Ransomware resilience and DR strategies for Business Continuity with Interactive and FlexPod

When ransomware hits, seconds matter.

Business continuity in Australia is under threat from increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks—and ransomware tops the list. For organisations across industries, especially in critical sectors like healthcare, education, and financial services, the need for a secure, agile and fast disaster recovery (DR) strategy has never been more urgent.

That’s why forward-thinking businesses are turning to Interactive and its trusted technology alliance with Cisco and NetApp FlexPod to deliver ransomware resilience and disaster recovery strategies that are built for today’s hybrid IT environments.

 

Rising risk of ransomware in Australia

In 2024, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) reported a cybercrime every six minutes, with ransomware attacks accounting for a significant proportion.

Ransomware attacks in Australia are increasing in both cost and frequency, with over two-thirds of domestic organisations falling victim in the past five years, according to an Information Age report on the Australian Cyber Network’s (ACN) inaugural State of the Industry 2024 report.

Drawing on 30 data sources, the report found that 69 per cent of Australian businesses have been hit by ransomware—up from 56 per cent the year prior—and a staggering 84 per cent of those opted to pay the ransom.

The average payout has also surged, reaching $1.35 million in 2024, up from $1.03 million in 2023.

The healthcare and education sectors, in particular, remain among the most frequently targeted—often due to their complex infrastructure and sensitive data—while the rise of remote work has opened new attack surfaces across industries.

Organisations in aged care, for example, have experienced growing attacks on critical systems due to legacy platforms and limited in-house IT resources—making ransomware protection not just a security issue, but a business continuity imperative.

As ransomware attacks escalate across Australia—particularly in vulnerable sectors like aged care—Interactive has emerged as a critical partner in safeguarding resident wellbeing and business continuity. Aged care organisations face mounting threats due to legacy systems, limited internal IT capacity, and the increasing value of health data to cybercriminals. Interactive addresses these risks head-on with tailored managed services that combine cyber resilience, real-time monitoring, and regulatory compliance with sector-specific expertise.

With a 24/7 national service desk and local Cyber Security Operations Centres, Interactive helps providers respond rapidly to emerging threats while maintaining 100% systems availability. Its Managed Detect and Respond services proactively identify suspicious activity before it disrupts care. From secure communications and cloud infrastructure to simplifying compliance in a high-stakes regulatory environment, Interactive’s IT solutions are a trusted pillar of protection—empowering aged care staff to focus on delivering safe, personalised care without compromise.

Learn more about Interactive’s work in aged care.

 

Why traditional ransomware recovery isn’t enough

Despite heightened awareness, many businesses still rely on outdated or siloed disaster recovery strategies—leaving them vulnerable to disruption, data loss and reputational damage.

Here’s why traditional ransomware recovery no longer cuts it:

• Hidden dwell times: Attackers may remain undetected for weeks, installing backdoors and exfiltrating data before launching encryption.
• Hybrid IT environments: On-prem, cloud, SaaS—organisations today have a complex mix of infrastructure that makes consistent protection and recovery difficult.
• Regulatory pressure: With rising scrutiny from bodies like the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and global regulations such as GDPR, poor incident response planning can result in hefty fines and legal action.
• Recovery gaps: Many DR systems don’t offer near-instant recovery or immutable backups, meaning full restoration can take days—or never happen at all.

A strong business continuity plan must go beyond backups. It must deliver real-time visibility, automation, and layered protection across every endpoint and workload.

 

FlexPod + NetApp: Powering modern DR architecture

To build resilient infrastructure that meets modern recovery needs, businesses are embracing converged infrastructure platforms like FlexPod, developed by Cisco and NetApp.

FlexPod backup solutions combine compute, storage and networking in a pre-validated architecture, enabling:

• Faster recovery from ransomware attacks with integrated, immutable NetApp snapshots
• Simplified management across hybrid cloud environments
• Scalability to support growing data demands
• Built-in security and compliance features

For healthcare providers, FlexPod enables the protection of patient records while ensuring 24/7 system availability. Its seamless integration with electronic health record (EHR) systems helps reduce downtime and safeguard critical clinical workflows during cyber incidents.

In financial services, it helps meet strict regulatory standards without compromising performance. FlexPod also supports faster recovery from breaches, helping institutions maintain customer trust and business continuity in high-pressure environments.

Explore how Interactive supports financial services.

 

Interactive’s layered security and disaster recovery model

As a leading Australian managed IT services provider, Interactive integrates FlexPod into a layered security and DR model that delivers end-to-end resilience.

