Cuts restores from 5 days to minutes with Veeam and Scality ARTESCA

In February 2024, Ventnor City experienced a full LockBit 2.0 ransomware attack that took down every server and workstation across eight locations. While the city could restore City Hall systems, two critical sites — the Firehouse and Public Works — had no viable backups.

At the same time, Ventnor City’s legacy backup solution more than doubled its renewal price. Restore times stretched into multi-day windows, immutability was missing, and the complexity of the platform was straining its one-person IT department. On a hurricane-prone barrier island where internet outages can last weeks, Jim realized that now more than ever, the city needed a modern backup approach with local immutable backups, cloud replication, simple management, and predictable costs. That incident forced Ventnor City to fundamentally rethink how backups were designed, distributed, and protected.

For Ventnor City, immutability wasn’t a nice-to-have — it was the line between recovery and repeating the same failure. To rebuild trust in its backup strategy after a ransomware attack and prepare for both cyber threats and hurricane-driven outages, Ventnor City deployed Veeam Backup & Replication with Scality ARTESCA object storage. The goal was clear: protect critical systems locally, ensure offsite resilience, and keep operations simple enough for a single person to manage.

The new architecture provides:

• Local immutable backups at City Hall, Firehouse & Public Works
• Cloud copies for offsite protection
• Seamless support for the city’s 95% VMware-based environment
• Centralized visibility and simple dashboards
• A scalable foundation for future growth, including Ventnor City’s upcoming digital and AI initiatives

Deployment included equipment rollout, configuration, and site-by-site onboarding, resulting in a resilient, easy-to-manage backup environment purpose-built for both everyday operations and worst-case scenarios. The police department deployed a parallel Veeam + Scality ARTESCA environment for incident reporting, dispatch, and body-worn camera data, further standardizing the city’s approach to cyber-resilient storage.

Scality ARTESCA immutable S3 object storage

Veeam Backup & Replication

Three on-prem sites with local immutable backups

Cloud replication for off-site resilience

Strong ransomware protection with immutable, multi-site backups

Architecture resilient to extended internet outages and hurricanes

The impact of Ventnor City’s move to Veeam and Scality ARTESCA was immediate and measurable. Where the city once faced restore timelines measured in days, recovery is now counted in minutes or hours.

Just as important, the new architecture delivered meaningful budget relief. Even with greater storage capacity and a more resilient design, the cost of Veeam and Scality came in 10–15% lower than renewing the legacy platform. That savings helps Ventnor City stay within its strict 2% annual budget cap while freeing funds for other critical security investments.

Operationally, the shift has been transformative for a one-person IT department. Clear dashboards and simplified workflows mean Jim no longer spends hours chasing issues or validating backup jobs, saving an estimated 20% of the IT admin’s day.

Beyond efficiency, the solution fundamentally changed how the city approaches resilience. With local immutable backups at multiple sites, Ventnor can recover even if internet access is disrupted — a real concern on a barrier island where storms and hurricanes can cut connectivity for weeks. Cloud replication adds another layer of protection, ensuring data remains available even in worst-case scenarios. Most importantly, the city can keep essential services online for residents even when systems are under attack or storms disrupt connectivity.

Finally, the new environment gives Ventnor City room to grow. As the city explores more digital services and begins planning for future AI-driven initiatives, Jim knows the data foundation is already in place.

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