Panzura Named a Representative Vendor in the Gartner Market Guide for Cyberstorage

As Enterprises Move from Recovery Speed to Recovery Confidence, Active Defense at the Storage Layer Becomes the Defining Measure of Resilience

Key Takeaways:

• Panzura has been recognized as a Representative Vendor in the 2026 Gartner® Market Guide for Cyberstorage.
• We believe this shift from reactive recovery to recovery confidence reflects a broader market transition, validating the integration of active defense and AI-powered threat detection directly within Panzura’s CloudFS hybrid cloud file platform.
• Panzura CloudFS addresses these evolving security requirements through a defense-in-depth strategy that combines immutable snapshots with automated responses to block ransomware and data exfiltration in real time.

Panzura has been recognized as a Representative Vendor in the Gartner^® Market Guide for Cyberstorage¹. Panzura CloudFS is listed under Platform-Native Cyberstorage Vendors and Solutions alongside other enterprise-grade providers who have embedded active cyber defense directly into their platforms.

We believe this recognition matters, not just as a milestone for Panzura, but as a signal to the market that cyberstorage is no longer a nice-to-have. According to Gartner, “by 2029, 100% of storage products will include cyberstorage capabilities focused on active defense beyond recovery from cyber events, up from 20% in early 2025.” In our opinion, the race to embed meaningful, active defense at the storage layer is on, and we believe Panzura is already there.

What Is Cyberstorage and Why Does It Matter Now?

In the Gartner Market Guide, “Cyberstorage is defined as a specialized set of features integrated within enterprise storage offerings that provides an additional layer of protection against cyberattacks, shifting the security perimeter inward to actively defend data storage systems against threats such as ransomware or exfiltration of data. Unlike traditional backup solutions that are typically reactive, cyberstorage offers proactive storage defense and attack blocking, helping minimize the impact of an incident by catching attacks early.”

In our view, this represents one of the most important evolutions in enterprise security architecture in years. Ransomware actors are no longer simply encrypting files. They are deliberately targeting identity systems, administrative credentials, and recovery infrastructure to eliminate an organization’s ability to recover. When backup and primary storage are both compromised, the fallback options disappear.

“Gartner observed a 187% year‑over‑year increase in client inquiries focused on data resiliency in 2025 compared with 2024. In parallel, inquiries explicitly aligned to cyberstorage rose by 167% in 2025 from 2024.” In our view, the message is clear: the market has moved, and organizations that rely on reactive recovery alone are operating at a growing disadvantage.

The Shift from Recovery Speed to Recovery Confidence

In our view, one of the most important themes running through the Gartner report is the distinction between recovery execution and recovery assurance. As the report puts it, “the challenge has shifted from determining what data can be recovered to determining whether the recovered data can be trusted and safely reintroduced into production.”

We see this shift as profound. For years, the conversation around storage resilience centered on Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) metrics, connected to how fast can you recover, and how much data can you afford to lose. While these metrics are still relevant, they no longer tell the whole story. An organization that restores corrupted or attacker-modified data in minutes has not recovered at all. Recovery confidence, which means knowing that the data you are restoring is clean, validated, and safe, is now the meaningful measure.

In our perspective, the Gartner research has surfaced several key areas where buyer focus is shifting. The Gartner report states “Heads of I&O evaluating cyberstorage solutions typically prioritize:

• Ability to prevent or limit data encryption
• Confidence in identifying the last known clean copy
• Operational complexity and IT skills impact
• Interoperability with existing infrastructure
• Alignment with incident response processes

While cost and performance overhead remain considerations, they are secondary to risk reduction and recovery predictability.”

Panzura CloudFS delivers the high-confidence recovery and reduced operational friction identified as the new benchmarks for cyberstorage excellence.

Panzura CloudFS with Threat Control: Active Defense Built In

Threat Control is an AI-powered security layer integrated directly into the Panzura CloudFS hybrid cloud file platform. It uses advanced machine learning to proactively identify ransomware, data exfiltration, and mass deletions. It does not rely on a database of known threat signatures, instead building a unique behavioral fingerprint for every user and every file interaction within a CloudFS environment.

This matters because signature-based tools are inherently reactive. They can only catch what they already know. The behavioral profiling approach means that even zero-day ransomware variants, which have no existing signature, can be identified by the subtle but tell-tale deviations in user and file activity that they produce.

How CloudFS with Threat Control Works

A patent-pending two-tiered architecture undergirds the Threat Control capabilities in CloudFS. A cloud-based analyzer continuously ingests file metadata in near real time, identifying anomalies against learned behavioral baselines. This offloads resource-intensive scanning from local infrastructure, so there is no performance impact on active user workloads. When the system detects a potential threat, a lightweight agent activates to perform a targeted, deep scan of actual file content, ensuring sensitive data never leaves the local environment.

