead to physical danger, such as industrial equipment malfunction, medical device defects, or a home security system breach,” wrote Merritt Maxim, vice president, research director, and Elsa Pikulik, researcher, Forrester, in the State of IoT Security Report 2021.1 “In 2020, IoT devices were the second most common vector for an external breach and technology leaders rank security issues as a top concern plaguing or hindering IoT deployments.”

IoT Security Vulnerabilities – BrakTooth Discovery

Recently, researchers at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) discovered a group of vulnerabilities, they named BrakTooth, in commercial Bluetooth chipsets that impact billions of end-user devices. The SUTD research was funded with a grant from Keysight. The SUTD published results were leveraged into improvements in Keysight’s IoT Security Assessment software.

BrakTooth captures fundamental attack vectors against devices using Bluetooth Classic Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR) and is likely to affect Bluetooth chipsets beyond those tested by the SUTD team. “It is hard to accurately gauge the scope of BrakTooth affected chipsets,” commented Sudipta Chattopadhyay, assistant professor, SUTD. “We advise all Bluetooth product manufacturers to conduct appropriate risk assessments, especially if their product may include a vulnerable chipset. We are thankful to Keysight for generously supporting our research and the opportunity to collaborate with the experienced Keysight security team.”

The vulnerabilities, which include 20 common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs), as well as four awaiting CVE assignments, are found in Bluetooth communication chipsets used in System-on-Chip (SoC) boards. These pose risks that include remote code execution, crashes and deadlocks. The SUTD team responsibly disclosed the findings to the affected vendors, providing a means to reproduce the findings and time to remediate vulnerabilities.

“Research activities like these at SUTD are critical to improving cybersecurity in the connected world. If the good guys don’t improve it, the cyber criminals will take advantage of vulnerabilities for nefarious purposes,” said Steve McGregory, senior director of Keysight’s security research and development team. “While investment into research is needed and helpful, software and chipset manufacturers are responsible for delivering secure products using rigorous security testing.”

Keysight’s IoT Security Assessment Software

Keysight’s IoT Security Assessment software leverages more than 20 years of experience in network security testing to reveal security vulnerabilities across any network technology. The software offers comprehensive, automated testing to rapidly cover a large matrix of known and unknown vulnerabilities. IoT security assessments include novel cybersecurity attack tools and techniques for wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to test known vulnerabilities, as well as to discover new vulnerabilities.

Development organizations can easily integrate Keysight’s API-driven solution into their development pipeline with a single API for control and reporting. Organizations deploying IoT devices can leverage the software to validate IoT devices before they are delivered to end users and as new vulnerabilities become a concern. Ongoing research from Keysight’s Application and Threat Intelligence Research Center provides updates to the latest protocol fuzzing and attack techniques.

1Forrester, The State of IoT Security, 2021, by Merritt Maxim, Elsa Pikulik with Stephanie Balaouras, Chris Sherman, Benjamin Corey, Peggy Dostie

About Keysight Technologies

Keysight delivers advanced design and validation solutions that help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysight’s dedication to speed and precision extends to software-driven insights and analytics that bring tomorrow’s technology products to market faster across the development lifecycle, in design simulation, prototype validation, automated software testing, manufacturing analysis, and network performance optimization and visibility in enterprise, service provider and cloud environments. Our customers span the worldwide communications and industrial ecosystems, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics markets. Keysight generated revenues of $4.2B in fiscal year 2020. For more information about Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS), visit us at www.keysight.com.

SG Analytics receives GPTW certification in its maiden attempt

Pune, October 13, 2021 – SG Analytics, a market leader in data-driven research and contextual analytics services, has been certified as a ‘Great Place to Work (GPTW)’ in its maiden attempt. The Great Place to Work Institute uses a rigorous and objective methodology to assess and benchmark organizations from over 60 countries every year.

This prestigious recognition is awarded solely on the basis of employee feedback and their experience working at an organization.

