Securing Critical Microsoft Data Following an Attack: Betenbough’s Journey With Druva

Betenbough Companies owns several subsidiary companies, including Betenbough Homes. They were founded in 1992 and are based in West Texas.

Betenbough Companies, a network of eight firms, faced critical limitations with their outdated tape backup system. Their dependence on Backup Exec, Symantec, and Azure native tools created inefficiencies, highlighting the urgent need for a modernized, reliable cloud-based data backup and security solution. 

Chad Byrd, Sr. Systems Engineer at Betenbough, described the system as "super slow," struggling to keep up with the team’s exponentially growing data. This inefficiency resulted in time-consuming manual processes and required a couple of hours each day just to monitor and troubleshoot Backup Exec and Symantec. Additionally, occasional minor data loss incidents added to their difficulties with the existing system.

In 2018, Byrd spearheaded the search for a modern cloud backup and security solution. After evaluating several options, including AWS virtual tape libraries, he ultimately chose Druva for its ease of use, comprehensive features, and robust support. As Byrd explains, "It's dependable. The Druva interface is straightforward, intuitive, and reliable. It's simple, and most importantly, we trust it completely." The initial implementation focused on on-premises server backups.

Betenbough faced a ransomware attack that impacted their hybrid workloads data. Druva's disaster recovery capabilities (DRaaS) proved invaluable during the attack, enabling rapid recovery of critical systems. Within 24 hours, operations were back up and running. Byrd emphasized the reliability and efficiency of Druva during their ransomware recovery process, saying, "The speed of recovery really helped us following our ransomware attack, as well as the quality of the data we had stored in Druva."

Following the attack, Betenbough expanded its use of Druva to include Microsoft 365 and Azure VM backups during their Azure migration. Druva ensures secure, compliant backups for Microsoft workloads and Azure environments, leveraging its cloud-native architecture to deliver cost-effective and resilient data protection.

Druva supports a comprehensive range of Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Dynamics 365, Azure VMs, Windows Server, SQL, Hyper-V, and Windows endpoints. It also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Sentinel to provide enhanced security insights.

By adopting Druva’s Azure VM Backup capabilities, Betenbough implemented a secure, agentless solution for protecting Azure VM data, featuring air-gapped backups and robust ransomware defense.

Betenbough leverages Druva's Accelerated Ransomware Recovery (ARR) to safeguard their Microsoft 365 and hybrid workloads, ensuring effective defense and rapid recovery from ransomware attacks. Druva’s powerful analytics enable quick threat detection, isolation, and removal. The backup quarantine feature ensures threats are contained, while curated recovery retrieves the latest clean files to reduce data loss. Integration with SOAR tools automates responses, prevents reinfection, and speeds up forensic investigations. Druva’s 24/7 Managed Data Detection and Response service provides expert monitoring, ensuring complete protection for Betenbough's critical backups.

Betenbough is also exploring additional Druva features, including Azure SQL backups. By leveraging Druva's advanced capabilities, Betenbough is strengthening its data protection strategy to address evolving threats.

The impact of Druva on Betenbough Companies has been nothing short of transformative. Daily management time has been drastically reduced, going from several hours to just a few minutes, saving valuable time for their IT team. Druva's solution streamlined backup and recovery processes for 114 TB of data across Azure, VMware, Windows, NAS, and SQL, significantly improving IT efficiency and enhancing data security by reducing the risk of data loss.

Byrd described Druva as "reliable, usable, and simple," underlining its ease of use and operational reliability. Druva's flexibility and effectiveness were further highlighted by its seamless management of backups across multiple cloud environments. Additionally, achieving a 5.16x deduplication ratio significantly boosted storage efficiency and reduced costs. During the ransomware attack, Druva enabled rapid recovery, minimizing business disruption and proving its DRaaS capabilities. By adopting Druva, Betenbough Companies not only strengthened its data security but also ensured business continuity, enabling continued operations without interruption.