Implementing multi-party authorizations to thwart a ransomware attack

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for thwarting a malware attack. A data storage system stores data items, some of which data items correspond to snapshots. Upon identification of a possible ransomware attack on a data item, the system identifies a version of the snapshot that is not subject to the ransomware attack and seeks to protect the data state of the system from further damage (e.g., due to performance of unauthorized operations on the version of the snapshot that is not subject to the ransomware attack) by requiring consensus from a multi-party authorization (MPA) consensus regime before carrying out requested operations over the snapshot. The MPA consensus regime operates by determining that the operation is subject to a role-based access control (RBAC) as well as a multi-party authorization (MPA) consensus protocol, and then allowing or denying execution of the requested operations based on achieving consensus from among candidate approvers.