As cyberthreats grow in sophistication, traditional backups are no longer enough. Ransomware can now encrypt or delete backups themselves, making it crucial to adopt modern strategies such as immutable storage, air-gapped backups, and multi-layered security to safeguard critical data.

Not too long ago, many enterprises saw the cloud as the ultimate answer to their data management woes, until the bills arrived. Aside from this, certain types of data aren’t fit for cloud deployment. 

These realisations have since triggered a wave of cloud repatriation and a rise in hybrid cloud deployments. 

“Speaking of hybrid solutions, data protection is one of the key considerations for enterprises in Singapore. They want disaster recovery features. These are their considerations when they talk to us,” observed Antoine Yang, Country Manager, Synology Singapore.

Securing assets

In 2023, Singapore faced a surge in ransomware attacks, particularly in manufacturing and construction. A year later, hackers targeted iPads and Chromebooks used by students in a high-profile education sector breach.

Just last month, Singaporean non-profit HomeTeamNS suffered a ransomware attack that compromised employee and ex-employee data, along with vehicle details of some members and affiliates.

Given the frequency of such attacks, businesses are increasingly prioritising backup and recovery solutions to enhance resilience. The Singapore data security market is poised to grow by 10.68% annually from 2025 to 2029, reflecting the critical need for robust cybersecurity and backup infrastructure.

This is also the reason behind Synology’s latest offering — a new line of data protection appliances called ActiveProtect.

Launched in Singapore in February, ActiveProtect unifies enterprise backup software, server, and backup repository into a single solution. It supports PCs, Macs, file and physical servers, virtual machines, databases, and Microsoft 365, all managed through a single interface. It also includes immutable backups, air-gap capabilities, and regulatory compliance features to guard against cyberthreats.

“Some customers want data ownership, so sensitive data is not allowed to be transferred to the cloud. Therefore, they are looking for on-prem solutions,” Yang said.

Data strategy

To stay one step ahead of threat actors, enterprises should adopt multi-layered protection for their backups, Yang recommended.

“Immutable backup means your data is safe from any deletions or removals,” he explained.

Meanwhile, offline backup is crucial to have a fallback option in case all online systems are compromised.

“A company would typically have one copy of the data stored in the office, and one copy stored offsite, but they also need to ensure that the offsite copy is isolated. In the event of ransomware attacks, this isolation zone ensures a clean copy of the data remains intact,” Yang said.

Beyond these measures, enterprises can further strengthen their backup security by:

• Implementing a multi-layered air-gapped backup strategy to achieve both logical and physical isolation, ensuring a clean data copy is preserved.

• Protecting data with WORM (Write Once, Read Many) storage, which prevents deletion for a specified period, safeguarding critical business records.

Synology’s ActiveProtect includes security protocols and data restoration methods designed to support secure and resilient backup practices.

Adapting to change

Unlike other solutions that require enterprises to source hardware and software separately, Synology integrates both, addressing cost, complexity, and compatibility challenges.

This was particularly helpful amid recent changes in Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions, with the education sector among the most affected.

In January, Microsoft retired the Office 365 A1 Plus plan, reduced storage pools to 100 TB per tenant, and restricted certain licenses to web-only applications — removing desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. One way to manage cloud storage limitations is through frequent backups, ensuring critical data is securely archived while optimising capacity usage.

“We provide a solution for backing up Microsoft 365. Educational institutions and some of our manufacturing customers use our solution for this,” Yang said.

Synology is already a well-known company in Singapore. For example, LASALLE College of the Arts partnered with Synology after learning that its network-attached storage (NAS) servers would allow users to access, search, and manage files efficiently from Apple computers.

ActiveProtect is now available in Singapore through Synology’s distributor and partner network. For more information or to request a demo, please visit Synology’s official website or connect with a Synology expert here.

For more details on Synology’s backup solutions, visit Synology’s official website.