1. Solution Value
This GigaOm CxO Decision Brief was commissioned by Commvault.
Data executives are primarily concerned with data management, emphasizing the governance, quality, and strategic use of data within an organization. Their responsibilities include developing and governing the enterprise-wide data and information strategy, policy development, and improving data quality and lifecycle management. The goal: to derive maximum business value from data, making it a foundational asset for decision-making, innovation, and competitive advantage.
With data dispersed across multiple environments—from on-premises servers to cloud platforms—many organizations struggle to fully grasp what data they possess, where it resides, and how it is utilized and governed. Many organizations additionally face global restrictions on where data can reside and have insufficient controls in place to confirm compliance. Compounding the challenge is the urgent need to pinpoint and protect the most vital data, which, if compromised, could severely disrupt operations. Against this backdrop, supporting data resilience and safeguarding the integrity and availability of critical information is paramount for business continuity and compliance.
Commvault® Cloud Cleanroom™ Recovery offers data executives a strategic solution for managing their organization’s paramount asset—data. Cleanroom Recovery is an advanced recovery solution designed to improve data resilience against cyber threats, improving the availability and integrity of data that is critical for business continuity and compliance. By creating an on-demand, isolated recovery environment (IRE) in the cloud, Commvault demonstrates a forward-thinking approach to the challenge, enabling business-critical data to be quickly, reliably, and securely restored, free of compromises.
The solution transcends traditional data protection, addressing the problem of reliable data and application recovery in the event of a cyber attack or catastrophic system failure. Leveraging a state-of-the-art IRE hosted on a secure and isolated on-demand cloud tenant, the solution facilitates clean recovery for testing, forensic analysis, and uninterrupted business continuity in the event of a cyber incident.
Cyber resilience demands a collaborative, organization-wide approach to support business continuity. More than a technical solution, Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery stands as the cornerstone of a successful program of corporate governance and compliance.
2. Urgency and Risk
For data executives, the urgency to adopt a cyber recovery solution such as Commvault’s Cloud Cleanroom Recovery cannot be overstated. In an era where data breaches are inevitable, the risk of delaying implementation extends beyond data loss to encompass severe operational, financial, and reputational damage. Sectors like finance, healthcare, and public services, where data sensitivity and compliance demands are highest, stand to suffer most. The pace of digital transformation heightens this urgency, emphasizing the need for robust, adaptable cyber resilience strategies that improve data integrity and availability. Ignoring this imperative does more than jeopardize organizational data, it erodes the foundation of trust and reliability upon which all businesses operate.
Cyber recovery establishes a third pillar of business continuity alongside the familiar pillars of operational recovery and disaster recovery, shown in Table 1:
Table 1. Three Pillars of Business Continuity
| Operational Recovery | Disaster Recovery | Cyber Recovery | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope | Individual components | Entire systems and infrastructure | Cyberattacks |
| Example | Recovering deleted files, application crashes | Server room fire, flood | Data breach, malware infection, ransomware attack |
| Goals | Minimize downtime, resume normal operations | Business continuity, protect critical data | Minimize cyberattack damage and downtime, reliable and clean recovery |
| Methods | Granular backups, point-in-time recovery | Full system backups, off-site replication | SIEM, cyber recovery plan, anomaly detection, air gap, isolated recovery environment (IRE) |
Source: Commvault
Sophisticated cyberthreats make a proactive and resilient cyber recovery practice a strategic business imperative. That practice should include the ability to recover “clean” data to a “clean” isolated recovery environment (IRE). Both are required to reliably recover when data has been infected or corrupted. With Commvault’s solution providing on-demand access to a secure IRE, cyber recovery testing can occur more frequently and is more likely to succeed, improving data resilience and enhancing data governance.
Risk
Data executives may face challenges when adopting Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery, such as incorporating advanced recovery technologies into data governance frameworks and managing potential short-term operational disruptions. These challenges can be mitigated through adequate planning and a structured consolidation effort, which will likely be required to gain maximum benefit from the data in legacy systems, as well as to make the requirements of compliance, governance, and data classification a manageable task. Successful deployment hinges on overcoming cultural resistance and preparing staff to be proficient in new procedures. Data executives should weigh these requirements against the risk of inaction, which can lead to lasting damage to the organization’s reputation and operational viability.
