Time to read: 3 minutes, 15 seconds | Published: April 10th, 2025
Immutable backups What are immutable backups?
Immutable backups describe a type of data backup where the data is unchangeable and cannot be deleted. Data has become a rich target for attackers, and even your backups can be encrypted or deleted during attacks. Immutable data is critical when you are creating a backup or disaster recovery plan, particularly when ransomware strikes.
An immutable backup features immutable data, meaning data that is an unalterable state. Data is said to be in WORM format (write once, read many).
Traditional data backups are not always effective when you are trying to restore data that has been attacked (since the backups may have been attacked as well). Immutable backups can protect from various planned and unplanned events such as viruses, ransomware, planned outages, natural disasters, accidental or planned deletions.
What is backup immutability?
Backup immutability is about securely storing data that cannot be modified or deleted for a set period. Once past that retention period, the immutable backup can be replaced.
This characteristic provides the ability to manage the backup infrastructure, in terms of storage volume and cost, while ensuring the integrity of the data, making it an effective defense against ransomware and malicious tampering, as attackers can't alter the backups to compromise data recovery processes.
Access to immutable data copies with HPE Zerto Software
Ransomware is not a matter of ""if"", but ""when"". Attackers are counting on you being unprepared, relying on outdated recovery solutions that can't keep up when it matters most.
What's more, even remote recovery data can be a target of ransomware. HPE Zerto Software provides the option for immutable replicas that cannot be encrypted or corrupted by ransomware and are always available for recovery. This option, combined with HPE Zerto’s continuous data protection, can help you prepare for a ransomware attack in the future.
You can achieve data immutability with HPE Cyber Resilience Vault, an offline, locked-down vault that combines HPE Zerto’s recovery software with the power of HPE Alletra Storage MP, HPE ProLiant servers, and HPE Aruba Networking.
