Cobalt Iron patents technology for dynamic infrastructure

Cobalt Iron Inc., a  provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, has announced that it has been granted a patent on its technology for dynamic IT infrastructure optimisation in response to cyberthreats. Issued on Dec. 28, 2021, U.S. Patent 11212304 describes capabilities for Cobalt Iron Compass, an enterprise SaaS backup platform, whereby Compass will automatically reconfigure IT infrastructure when it detects cyberthreats, such as a ransomware attack. This capability keeps data safe and accessible.

Cybercriminal activities increasingly threaten the availability and integrity of critical business data. It is challenging enough to detect these activities in a timely manner, but once they are detected, businesses are often unsure of what steps to take to limit the impact of an attack and to remediate any damage. Particularly challenging is the fact that most IT infrastructures are statically configured and completely unresponsive to changing conditions and cyberthreats.

The patented techniques introduce unique ransomware analytics and automated optimisations that respond to cyberthreats. They will dynamically adjust access to backup infrastructure and data to reduce exposures to cyberattacks. They also can provide analytics-based insights into an attack and automatically perform various operations to further secure data. The techniques disclosed in this patent:

• Continually monitor metrics, events, and conditions for indications of a cyberattack in the network.
• Analyse metrics, events, conditions, and configurations to identify infrastructure components and data that could be impacted by or be vulnerable to a cyberattack.
• Automatically restrict access to impacted or vulnerable infrastructure components and data.
• Automatically create an audit report of impacted infrastructure components and data.
• Automatically initiate remediation operations for impacted data. Remediation operations might include things such as:
• Initiating data replication of a previous clean backup version of the data to an off-site location.
• Initiating recovery and validation of affected data into a safe storage location.

For example, in the event of a cyberattack, Compass could detect the event, conduct impact analysis to determine which data and hardware components might be affected, restrict access to those data and components, perform other operations to remediate exposures, and generate an audit report associated with the event.

"The Cobalt Iron compass solution delivers backup infrastructure and data with simplicity and security at scale," said Rob Marett, Cobalt Iron's chief technology officer. "This patent discloses additional ransomware analytics, combined with automated responses. These compass techniques further secure critical business data and make backup infrastructure more responsive to cyberthreats. This patent extends Cobalt Iron's technology leadership in the areas of ransomware analytics and automated IT infrastructure optimisations."