Deploying Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery involves initial and ongoing costs, including licensing fees, cloud infrastructure expenses, and potential outlays related to training personnel to manage the cleanroom environment. The upside to these activities is a more resilient data estate, while consolidation provides reductions in spend and risk that offset costs related to cyber resiliency. Specific use cases that heighten risk involve highly regulated industries, where data recovery and integrity are subject to stringent compliance standards, making secure and effective implementation of cleanroom recovery crucial to avoid regulatory penalties and organizational damage from data breaches.
3. Benefits
- Cross-organizational collaboration: Promotes a culture shift toward viewing data protection and cyber recovery as shared responsibilities across departments.
- Improved compliance and data protection: Enables data recovery practices to meet stringent compliance requirements, enhancing overall cyber resilience.
- Operational and strategic resilience: Minimizes downtime and supports a swift return to operations, reinforcing the strategic importance of integrated recovery planning in maintaining customer trust and competitive advantage.
- Data integrity assurance: Provides a secure, isolated environment for data recovery, allowing data to remain unaltered and secure from threats to enable clean and effective recovery.
- Cyber recovery testing: Enables effective testing in a pragmatic, continual manner, improving data resilience and enhancing data governance.
- Clean recovery: Supports clean recovery to clean locations provisioned on-demand, independent of account data, to eliminate the threat of compromised accounts and entry paths. This level of integrity is not possible via “Backup and Recovery” or “Disaster Recovery,” as neither provides cleaning of these vectors of compromise.
- Advanced threat mitigation: Employs sophisticated security measures to protect against, detect, and swiftly respond to cyber threats.
4. Best Practices
For data executives focusing on Cleanroom Recovery, best practices include:
- Unified recovery strategy: Incorporate into a broader business continuity strategy, emphasizing the integration of cyber recovery with traditional recovery planning.
- Regular cross-functional testing: Conduct regular (quarterly preferred) recovery testing involving IT, security, and business units to improve organizational readiness and compliance.
- Cultural evolution: Drive an organizational shift towards recognizing data recovery and cyber resilience as pivotal elements of business continuity and corporate governance.
- Data segmentation and prioritization: Identify and prioritize critical data assets for recovery to streamline the recovery process and make sure that business-critical functions are restored first.
- Immutable backup copies: Maintain clean, immutable copies of backups to protect against ransomware and other cyber threats. This improves data integrity and the ability to recover cleanly and fully.
5. Organizational Impact
Adopting Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery signifies a strategic pivot towards enhanced data governance, with cyber resiliency and cyber recovery at the core of the organization. This transformation demands a holistic review of existing practices and policies and calls for strengthened collaboration among data executives, IT, security teams, compliance, and other organizational units. A shared vision and concerted effort to elevate cyber resilience and align data practices with enhanced security is a must. Training must be updated with best practices for data recovery in a secure environment, so all stakeholders understand the new protocols and their roles in safeguarding data integrity.
People Impact
Adoption will require a concerted effort in skill development and restructuring within the organization. This effort must accommodate the specialized needs of managing cyber recovery practices, especially those that include recovering to on-demand IREs. Data executives must champion the development of internal competencies focused on cyber resilience and recovery. This might involve creating new roles or teams dedicated to cybersecurity and data protection, along with comprehensive training for existing staff on the nuances of managing data integrity in the face of evolving cyber threats.
Investment Outlook
For data executives, the investment in Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery is an investment in the organization’s future. It’s a strategic move to safeguard the most valuable asset—data—and provide a full and clean recovery capability. While upfront costs are associated with implementation and training, analysis by GigaOm reveals that the Commvault solution yields improved TCO . The long-term savings can be significant. Minimized impact from data breaches and improved business continuity justify the expenditure. Additionally, the solution’s scalability allows it to adapt to growing data needs, yielding a sustainable approach to data integrity and protection.