“This global certification is a testament to our resolve of building a ‘source company’, wherein everybody is successful and content. It also reflects our accountability-oriented workplace that nurtures performance, growth, and appreciation. Congratulations to all my colleagues for us being certified as a ‘Great Place to Work (GPTW),” says Sushant Gupta, Founder & CEO, SG Analytics.

Vineet Agarwal, CO-CEO, SG Analytics adds further, “It is heartening to see that even during such trying times, our people continued to be upbeat, committed, and positive, in their belief that SG Analytics is a great place to work for them. What helped us through this difficult year is the resilience of our people and the support of our clients, as well as our values of excellence, co-creation, accountability, leadership and fun. For this, we are grateful and would like to congratulate everyone for embodying the spirit of SGA.”

SG Analytics has remained consistent in its efforts towards employee welfare in a very holistic way. Earlier this year, SG Analytics announced and institutionalized a profit-sharing plan for all employees, and also introduced a path-breaking policy of leave-sharing, reflecting its unique employee-oriented approach.

Sandeep Dutta, Head of HR & Admin, SG Analytics says, “For all of us at SGA, it is a great honour to have been certified the industry coveted ‘Great Place to Work’ in the first attempt. The GPTW certification is special to us because it is based on trust index, culture audit, and anonymous feedback from our valued team members who, through their direct ‘feedback’ tell the story SG Analytics, unfiltered.”

SG Analytics conducted two major hiring drives during the pandemic to onboard talented professionals when many companies were laying off their staff.

About SG Analytics

SG Analytics, is one of the leading research and analytics firms to offer data-centric research and contextual analytics services to companies across BFSI, Media & Entertainment, Technology & Healthcare sectors including Fortune 500 companies. With its presence in the US, the UK, Switzerland, and India, SG Analytics has been consistently meeting and exceeding customer expectations through its knowledge-based ecosystem and impact-oriented solutions. The company serves across a strong portfolio of Fortune 500and other clients. With the philosophy of a ‘source company’ at its center, the firm has been able to create a dynamic and growth-oriented environment at the workplace for over 950+ employees, enabling it to become a Great Place To Work (GPTW) certified company.

Microsoft’s October 2021 Patch Tuesday Addresses 74 CVEs

Microsoft patched 74 CVEs in the October 2021 Patch Tuesday release, including three rated as critical, 70 rated as important and one rated as low. This is the eighth month in 2021 that Microsoft patched fewer than 100 CVEs. Spoofing vulnerability (CVE-2021-36970) in the Windows Print Spooler received a CVSSv3 score of 8.8 and the designation of “Exploitation More Likely” according to Microsoft’s Exploitability Index. This vulnerability requires that an attacker have access to the same network as a target and user interaction. The advisory lists that a functional exploit does exist for this vulnerability so we may see a PoC circulating in the wild. Please find further comment on this month’s Patch Tuesday from Satnam Narang, Staff Research Engineer, Tenable.

“This month’s Patch Tuesday release includes fixes for 74 CVEs, three of which are rated critical, including one vulnerability that was exploited in the wild as a zero-day. This month’s release includes a fix for CVE-2021-36970, a spoofing vulnerability in Microsoft’s Windows Print Spooler. The vulnerability was discovered by researchers XueFeng Li and Zhiniang Peng of Sangfor. They were also credited with the discovery of CVE-2021-1675, one of two vulnerabilities known as PrintNightmare. While no details have been shared publicly about the flaw, this is definitely one to watch for, as we saw a constant stream of Print Spooler-related vulnerabilities patched over the summer while ransomware groups began incorporating PrintNightmare into their affiliate playbook.

