NetApp ARP/AI achieves AAA rating from SE Labs for ransomware detection

NetApp announced that its ONTAP Autonomous Ransomware Protection with Artificial Intelligence (ARP/AI) has received a AAA rating from SE Labs. The independent testing company validated the protection effectiveness of NetApp ARP/AI, highlighting a 99% recall metric—the measure of malware detection rates—for ransomware attacks, and noted the absence of false positives.

SE Labs conducted rigorous tests on NetApp ARP/AI against numerous known ransomware variants. The results showed a 99% detection rate of advanced ransomware attacks and a 100% detection rate of legitimate files without flagging any false positives. This indicates the solution's capability to function effectively in a business environment without causing alert fatigue.

Dr Arun Gururajan, Vice President of Research & Data Science at NetApp, said, "NetApp has passed a significant milestone in the fight against ransomware as the first and only storage vendor to offer AI-driven on-box ransomware detection with externally validated top-notch protection effectiveness."

"Ransomware detection methodologies that rely only on backup data are too slow to effectively mitigate the risks businesses face from cybersecurity threats. NetApp ARP/AI hardens enterprise storage by providing robust, built-in detection capabilities that can respond to ransomware threats in real-time."

NetApp's AI-powered ransomware detection capabilities are designed to provide real-time detection and response to minimise the impact of cybersecurity threats. In a business setting, the speed of response is crucial in mitigating the potential damage caused by ransomware.

Seconds can make the difference between maintaining business continuity and suffering a significant disruption due to lost production data and downtime. NetApp ARP/AI aims to address this issue by integrating fast, automated, and precise detection and response capabilities into primary storage systems.

Dr Gururajan emphasised NetApp's commitment to innovation in intelligent data infrastructure: "The AAA rating we achieved from SE Labs is the result of our commitment to innovation in intelligent data infrastructure and our drive to find new ways to make NetApp the most secure storage on the planet."

Embedding ransomware detection within storage solutions, NetApp ARP/AI enables customers to improve their cyber resilience while reducing the operational burden and skill requirements necessary to maintain an intelligent data infrastructure. The AI-driven detection technology continuously adapts and evolves as new ransomware variants are discovered. This ongoing retraining ensures that NetApp ARP/AI remains highly effective against the ever-changing landscape of ransomware threats.

While NetApp ARP/AI has demonstrated high effectiveness in tests, it is acknowledged that no system can guarantee complete detection of all attacks. However, the results from SE Labs indicate that NetApp's technology offers substantial detection capabilities based on known technologies and attack methodologies.