Interactive’s layered security and disaster recovery (DR) model is built to help organisations maintain business continuity and resilience against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats—especially ransomware. It’s a multi-tiered approach combining preventative, detective, and responsive controls across both cybersecurity and infrastructure layers.

This model includes:

• Proactive monitoring & detection: Constant surveillance to detect anomalies and suspicious activity.
• Immutable backup & recovery: FlexPod’s snapshot and replication features ensure data is preserved, even during an attack.
• Isolated recovery zones: Enables safe testing and recovery without re-infecting systems.
• Incident response planning: Development of custom incident response plans and business impact analysis tailored to your environment.
• 24×7 Support: Australian-based teams ready to assist at every stage—from containment to full recovery.

Find out more about Interactive’s IT services

 

Where FlexPod Fits into Interactive’s DR and Security Model

 

Integrated infrastructure

FlexPod, co-developed by Cisco and NetApp, brings together compute, networking, and storage in a pre-validated, converged infrastructure, which simplifies deployment and management across on-prem and hybrid environments.

 

Built-in data protection

With NetApp ONTAP at its core, FlexPod includes:

• Immutable snapshots: These are tamper-proof backups ideal for ransomware resilience.
• Automated replication: For offsite or cross-site disaster recovery.
• Snapshot recovery: Enables rapid recovery of critical systems with minimal downtime.

 

Security hardening

FlexPod is often deployed using security best practices such as zero trust architectures, network segmentation, and role-based access control (RBAC).

It supports integration with Interactive’s MDR tools and SIEM platforms for centralised monitoring.

 

Scalable disaster recovery

FlexPod makes it easier to scale up DR capabilities as data grows. Whether it’s a 30-bed aged care facility or a large financial institution, FlexPod offers tailored performance and storage tiers to match specific recovery time and point objectives (RTO/RPO).

 

Example of a Ransomware Recovery timeline

Understanding the recovery process is critical. Here’s what a best-practice ransomware recovery timeline could look like when supported by Interactive and FlexPod:

 

Hour 0: Detection

• Alert triggered via monitoring tools or user reports.
• Security teams begin incident response plan.
• Interactive’s 24/7 monitoring and Managed Detect & Respond (MDR) services help detect threats early and initiate rapid action.

Hours 1–3: Containment

• Affected systems isolated.
• Backdoors and command/control servers blocked.
• Interactive’s expert teams work alongside in-house IT to contain and limit the impact, leveraging secure FlexPod infrastructure to maintain stability.

Hours 3–6: Assessment

• Evaluate scope of attack.
• Identify impacted data and systems.
• FlexPod’s integrated visibility and audit trails help accelerate forensic assessment and system mapping.

Hours 6–12: Communication

• Notify leadership and external stakeholders.
• Fulfil compliance requirements.
• Interactive’s experience in regulated sectors like healthcare and finance ensures compliance communications are handled appropriately.

 Hours 12–24: Eradication Planning

• Remove malicious software and block threat vectors.
• Interactive supports coordinated eradication, ensuring secure and complete removal of threats.

Days 2–3: Recovery and Restoration

• Restore systems using regular backups.
• Deploy FlexPod snapshots to recover securely and quickly.
• FlexPod’s immutable NetApp snapshots enable near-instant, tamper-proof recovery—minimising downtime and data loss.

Days 4–7: Validation and Hardening

• Test restored systems.
• Strengthen defences to prevent recurrence.
• Interactive assists with system validation, patching, and tuning to close gaps and reinforce security layers.

Weeks 2–4: Post-Incident Review

• Conduct forensic analysis and document findings.
• Update disaster recovery plans and improve defences.
• Interactive’s consulting team helps refine DR strategies, apply learnings, and future-proof your environment.

Disaster recovery checklist: Is your DR strategy ready?

Use this checklist to assess whether your business is truly prepared for ransomware and cyber incidents:

• Do you have immutable backups stored securely offsite or in the cloud?
• Are your DR and business continuity plans regularly tested and updated?
• Is there a clearly documented incident response plan?
• Have you conducted a recent business impact analysis?
• Do your DR systems cover hybrid and multi-cloud environments?
• Is your staff trained on ransomware procedures and phishing awareness?
• Can you recover within your target Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?
• Do you have 24/7 support in place for DR scenarios?

If you can’t confidently answer “yes” to all of the above, your organisation may be at risk.

 

Ready to build Ransomware resilience?

Don’t wait until after an attack to strengthen your defences. With Interactive’s expertise and Cisco + NetApp’s FlexPod solutions, you can build a resilient, secure disaster recovery strategy that keeps your business running—no matter what.

Get in touch with Interactive today to assess your DR readiness and discover how we help you simplify and secure your IT.