“We strongly encourage organisations to apply these patches as soon as possible. Microsoft also patched CVE-2021-40449, an elevation of privilege vulnerability in Win32k. According to reports, this flaw was exploited in the wild as a zero-day. It is not uncommon to see zero-day elevation of privilege flaws patched during Patch Tuesday. These flaws are most valuable in post-compromise scenarios once an attacker has gained access to a target system through other means, in order to execute code with elevated privileges.” – Satnam Narang, Staff Research Engineer, Tenable

Softline ActivePlatform is now available on Microsoft’s AppSource Marketplace

LONDON, United Kingdom – October 12, 2021 – Microsoft has introduced ActivePlatform, a brokering portal for cloud service sales by Softline Group, to its AppSource Marketplace, raising the platform’s visibility and helping customers to compare its advantages with other solutions on the market.

Before AppSource was added, the platform’s authorization procedure was simplified to speed up the onboarding process for new customers. The target audience (which includes Microsoft CSP partners, such as resellers and distributors) will now be able to request a trial of ActivePlatform to get a feel for how the solution works.

“Microsoft’s input is of great importance to us, and these changes have definitely made the platform more accessible for resellers. We’re looking forward to developing the service further and improving integration for new vendors. In fact, we have recently launched the SaaS version, which means that now the platform is even more affordable for our smaller customers.

An ever-growing number of vendors are embracing the subscription business model, so automating the customer lifecycle (particularly sales, billing, and integration with ERP systems) is clearly becoming key to success in the market. This solution offers an effective way to automate customer journeys, while also bringing down transaction costs and increasing profits,” commented Softline ActivePlatform’s CEO, Dmitry Levkovich.

About ActivePlatform

ActivePlatform is part of Softline Group, a leading global IT solutions and services provider in digital transformation and cybersecurity. The platform offers a full-service automated cloud brokering solution for cloud service providers and internal IT hubs which aims to make it easier to manage cloud delivery and profitability. The platform brings vendors, providers, developers, and resellers together in one ecosystem for buying, selling, and managing cloud services. Through its open vendor integration framework, ActivePlatform offers businesses a comprehensive catalog of the cloud services they need in order to thrive.

ActivePlatform can be used for SaaS, PaaS, IaaS aggregation, delivery, and monetization. The user-friendly platform also provides insights into how resellers and cloud services are using services.

ActivePlatform is headquartered in Minsk, Belarus and provides solutions for distributors, cloud solution providers, and telecom operators.

Prodevans Technologies announced a new partnership with UK based software company Canonical

Bangalore, 7th October 2021: Prodevans Technologies a Bangalore and Singapore based leading technology solution provider specializing in end-to-end DevOps and fullstack cloud solutions announced a new partnership with Canonical focused on simplifying and improving high availability across multicloud architectures, consisting of common public cloud infrastructure and cost-effective private cloud.

“Ever increasing demand for multi-cloud architectures is driven by organizations constantly trying to optimize their infrastructure costs to make sure that they only use as many resources as needed and pay less for them.” says Devesh Mohan, director of Alliances at Canonical. “Prodevans comprehensive cloud expertise will support our solutions to help companies of all sizes and across industry segments to harness the power of open-source cloud computing.”

Canonical solutions deliver significant cost reduction of cloud computing. However, the risk associated with planned or unplanned downtime is an area of critical importance as enterprises move towards open source. The partnership is such a natural fit since Prodevans is already using Canonical’s solutions to support its multicloud platforms.

“With this partnership, Prodevans can help our customers enable a faster, simpler path to cloud that delivers solutions with lower TCO along with the much needed flexibility to adapt their cloud infrastructure to the future.” says Gagan Pattanayak, CEO, Prodevans, Singapore “We believe we are just enablers, assisting companies in building a cloud strategy that works for business today, tomorrow and into the future as the business evolves”.

Together, Canonical and Prodevans can offer a unified cloud management framework as a one-stop solution to manage all customers’ cloud infrastructure, reducing costs, improving security, and providing the most up to date access to the fullstack features.