6. Solution Timeline
Implementing Commvault’s Cloud Cleanroom Recovery will be a phased process, starting with an initial assessment of current data protection measures, followed by integrating the Cleanroom environment, and culminating in organization-wide adoption. The process can be informed by a readiness assessment from Commvault accompanied by a bespoke roadmap. The resulting timeline supports minimal disruption to existing operations while transitioning to a more secure data management framework.
Plan, Test, Deploy
Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery epitomizes the strategic evolution from traditional data protection and recovery strategies to a holistic cyber resilience framework. This shift is essential in today’s threat landscape, emphasizing not just the recovery of data, but its protection and integrity throughout the cyber incident lifecycle.
Plan
- Initial assessment: Begin with a comprehensive evaluation of current data protection and recovery strategies to identify vulnerabilities.
- Integration planning: Develop a detailed plan for integrating Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery into existing data governance frameworks, improving alignment with organizational cyber resilience goals.
Test
- Simulation drills: Conduct simulated cyberattack scenarios to test the effectiveness of the cleanroom recovery process.
- Operational testing: Conduct actual operational testing before an incident occurs to find errors in the recovery process before the chaos of a cyber incident threatens the ability to operate.
- Process refinement: Analyze test outcomes to refine recovery protocols and enhance the way the solution is used for testing and forensics use cases.
Deploy
- Implementation: Roll out Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery, to achieve seamless integration with minimal disruption to operations.
- Ongoing optimization: Establish a continuous improvement cycle, leveraging insights from testing and real-world operations to optimize the recovery strategy.
Future Considerations
As data executives incorporate Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery into data resilience and governance strategies, they must anticipate changes over the typical three-year enterprise planning cycle. In this window, organizations can expect advancements in data protection technologies driven by evolving cyber threats and regulatory challenges.
Organizations will wish to stay abreast of Commvault’s roadmap for this solution. The company’s commitment to innovation suggests that it will provide more integrated, intelligent, and user-friendly solutions for complex data environments.
Going forward, the data protection and recovery space increasingly will converge with cybersecurity, emphasizing holistic approaches to data resilience. This trend underscores the importance of selecting vendors like Commvault that are proactive in their development, updating solutions to meet current needs and future challenges. Data executives should engage in roadmap discussions with vendors to improve alignment with their organization’s long-term data governance and cyber resilience objectives. The goal: to secure a partnership that evolves in tandem with the digital and regulatory landscape.
7. Analyst’s Take
Data executives stand on equal footing with IT and security executives at the forefront of organizational resilience and compliance. The escalating nature of cyber threats demand solutions that protect data, providing for continuous availability and integrity to enable a full and clean recovery. Achieving this requires a cyber recovery solution that is both comprehensive and aligned with the strategic imperatives of the rest of GRCS (governance, risk, compliance, and security). All four of these disciplines impact the role of data leaders, and cyber resilience should be regarded as a critical component of the GRCS stack.
Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery fulfills this mandate. It offers advanced protection and recovery mechanisms that align with the core responsibilities of data executives. It addresses the dual challenges of cyber resilience and data governance, enabling data to remain both secure and accessible, even in the face of sophisticated cyber attacks.
Commvault’s solution is a rational and effective response for robust data protection, readiness, and recovery strategies. It signifies a strategic alignment for business, emphasizing the importance of data integrity and availability in sustaining operations and complying with regulatory standards. To realize the full potential of Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery, a collaborative effort among data, security, and infrastructure teams is necessary. For data executives, this means leading the charge in fostering cross-functional partnerships and driving a cultural shift towards integrated cyber resilience practices.
8. Report Methodology
This GigaOm CxO Decision Brief analyzes a specific technology and related solution to provide executive decision-makers with the information they need to drive successful IT strategies that align with the business. The report is focused on large impact zones that are often overlooked in technical research, yielding enhanced insight and mitigating risk. We work closely with vendors to identify the value and benefits of specific solutions, and to lay out best practices that enable organizations to drive a successful decision process.
9. About GigaOm
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10. Copyright
© Knowingly, Inc. 2024 "CxO Decision Brief: Advancing Data Governance with Commvault Cloud Cleanroom Recovery" is a trademark of Knowingly, Inc. For permission to reproduce this report, please contact sales@gigaom.com.