Leveraging Pure Protect //DRaaS for Cybersecurity: The Role of Clean Rooms in Forensic Investigations 

In today’s digital landscape, the threat of cyberattacks looms large over enterprises, making robust disaster recovery solutions not just beneficial but essential. With on-demand, disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) from Pure Storage, you have a safety net when all else fails. 

Pure Protect™ //DRaaS offers a sophisticated approach to data resilience and disaster recovery, ensuring businesses can swiftly recover from disruptions. But beyond recovery, Pure Protect //DRaaS can also play a critical role in cybersecurity through the implementation of clean rooms for forensic investigations. 

Here’s how Pure Protect //DRaaS can be a game-changer in this arena.

What Is a Clean Room in Cybersecurity? 

In the context of cybersecurity, a clean room is an isolated, secure environment where forensic investigations can be conducted without risking further compromise to the primary network. It’s a controlled setting where data can be analyzed meticulously to understand the nature and impact of a cyberattack. 

Pure Protect //DRaaS: Creating an Isolated Environment 

1. Data replication and isolation: Pure Protect// DRaaS replicates VMware virtual machine data to the AWS cloud, creating offsite copies that can be utilized for recovery purposes. This replicated data forms the basis of an isolated environment, or clean room, in AWS. By leveraging Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) security capabilities, Pure Protect// DRaaS ensures that this investigation environment is completely separate from the compromised on-prem network. 

2. Secure analysis: In the event of a cyberattack, the replicated data can be spun up as native EC2 instances within an isolated VPC. This setup allows forensic investigators to use dedicated tools to analyze logs and disk images without the risk of further contamination. 

Maintaining Data Integrity and Chain of Custody

3. Controlled data handling: The data in the clean room is an exact, block-based replica of the on-prem data at the last point of replication. This accuracy is crucial for forensic analysis, ensuring that investigators are working with unaltered evidence. Additionally, all access and actions within the clean room are logged, maintaining a strict chain of custody, which is essential for legal proceedings. 

4. Response and remediation testing: The clean room environment allows for safe testing of remediation measures. By applying and testing these measures in isolation, organizations can ensure their effectiveness without causing additional disruption. This controlled setting also allows for the preparation and testing of subsequent protections, which can be used to restore the primary environment once it is deemed safe. 

Seamless Integration with Pure Protect //DRaaS

5. Automated failover: Automated failover capabilities of Pure Protect //DRaaS ensure a swift transition to the clean room environment, minimizing the window of exposure during a cyberattack. This rapid response is critical for reducing the potential damage and recovery time (RTO), which can be configured to be as fast as 5 to 10 minutes.    

6. Multi-point recovery: With Pure Protect //DRaaS, organizations have access to multiple recovery points. This feature allows forensic investigators to analyze the state of the system at various times before the attack, providing a comprehensive understanding of the attack’s timeline and impact. 

Conclusion 

Incorporating a clean room function into disaster recovery strategies is a vital step in enhancing cybersecurity. Pure Protect //DRaaS not only offers robust disaster recovery capabilities but also provides a secure and isolated environment for conducting forensic investigations. By leveraging its data replication and isolation features, Pure Protect //DRaaS ensures that businesses can effectively respond to and recover from cyberattacks while maintaining the integrity and continuity of their operations. 

As cyber threats continue to evolve, having a comprehensive disaster recovery and forensic investigation strategy is indispensable. Pure Protect //DRaaS stands out as a versatile solution that can help organizations navigate the complexities of cybersecurity with confidence and resilience. At Pure Storage, we are continually investing in industry-first cybersecurity innovations beyond clean rooms and disaster recovery to help boost your cyber resiliency. With our modern data protection solutions, you can fortify data and guarantee uninterrupted business operations, pure and simple.