About Prodevans: Prodevans is a leading technology solution provider specialized in end-to-end DevOps offerings that streamline and automate IT delivery. We specialize in the entire spectrum of Cloud Solutions from IaaS, PaaS to StaaS. We strive to provide solutions that are time-driven and efficient with a stringent focus on ROI. Prodevans helps companies deliver a great customer experience by deploying the right cloud-based tools and resources. Learn more: www.prodevans.com

Synology® released data protection cloud backup service for Windows devices

Taipei, Taiwan—Oct 8, 2021—Synology Inc. today announced the launch of its newest Synology C2 cloud application. C2 Backup provides powerful and efficient data protection for Windows devices, whether they are located at home or distributed across multiple offices.

“With C2 Backup, we provide a fresh alternative for those who want to centralize protection of their devices, wherever they are,” said Yen-ju Lin, Product Manager for C2 Backup at Synology Inc. “It is easy to set up and use, and requires no additional hardware to protect Windows devices, allowing users to start backing up today.”

Complete and centralized data protection

With C2 Backup For Individuals and C2 Backup For Businesses, everything on Windows PCs and servers can be securely and efficiently backed up from a single console. This includes system configurations and software, files and folders, and external drives.

Data backed up on C2 Backup is fully shielded against unauthorized access by end-to-end AES-256 encryption, with a user-held private key necessary to unlock backup files and sensitive information.

Graph I. C2 Backup is fully shielded against unauthorized access by end-to-end AES-256 encryption, with a user-held private key necessary to unlock backup files and sensitive information.

Flexible ways to schedule backups

C2 Backup makes use of forever-incremental backup to optimize storage and bandwidth.
Incremental backup reduces the amount of data uploaded for every backup to only those blocks that have changed, making backups more efficient.

Each subscriber can set their own individual version retention preferences. Retention policies can be tailored to meet individual needs or comply with corporate policies and regulations.

Finally, C2 Backup offers scheduling strategies to make sure that users never miss a backup. Users can choose to periodically execute backup tasks, or they can let them be triggered by events such as screen locking, account logout, or device power-up.

Fast and full restoration options

In the event of device failure, data loss, or ransomware attacks, C2 Backup’s fast recovery methods allow users to quickly resume services. File-level recovery allows you to retrieve any file you need immediately, while entire devices can be restored to their previous state with bare-metal recovery.

“Individual device owners can easily find and quickly download their backed up data all by themselves by accessing the intuitive C2 Backup console,” Ms Lin said. “Clear versioning also allows users to retrieve older copies of their files from the portal when needed.”

Graph II. File-level recovery allows you to retrieve any file you need immediately, while entire devices can be restored to their previous state with bare-metal recovery.

Unlimited endpoints and transparent pricing

Pricing for C2 Backup For Individuals is based on storage use, with no limit to the number of devices protected under each subscription. Annual subscription rates start at $3.49 per month for 500 GB of backed up data or under $8.50 per month to protect up to 2 TB.

Availability

C2 Backup is offered in two subscription plans: C2 Backup For Individuals and C2 Backup For Businesses.

Users who register for C2 Backup For Individuals until the end of 2021 are offered an extended 90-day free trial period, allowing them to thoroughly test the new platform’s capabilities.

C2 Backup For Business will additionally let Microsoft 365 users back up data stored on Exchange Online. If you are interested in the features of C2 Backup for Business, learn more on Synology C2 page.

Try the capabilities of C2 Backup for FREE with our extended 90-day free trial, valid until the end of 2021: https://sy.to/c2backupprin

IDP’s new app to transform the international landscape for the next generation of international students

8th October 2021: After a year of uncertainty and travel disruptions, international students are now starting to regain control over their education future thanks to a new app and service launched by IDP Education.

The IDP Live fast-track service helps students in India to receive in-principle offers for their dream course right from their smartphone or in an IDP office, alongside one of IDP’s expert counsellors.

Students are invited to share their study goals and current qualifications. Upon completing their academic profile, they are matched to courses they are eligible to apply for. If they want to proceed, students can receive an in-principle offer from their chosen institution within 30 minutes of submission.

