Scality ARTESCA 2.0 strenghtens ransomware protection

Scality announced its newest release of Scality ARTESCA, its secure S3 object storage software for data deployments starting at a few terabytes.

Over a dozen innovations in ARTESCA 2.0 strengthen cyber resiliency through a hardened, reduced attack surface that minimizes security risks with data immutability for increased ransomware protection — all at entry-level pricing starting at under $4,000 per year, including 24×7 support.

An expanded choice of deployment options gives customers the freedom to choose from secure software and virtual appliances to best suit their business requirements.

“After an in-depth competitive study on alternative flash and purpose-built backup appliances in 2022, we opted for an ARTESCA solution delivering 1 usable petabyte for our backup production data. Our decision was motivated by the simplicity of the software appliance, excellent performance on backup and especially for restores, as well as strong security around the S3 protocol. ARTESCA gives us all of these values plus an efficient cost per TB in a configuration that can seamlessly double capacity to 2 PB,” said Renaud Massé, director of infrastructure, AP-HM.

Scality first launched ARTESCA in the spring of 2021, and its fast ramp continues with a projected ARR growth rate of another 300% in 2023. ARTESCA deployments typically range between 100-500 TB with the potential to grow more as needed.

Top early adopters of ARTESCA’s secure software-defined object store include government & public sector (including cities and local public organizations), manufacturing, finance, healthcare, medical imaging, media & entertainment and small deployments for service providers implementing BaaS offerings for clients.

Now, with a focus on the needs of today’s security-conscious organizations, this latest release of ARTESCA adds innovations that build upon simplicity and lightweight object storage capabilities that ARTESCA has boasted from its inception:

New hardened attack surface for greater ransomware protection

• A new integrated, security-hardened and minimal Linux Operating System that precludes OS access, reduces exposure to critical vulnerability exposures (CVEs) that are endemic to Linux packages, and limits a wide range of potential malicious attacks.
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for secure administrator UI login, making it harder for a malicious actor to log in.
• Identity and access management (IAM) policies for secure access from the Veeam Data Platform.
• Immutability at the API layer through S3 object locking on top of intrinsic immutable object storage.
• Lockdown of unused network ports to further reduce the attack surface.
• To simplify network security management, ARTESCA now automatically configures firewall rules upon deployment.

More enterprise-grade features with low entry costs

• Comprehensive support of Veeam Data Platform Direct to Object and Smart Object Storage API, enabling added ransomware protection, data immutability and operational efficiencies.
• Simplified installer gets systems up and running fast to enable mission-critical Veeam backups and restores. Shorter backup windows and faster restores get business up and running swiftly after an event.
• Validated to scale from 1 TB to 5 PB in usable capacity, a 250% increase in capacity from previous releases.
• Software subscriptions starting under $4,000 per year for 50 TB usable capacity include all features and capabilities with 24×7 support.

New deployment options provide increased freedom of choice for customers

• ARTESCA software appliance with integrated secure and minimal Linux OS, with automated patch upgrades to further simplify security management.
• ARTESCA as a virtual appliance in OVA format for fast installation on VMware vSphere version 7.0 and later.
• In addition, ARTESCA software will be free for a 90-day trial period with unlimited capacity. The free trial will be available early Q3.

“The new Veeam Data Platform focuses on modern data protection and ransomware recovery, ensuring that every business is resilient and can recover rapidly and safely from ransomware and other cyber threats across the customer’s complete hybrid-cloud environment. By supporting both Veeam’s performance tier for direct-to-object and its capacity tier for short and long-term retention, ARTESCA is an ideal object storage solution to deliver on the promise of Veeam’s 3-2-1-1-0 rule. Our joint customers gain ransomware protection and data immutability without sacrificing performance,” said Larissa Crandall, Veeam VP of global channel and alliances.

“ARTESCA makes data storage simple and secure for CISOs and their teams. It’s both affordable and easy to deploy in any environment, no strings attached. As we all know, ease-of-use is actually useless if the solution isn’t unbreakable and immutable against the ransomware risks of the real world. ARTESCA 2.0 delivers the full package that today’s organizations are looking for — enterprise-grade security, simplicity and maximum performance at a price that won’t give CFOs heartburn,” said Paul Speciale, Scality CMO.

ARTESCA 2.0 will be available in early June 2023.