Acronis Goes Beyond Backup: Solution Overview, Pros and Cons

Key Acronis Products and Solutions

Here’s an overview of Acronis’ main offerings.

Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (Formerly True Image) 

Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, previously known as Acronis True Image, is a personal cyber protection solution that combines easy-to-use backup with advanced anti-malware technology. Designed for home users, it offers an intuitive interface that simplifies the process of protecting digital assets. 

Users can perform full image backups, providing a snapshot of their system, or select individual files and folders for backup based on their needs. Cyber Protect Home Office also provides cybersecurity features that protect against modern threats such as ransomware and phishing attacks. 

Its real-time protection engine continuously monitors the system for malicious activities, offering immediate defense against potential threats. It also includes features like vulnerability assessments and automatic updates to keep security measures current.  

Acronis Cyber Protect for Business 

Acronis Cyber Protect integrates backup and cybersecurity functionalities. It is intended for small businesses seeking cyber resilience without the complexity and overhead associated with managing separate tools. 

By combining anti-malware and backup technology, Acronis Cyber Protect secures data against cyberthreats and ensures that critical business information is recoverable in the event of an attack or disaster. It uses AI and machine learning technologies to deliver proactive protection against modern threats, including ransomware, phishing, and zero-day attacks. 

Acronis Cyber Protect simplifies IT management tasks through automation, reducing the time and resources required for monitoring threats, performing backups, and responding to incidents. 

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud 

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is a service platform for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that integrates backup, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, and endpoint management into a single solution. It allows MSPs to deliver customizable services to their clients, enhancing their ability to protect against modern cyber threats while ensuring data is backed up and recoverable. 

The platform supports operations by reducing the complexity and costs associated with managing multiple disparate solutions. It uses AI-based behavioral detection for advanced threat prevention, ensuring real-time protection against ransomware and zero-day attacks. 

With features like fail-safe patching and continuous data protection, Cyber Protect Cloud helps minimize downtime and data loss. It also offers automation capabilities and integrations with popular RMM and PSA tools, enabling service providers to scale their services. 

Acronis Cyber Protect for Enterprise 

Acronis Cyber Protect for Enterprise is intended for large-scale, diverse IT environments. It provides Acronis’s most secure backup and fastest recovery options available, suitable for complex multi-site, multi-generational, and industrial IT infrastructures. 

This solution speeds up the recovery process across different computing environments without requiring IT intervention, reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) and management complexity. It incorporates AI and machine learning algorithms for proactive cyber threat protection. 

The solution also offers endpoint management features such as automated patch management, URL filtering, and vulnerability assessments to ensure a fortified defense posture across the enterprise’s digital landscape. 

Related content: Read our guide to MSP cyber security

Key Acronis Features

Acronis solutions offer the following capabilities: 

• Backup and disaster recovery: Ensures data integrity and availability even in the event of system failures, cyber attacks, or natural disasters. The backup process captures complete system images or specific files and folders, allowing for quick restoration. Disaster recovery capabilities include detailed planning and automated processes for restoring systems and data to a pre-disaster state.  
• Data loss prevention (DLP): Focuses on identifying, monitoring, and protecting sensitive data across various storage locations and transmission channels. This ensures that critical information remains within the secure confines of the organization’s controlled environment. Acronis combines encryption, access controls, and policy enforcement mechanisms to protect against both internal and external threats.
• Email security: Protects against threats that target email communications, a common vector for cyberattacks such as phishing, malware distribution, and spam. It ensures that malicious emails are identified and blocked before reaching the user’s inbox, using filtering algorithms and machine learning to analyze incoming emails for suspicious links, attachments, and unusual sender behavior. 
• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Provides organizations with a basic solution for detecting, investigating, and responding to threats on endpoints. It identifies suspicious activities and potential threats in real time and enables proactive response by security teams.
• Managed Detection and Response (MDR): Extends beyond EDR by offering a managed service that encompasses monitoring, alerting, incident response, and threat hunting. Acronis delivers 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring by expert teams who manage and respond to threats on behalf of the organization. 

Acronis Limitations

Before using Acronis, it’s important to be aware of the platform’s limitations.

User Interface and Usability 

Some users encounter challenges due to the comprehensive nature of Acronis’ solutions, which incorporate a wide range of functionalities into a single platform. While this integration is intended to enhance cyber protection, it can also result in a learning curve for individuals unfamiliar with such extensive tools.  

Cost Considerations 

When assessing the cost of Acronis solutions, it’s important to consider both upfront and ongoing expenses. The initial investment includes the cost of purchasing licenses or subscriptions, which varies based on the specific product, number of users, and level of functionality required. Ongoing costs relate to maintenance, support, and potential upgrades. Higher levels of service may incur additional fees.  

Learning Curve and Support 

Given the complexity of Acronis’ cybersecurity and backup offerings, some initial learning is inevitable. Acronis offers support resources, including detailed documentation, tutorials, and an active community forum where users can seek advice and share insights. However, more extensive support with direct assistance, incurs additional costs.

Limited Experience in EDR

Acronis only launched their Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tool in mid-2023. Given that the company has primarily focused on backup and data protection solutions, their EDR offering is relatively new and lacks the maturity seen in competitors who have been in the EDR space for longer. Users seeking a more established and proven EDR solution might consider this when evaluating Acronis.

Cynet: Ultimate Acronis Cybersecurity Alternative

Cynet is a holistic security solution that protects against threats to endpoint security and across your network. Cynet provides tools you can use to centrally manage endpoint security across the enterprise.

Cynet’s intelligent technologies can help you detect attacks by correlating information from endpoints, network analytics and behavioral analytics with almost no false positives. 

With Cynet, you can proactively monitor entire internal environments, including endpoints, network, files, and hosts. This can help you reduce attack surfaces and the likelihood of multiple attacks. 

Cynet provides cutting edge EDR capabilities:

• Advanced endpoint threat detection—full visibility and predicts how an attacker might operate, based on continuous monitoring of endpoints and behavioral analysis.
• Investigation and validation—search and review historic or current incident data on endpoints, investigate threats, and validate alerts. This allows you to confirm the threat before responding to it, reducing dwell-time and performing faster remediation.
• Rapid deployment and response—deploy across thousands of endpoints within two hours. You can then use it to perform automatic or manual remediation of threats on the endpoints, disrupt malicious activity and minimize damage caused by attacks.

Learn more about our EDR security capabilities.

In addition, Cynet provides the following endpoint protection capabilities:

• NGAV—providing automated prevention and termination of malware, exploits, Macros, LOLBins, and malicious scripts with machine learning based analysis.
• User Behavioral Analytics (UBA)—detecting and preventing attacks using compromised credentials through the use of behavioral baselines and signatures.
• Deception technology—planting fake credentials, files and connections to lure and trap attackers, mitigating damage and providing the opportunity to learn from attacker activity.
• Monitoring and control—providing asset management, vulnerability assessments and application control with continuous monitoring and log collection.
• Response orchestration—providing manual and automated remediation for files, users, hosts and networks customized with user-created scripts.

Learn more about the Cynet 360 security platform.