This transformative real-time response means the student can choose to only apply to courses where they know they meet the entry criteria, greatly reducing the number of applications they submit, whilst institutions receive higher-quality applications, more quickly.

Piyush Kumar, Regional Director (South Asia), IDP Education said the app centres around bringing IDP’s trusted advice and support to students, right from the convenience of their phone.

“The last 18 months have reminded us that technology is great, but its real purpose is to empower us, and to connect us together with others. When making decisions as big as studying overseas, you need to know you have someone in your corner. IDP Live streamlines the paperwork and administrative process so students can spend more time having real conversations about their future and their goals.

“With IDP Live, students can have confidence that all institutions listed are high quality and that they have the support of IDP’s expert team with them at every step of their research journey.”

One of the biggest improvements of IDP Live is the introduction of fast-tracked applications with select universities.

“Rather than having to apply to multiple institutions, IDP Live matches students earlier in their decision-making journey and allows them to get a near-instant indication on whether they will receive an offer to study,” Mr.Kumar said.

Andrew Barkla, IDP Education Chief Executive Officer, said the service represented an entirely new way for students to find the best-fit courses.

“IDP Live will bring our industry into a future in which technology enhances the interactions between our counsellors, students and institutions, driving the best outcomes for all. The introduction of the fast-track service, which combines cutting-edge technology and trusted human interactions, has immediately begun to help students around the world to find best-fit courses. Our evolving ecosystem, a connected community of students, institutions and counsellors is working to help drive the recovery of international education,” Mr Barkla said.

IDP Live features include:

o Fast-track service – A course search and matching service for students and institutions leading to the student receiving an offer faster

o Personalised search and course recommendation engine

o Course favourite shortlist directly connected to and actionable by IDP Counsellors

o Student 360, connecting counsellors to the most relevant updates about their students

o Access to IDP’s global team of education experts

o Course application tracking with real-time updates and personalised notifications

o More than 1,000 student and institution video answers to prospective student questions

Students in regions where IDP has counselling offices can download the IDP Live app free from their smartphone’s app store and begin searching, applying and preparing for their dream study experiences now. Learn more here: https://www.idp.com/global/app/

­­­­Quantum Redefines Long-Term Data Archiving with New Class of Storage and New Line of Fully Managed Object Storage Services

BANGALORE, India – October 7, 2021 — Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ: QMCO) today announced two breakthrough innovations aimed at organizations generating, storing, and managing huge amounts of data. Quantum is introducing ActiveScale Cold Storage, a new class of storage that combines advanced object store software with hyperscale tape technology to provide secure, highly durable, and extremely low-cost storage for archiving cold data. In addition, Quantum is offering a new line of fully managed Object Storage Services to bring the cloud experience to wherever data lives and accelerate digital transformation. These new offerings reduce cold storage costs by 80%, enable organizations to maintain control of their most valuable data assets, and unlock value in cold data over years and decades without expensive access fees.

“Quantum is fast becoming the world leader in hyperscale cold data storage solutions. We now provide solutions to many of the world’s biggest hyperscale cloud providers that are on the forefront of building ‘forever’ cold data archives,” said Jamie Lerner, chairman and CEO, Quantum. “The innovations announced today enable us to combine Quantum hyperscale tape architectures with Quantum software, package all of this technology as a cloud service that can be deployed anywhere and offer it to enterprises and cloud providers who are facing the same challenges as hyperscalers.”

Massive data growth drives need for cold storage strategy

The world has entered a new era of data, as the quantity of unstructured data generated globally continues to grow exponentially. The gap between data growth and storage budgets is widening, and it is estimated that 60%1 of the data generated will be “cold” – inactive data that must be stored, protected, and remain accessible for years or decades because of compliance requirements and the immense value it contains. With traditional storage architectures, most organizations don’t have the budget, footprint, or resources to handle this data explosion, forcing them to make operational or budget tradeoffs.

