Dell Technologies' 2021 Global Data Protection Index (GDPI) report found the majority of organizations are concerned their existing data protection measures may not be sufficient to cope with malware and ransomware threats.
The GDPI report, released September 9, 2021, surveyed 1,000 global IT decision-makers. The study found that organizations are managing more than 10 times the amount of data than they did five years ago – from 1.45 petabytes in 2016 to 14.6 petabytes in 2021. Additionally, 82% of respondents are concerned their organization's existing data protection solutions won't be able to meet all future business challenges. These concerns are well-founded, with more than 30% reporting data loss in the last year and nearly half (45%) experiencing unplanned system downtime.
Dell Technologies Report: Can Organizations Recover from Ransomware Threats?
The results revealed that organizations are facing several data protection challenges driven by the constant threat of ransomware and emerging technologies such as cloud-native applications, Kubernetes containers and artificial intelligence, according to the survey.
In addition, 62% are concerned their existing data protection measures may not be sufficient to cope with malware and ransomware threats, while 74% agree they have increased exposure to data loss from cybersecurity threats with the growth of employees working from home. Over two-thirds (67%) lack confidence that all their business-critical data can be recovered in the event of a destructive cyberattack or data loss. And 63 percent feel that emerging technologies—such as cloud-native applications, Kubernetes containers, artificial intelligence and machine learning pose a risk to data protection.
The lack of data protection solutions for newer technologies was one of the top three data protection challenges for organizations, but the cost of data loss was a challenge, as well. According to the report, on average, the cost of data loss in the last 12 months is approaching four times higher for organizations using multiple data protection vendors as compared to those using a single-vendor approach.while 74% agree they have increased exposure to data loss from cyber threats with the growth of employees working from home.
GDPI Report: Executive Commentary
Jeff Boudreau, president and general manager, infrastructure solutions group, Dell Technologies, commented on the report:
"While ransomware attacks can be devastating for people and businesses, accepting defeat as a foregone conclusion is not the answer. We understand the stakes have never been higher, and the task of protecting data has never been more complex. As the leading provider of data protection hardware and software, our portfolio addresses this growing challenge by helping customers adopt a holistic cybersecurity and data protection strategy to identify, protect, detect, respond and recover from ransomware and other cyberattacks."
