Jim Shook, Director, Cybersecurity and Compliance Practice, Dell Technologies sits down with Jeff Frick for Dell Technologies World Digital Experience 2020. #DellTechWorld #theCUBE #DellTechnologies @SiliconANGLE theCUBE @Dell Technologies https://siliconangle.com/2020/10/21/dell-offers-vault-solution-to-protect-data-as-companies-face-new-dilemma-in-ransomware-attacks-delltechworld/ Dell offers vault solution to protect data as companies face new dilemma in ransomware attacks BY MARK ALBERTSON U.S. companies that are victimized by a ransomware attack may now have to think twice about paying to recover valuable data. Paying off the attackers may result in an even stiffer penalty from the nation’s government. In early October, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued an advisory warning that payment to recover data from a ransomware breach could violate rules against financial support of foreign governments on the nation’s economic sanctions list. “If you get attacked by an organization that’s on the list and you pay them, you’ve now completed a transaction with a prohibited entity and you’re subject to potential sanctions,” said Jim Shook (pictured), director of the cybersecurity and compliance practice at Dell Technologies Inc. “The law is actually a strict liability. That means it doesn’t matter whether you knew or should have known that the entity was on a prohibited list; the mere fact of having that transaction makes you liable.” Shook spoke with Jeff Frick, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the Dell Technologies World Digital Experience event. They discussed how cybercriminals are rendering backup systems unusable, Dell’s Cyber Recovery solution to ensure protection of critical data, and an on-going effort to protect the nation’s financial system from the onslaught of attacks. (* Disclosure below.) Backup copies destroyed The problem confronting many companies is that the threat of a ransomware attack remains an ongoing concern. One risk consulting firm recently reported that ransomware has been the most observed threat in 2020, with professional services, healthcare and technology being the three most targeted industries. Criminals have also adapted their methods to account for disaster recovery solutions, where even backup copies of critical data are no longer safe. “The bad guys know that if you had a backup you could use that to recover, so they are more frequently now gathering their credentials and attacking the backups,” Shook said. “In many cases, we see the backups being deleted or otherwise destroyed.” This growing threat environment led Dell to introduce its PowerProtect Cyber Recovery solution to counter the ransomware tsunami. Enhanced last year as part of a series of launches for its PowerProtect DD lineup of appliances, the solution places key data where bad actors can’t capture it. “It’s creating an extra offline, air-gapped copy of the most critical applications that’s not going to be susceptible to the attack,” Shook explained. “With Cyber Recovery what we’re doing is creating a vaulted environment that’s offline. They can’t get there from where they are so they can’t get access to that data.” In February, Dell joined the Sheltered Harbor program as an alliance partner. Sheltered Harbor is an industry-led non-profit effort created to protect consumers in the event that a cyberattack caused the financial system to fail. Participating institutions hold 72% of deposit accounts in the U.S. Working with Dell, the Sheltered Harbor team has “endorsed” Dell’s vault, meaning that it has been validated to comply with the Sheltered Harbor vaulting specifications, according to Shook. “It’s designed to protect the U.S. financial system and consumer confidence,” Shook said. “They identified important data, they built requirements, not technologies, but capabilities that a vault would need to protect that data, and then the processes to recover that data if an event occurred.” Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Dell Technologies World Digital Experience event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Dell Technologies World. Neither Dell Technologies, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)