“Storage capacity in the enterprise is expected to grow by 30%1 annually, driven by increased digitization and data-driven business initiatives,” said Andrew Smith, research manager, Cloud Infrastructure Services, IDC. “It is estimated that 60%1 of this data will be cold, which is why we are seeing growing adoption of cold storage solutions and services. The right cold storage strategy can help enterprises manage the gap between data growth and infrastructure budgets, while addressing concerns around security and compliance.”

¹Source:  IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by Quantum, “Data Deluge: Why Every Enterprise Needs a Cold Storage Strategy”, Doc. #US48119821, August 2021.

Introducing ActiveScale Cold Storage: A new class of object storage designed for cold data

To address this pressing challenge, Quantum is introducing ActiveScale Cold Storage – a new class of object storage designed for cold data, built on hyperscale architectures, and offered as-a-service from Quantum. ActiveScale Cold Storage combines object storage software with two-dimensional erasure coding and Quantum Scalar tape storage to create a new class of storage that is secure, highly durable, and extremely low-cost.

With the introduction of ActiveScale Cold Storage Class, ActiveScale provides industry-leading durability, affordability, and accessibility, allowing organizations to preserve data for years and decades and unlock the inherent and potential value of their growing data assets.

Highlights of ActiveScale Cold Storage include:

• Industry’s most advanced cold storage archive with new levels of performance, durability, and storage efficiency: ActiveScale Cold Storage introduces a series of technical advantages that are not available in any other solution on the market today, including patent-pending two-dimensional erasure coding (2D EC) software and the highly available, scale-up and -out Quantum RAIL Architecture (Redundant Array of Independent Libraries). Quantum 2D EC encodes data within and across tapes, tape drives, tape libraries, and geo-dispersed data centers, simultaneously maximizing data access performance, data durability, and storage efficiency. 2D EC uses local reconstruction codes with tape drives so the system only requires a single tape to recover from nearly all types of tape and drive errors and requires far fewer hardware resources to write objects to tape. Writes are managed without impacting other object store tasks, delivering better performance and availability than all other tape-based solutions. Further, Quantum 2D EC technology delivers better data durability with less overhead – archives can be designed so customers can lose three tapes without losing any data, with overhead as low as 15%. In contrast, other solutions either offer only two-copy protection or very limited erasure coding policies that have greater risk of data loss and require more storage hardware.
• Brings cloud archive services to wherever data lives; on-premises, third-party data centers, or hosted environments with multi-geo dispersed storage and hybrid-cloud capabilities: ActiveScale Cold Storage can be deployed as a fully managed service at the customer’s data center, at a third-party data center, or at a combination of the two to build geo-dispersed, hybrid cloud archive storage. ActiveScale’s architecture enables both active and cold storage infrastructures to be deployed at a single-site, two-sites using data replication, or three sites using 3GEO Dynamic Data Placement (DDP). Data buckets can also be migrated and replicated between ActiveScale and public cloud environments in support of hybrid cloud environments.
• Uses S3 Standard and S3 Glacier Storage Classes for Broad ISV Application Compatibility: ActiveScale Cold Storage uses AWS S3 APIs, the Glacier Storage Class, and Lifecycle Policies to store, migrate, and restore objects to and from the cold data archive. Applications and services that use the AWS S3 Glacier Storage Class can leverage the same API to read and write data to ActiveScale Cold Storage. These include applications such as the Quantum StorNext File System, Quantum CatDV Asset Management Software, leading backup applications, many data management and archiving applications, and more. This new offering builds on the robust ecosystem of applications certified with Quantum ActiveScale today to provide many options for customers to move data to cold storage.
• Unlimited, independent scalability of both active and cold data classes: ActiveScale Cold Storage is based on ActiveScale object storage software, which provides unlimited scalability of both active and cold data classes in a single namespace, at consistent levels of availability and performance at scale with no rebalancing. No other object store system on the market provides the levels of scale, durability, and flexibility now offered by this solution.
• Reduces cold data costs by 80% by bringing hyperscale tape technology to enterprise: ActiveScale Cold Storage is based on low-cost, high-density Quantum Scalar tape storage, leveraging the same technology used by leading cloud storage providers as the basis for their cold storage services. Tape is much less expensive than disk and requires much less power and cooling in a datacenter, which is why it is the preferred technology for long-term data archiving. ActiveScale Cold Storage combines advanced object storage software with two-dimensional erasure coding and high-density rack-based tape storage hardware that includes many innovations born out of large hyperscale tape archives. These Quantum tape storage systems include fundamental advancements in serviceability for all system components, can be deployed quickly in modular configurations, and monitored 24×7 using the same AIOps software used to manage over 30 exabytes of tape storage in hundreds of data centers around the world.

