Imagine logging into your work computer and being confronted with a dire message: “All your important files are encrypted!” That’s exactly what happened to a technology lead for a school district in Texas. It’s easy to relate to his panic. 

Ransomware attacks are top of mind for IT leaders at educational institutions—and for good reason. There’s been an alarming increase in ransomware attacks targeting schools as they struggle to stay open. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, US educational institutions are “fighting a wave of increasingly aggressive hackers, who are publicly posting sensitive student information.” Ransomware attacks compromise access to your institution’s lifeblood—your data. 

Educational institutions face many risks when it comes to ransomware, including:

  • Exposure and loss of student and personnel data 
  • Disruption of remote learning and operations
  • Inability to access information
  • Impact on research
  • Reputation damage
  • Financial loss
  • Productivity loss   

Ransomware attacks are growing more sophisticated and more costly. Backup systems may have provided an insurance policy in the past, but attackers are breaching them too. With both source and backup data compromised, how do you recover? Successful recovery requires not only secure backups but also a fast recovery platform. Every minute your applications aren’t available costs your organization.

Your Existing Data Protection May Not Be Enough

At Pure Storage®, we know how critical it is to safeguard your data. FlashBlade® provides a super-fast, scale-out file and object storage platform that supports rapid backup and recovery—helping you cut downtime and accelerate data access. 

Secure, native SafeMode™ snapshots are part of FlashBlade. They run automatically, protecting backup data and metadata. No one—not even a storage admin—can delete or encrypt them. Data remains secure if credentials are compromised. SafeMode works with leading data-protection solutions, so there’s no need to change your backup software or stop using native database utilities. And like all Pure solutions, it has simplicity at its core. Set it and forget it.

See how you can protect your organization from ransomware attacks with mitigation and recovery solutions from Pure Storage.