Organizations no longer evaluate backup infrastructure solely on backup speed, storage capacity, or data reduction ratios. Ransomware now routinely targets backup environments, making cyber resilience a primary requirement when selecting a PBBA. Enterprises expect PBBAs to protect backup data and identify threats before they cause damage. Fast recovery capabilities now rank alongside performance and scalability as critical evaluation criteria.
The now released 2026-27 DCIG TOP 5 Cyber Resilient PBBAs – Global Edition report helps enterprises identify the best cyber resilient PBBAs. This research evaluates 34 cyber resilient purpose-built backup appliances (PBBAs) across more than 250 features and capabilities. It then identifies the five best cyber resilient PBBAs that protect, secure, and recover their data in today’s hostile cyber environment.
This report specifically recognizes the ExaGrid EX540-SSD. This platform combines high-performance backup and recovery operations with a cyber resilience architecture specifically designed to address modern ransomware threats.
Cyber Resilience Has Become a PBBA Requirement
For years, enterprises evaluated PBBAs based on four primary characteristics: backup and restore performance, data reduction efficiency, and total storage capacity. While these attributes remain important, they no longer tell the complete story.
The growing sophistication of ransomware has fundamentally changed how organizations view backup infrastructure. Modern ransomware increasingly targets backup systems first. Attackers now routinely attempt to:
- Attack cloud backup repositories
- Compromise administrative credentials
- Corrupt backup catalogs
- Delete backup copies
- Disable replication
Ransomware may attempt to perform one, some, or all these attacks before encrypting production data.
At the same time, ransomware operators continue to improve their ability to evade detection. They exploit identity systems, leverage common administrative tools, disable security controls, and remain dormant inside environments before initiating attacks. By the time organizations discover the compromise, attackers may already have access to backup systems and recovery resources.
As a result, enterprises increasingly prioritize recoverability and cyber resilience above nearly every other backup infrastructure characteristic. Fast backups provide little value if backup copies become inaccessible during a cyberattack. Similarly, large storage capacities offer limited benefit if organizations cannot quickly identify trusted recovery points following a ransomware incident.
Why PBBAs with All-Flash Configurations Matter
PBBAs with all-flash configurations alone do not make a PBBA more cyber resilient. However, PBBAs with all-flash configurations provide important advantages that support broader cyber resilience objectives.
PBBAs with all-flash configurations accelerate both backup and recovery operations, enabling organizations to protect data more frequently and reduce potential data loss. Faster backup operations allow enterprises to create more recovery points throughout the day. Should ransomware strike, organizations may lose less data between backups.
Recovery performance becomes even more important during cyber incidents. Enterprises increasingly require the ability to restore large numbers of virtual machines, databases, and applications simultaneously. All-flash configurations help reduce recovery times, shorten business disruptions, and minimize financial impact.
All-flash configurations also better support the cyber resilience features increasingly embedded within modern PBBAs. Activities such as ransomware scanning, anomaly detection, integrity validation, encryption, and data immutability introduce processing overhead. The performance advantages of flash help absorb these workloads while maintaining operational efficiency.
AI Analytics Become a New Differentiator
Growing adoption of AI-powered analytics within backup appliances represents one of the most significant trends identified in this report.
Organizations often struggle to determine when ransomware initially entered their environment, and which backup copies remain trustworthy. AI-powered analytics help address this challenge by analyzing backup activity patterns and identifying behaviors that differ from normal operations.
These capabilities can detect abnormal backup growth, unusual administrative activities, mass deletion requests, unexpected retention policy changes, and suspicious access patterns. In some cases, they may alert administrators before ransomware successfully compromises backup data.
Beyond cyberattacks, AI analytics also help organizations recover from accidental deletions, software failures, and operational mistakes. By identifying optimal recovery points and prioritizing restoration activities, these technologies can accelerate recovery regardless of the cause of data loss.
A New Era for Backup Infrastructure
The findings in this report highlight backup infrastructure’s evolution from a data protection repository into a cyber resilience platform.
Today’s leading PBBAs increasingly serve as active participants in an organization’s cyber resilience strategy. They detect threats, protect backup data through immutability and access controls, integrate with identity management systems, leverage AI-driven analytics, and accelerate recovery when incidents occur.
These capabilities are becoming essential as organizations face growing cyber threats, larger data sets, and rising expectations for recovery performance.
The 2026-27 DCIG TOP 5 Cyber Resilient PBBAs – Global Edition report highlights five solutions that exemplify this evolution. For enterprises evaluating backup infrastructure, the report provides an objective framework for understanding how today’s leading cyber resilient PBBAs address the intersecting demands of performance, recoverability, and cyber resilience.
Organizations seeking a platform that combines high-performance backup operations with advanced ransomware protection capabilities will find the ExaGrid EX540-SSD among the standout solutions recognized in this year’s analysis.
REPORT AVAILABILITY AND ACCESS
To access this TOP 5 report created from it, individuals may do so in one of the following two ways:
- Visit ExaGrid’s website. ExaGrid has licensed this full DCIG TOP 5 report and may make it available for download.
- Individuals may contact DCIG by email to request purchasing a report. DCIG will then email you an invoice that can be paid by credit card. Once paid, DCIG will immediately email you the report. This fee also includes a 1-year subscription to DCIG’s subscription site which offers access to all published DCIG TOP 5 reports.
The full 2026-27 DCIG TOP 5 Cyber Resilient PBBAs – Global Edition report contains additional details such as:
- Solutions identified as the DCIG TOP 5 Cyber Resilient PBBAs.
- A list of the 34 cyber resilient PBBAs evaluated.
- Features common across all evaluated cyber resilient PBBAs.
- Features common across the TOP 5 cyber resilient PBBAs in the Global Edition.
- A solution profile that highlights distinguishing features of each DCIG TOP 5 Cyber Resilient PBBA.
- Distinctions between the TOP 5 cyber resilient PBBAs.
- The 2026-27 DCIG TOP 5 Cyber Resilient PBBAs – Global Edition report Inclusion Criteria
CONFIDENTIALITY AND COPYRIGHT
Other than excerpts from this report published in this announcement, the contents of the 2026-27 DCIG TOP 5 Cyber Resilient PBBAs – Global Edition report are copyrighted and may not be republished without the express written permission of DCIG.
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To learn about DCIG’s forthcoming research and publications, see the DCIG Publication Calendar.
Technology providers interested in licensing DCIG TOP 5 reports or having DCIG produce custom reports that cover your solutions, please contact DCIG for more information.