“Tape is rightly the preferred cold storage technology used in hyperscale environments because it is low cost, secure, and environmentally friendly. Until now, using it as part of an on-premises object storage system was impossible.” said Bruno Hald, general manager, Secondary Storage, Quantum. “ActiveScale is now the industry’s first and only on-premises object store system with an integrated cold storage class based on tape technology. In short, this means it dramatically lowers costs, consumes little power, and reliably stores data for decades.”

New Object Storage Services: Bringing the cloud experience to wherever data lives and accelerating digital transformation

To deliver this technology easily and affordably as a fully managed service, Quantum is introducing a new line of Object Storage Services. Quantum Object Storage Services provide scalable private and hybrid cloud storage solutions for active and archived data sets, from petabytes to exabytes. Quantum is introducing two classes of service – for active and cold data – with a simple all-inclusive two-tier pricing model as shown below.

These services are delivered efficiently using a combination of Quantum expertise and technology like Quantum’s AIOps software, Cloud-Based Analytics (CBA), and the recently introduced Service Delivery Platform, MyQuantum. CBA software is used today to monitor thousands of systems worldwide, capture telemetry data, and use predictive analytics to assist in system maintenance and to reduce downtime. It will be used by the Quantum services organization to help deliver these services and can be made accessible to partners and customers to monitor their environment as well.

Quantum Object Storage Services are delivered efficiently with advanced technology such as Quantum Cloud-Based Analytics (CBA) AIOps software

Customers can access the AIOps software by logging into MyQuantum. This modern online portal is designed with the customer in mind, making it easy to interact with Quantum products and services now and in the future. This one-stop portal enables customers to easily manage their products and contracts end-to-end including product registration, updating to latest product versions, requesting support and managing cases, downloading trials, demos, and purchases, and renewing contracts. Customers subscribing to fully managed services such as these Object Storage Services will access their Customer Dashboard summarizing account activity and system statistics.

“Large enterprises and web-based service providers are looking for greater agility, more financial flexibility, and greater leverage from outsourced services to accelerate transformative digital initiatives,” said Rick Valentine, senior vice president and chief customer officer, Quantum. “Quantum Object Storage Services is the industry’s first and only as-a-service solution for on-prem and hybrid active archiving and cold storage. Customers will realize lower costs and greater control of their data, and can pursue data enrichment, monetization, and value creation projects that were previously not possible due to cost constraints.”

“We continue to see a huge uptick in demand for infrastructure, a move from legacy systems to innovative technology, a journey ViON began over two decades ago when we introduced ViON Storage Services,” says Ray McCay, vice president, Solution Sales for ViON. “Adopting this new offering from Quantum is the next logical step in that journey, and we’re delighted to now be able to offer cold storage services to our clients. With Quantum, our customers benefit from both best in-class-technology and an unbeatable ViON industry and implementation expertise.”

ActiveScale Cold Storage and Quantum’s new Object Storage Services will be generally available in the first quarter of 2022.

Discover more:

https://www.quantum.com/cold-data-storage

https://www.quantum.com/object-storage-services

https://www.quantum.com/object-storage