Threat categories detected include:

• Ransomware: catching known and unknown variants based on encryption behavior and suspicious file activity
• Data exfiltration: detecting when large volumes of data are being accessed or copied in patterns unusual for a specific user
• Data destruction: recognizing mass deletions or other damaging behaviors that signal an active attack
• Unusual behavior: flagging erratic access patterns, bulk file creation, or after-hours activity that doesn’t match established user profiles

When a high-severity threat is confirmed, the system responds automatically by logging the anomaly, notifying administrators, and disabling compromised accounts without waiting for human intervention. This automated tiered response eliminates delays that can make the difference between containment and catastrophe.

Defense in Depth: Where Immutability and Active Detection Converge

In our view, the consensus in the Gartner report is clear. Immutability alone is no longer sufficient differentiation. “Immutability and basic protections have become baseline expectations,” Gartner notes. “Differentiation has shifted to execution — how well vendors automate operations, integrate with SecOps, and perform under real-world attack conditions.”

Panzura CloudFS has long provided what we consider the industry’s strongest immutable foundation. The platform’s default configuration creates snapshots every 60 seconds. These snapshots cannot be altered, encrypted, or deleted even by an attacker with administrative credentials, ensuring a clean recovery point always exists.

CloudFS extends this foundation into what security professionals call ‘defense in depth.’ Attackers must now defeat multiple independent layers including behavioral detection that identifies the attack in progress, automated response that disables compromised accounts before the damage spreads, and an immutable snapshot architecture that guarantees recovery points remain intact even if everything else fails. As we see it, this layered defense methodology is precisely the systems-level approach that Gartner identifies as the defining characteristic of cyberstorage done right.

New Table Stakes: Must-Have Cyberstorage Features

We feel the Gartner Market Guide identifies a series of mandatory and common features that a cyberstorage solution must provide. In our view, the Threat Control capabilities of Panzura CloudFS addresses table stakes requirements with:

• Immutable snapshots: Creates tamper-proof snapshots every 60 seconds, protected against modification even under credential compromise.
• Active threat detection: Threat Control’s ML-driven behavioral profiling monitors I/O behavior in near real time, detecting anomalies including early-stage encryption activity.
• End-to-end encryption: Encrypts data at rest and in transit as a core platform capability.
• Zero-trust access controls: Provides strong RBAC and MFA enforcement, ensuring least-privilege access across the unified file platform.
• Rapid recovery capabilities: Enables restoration of an entire file system or individual files with near-zero RPO and an RTO of mere minutes, consolidating DR/BC while delivering high availability and data resilience.
• Integration with security operation: Security logs sync directly with SIEM platforms including Splunk Cloud, with filtering by data owner to streamline investigation workflows.

What This Means for Your Organization

As we see it, the Gartner Market Guide for Cyberstorage confirms what many enterprise security and infrastructure leaders are already experiencing — the storage layer is no longer a passive target. It is a critical control point for detection, containment, and recovery assurance, and organizations that treat it as such will be significantly better positioned to withstand and recover from modern cyberattacks.

We believe Panzura’s inclusion as a Representative Vendor in this guide reflects the depth and maturity of what we have built with Threat Control capabilities in CloudFS. This is not a bolt-on security layer. It is AI-powered active defense, with immutable architecture and automated response integrated into the file system itself, delivering many of the capabilities at the leading edge of the cyberstorage market.

Explore More with the Following Resources

• Access a complimentary copy of the 2026 Gartner Market Guide for Cyberstorage, courtesy of Panzura.
• Learn more about Threat Control for Panzura CloudFS — explore capabilities, architecture, and business outcomes.
• Get a demo and see CloudFS with Threat Control in action. Find out how Panzura can strengthen your cyberstorage posture.

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[1] Gartner®, Market Guide for Cyberstorage, Vishesh Divya, 23 February, 2026

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of the Gartner research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• What is cyberstorage and how does it differ from traditional backup?

  Cyberstorage is a specialized set of security capabilities embedded directly within enterprise storage systems. Cyberstorage actively monitors and defends data in production, detecting threats such as ransomware encryption and data exfiltration as they occur. The goal is to prevent or contain damage before it spreads, rather than relying solely on restoration after the fact.

• What are the most important evaluation criteria for cyberstorage solutions in 2026?

  Buyer priorities have shifted from feature checklists to outcome assurance. Outcomes buyers are seeking include confidence in identifying the last known clean copy, predictability of recovery under active attack conditions, ability to prevent or limit data encryption, and operational integration with security operations. Buyers are also beginning to measure cyberstorage based on time-to-detect and recovery assurance capabilities.

• What is defense-in-depth security for hybrid cloud file systems?

  Defense-in-depth security combines multiple protective layers that work together to prevent and recover from attacks. Panzura CloudFS provides this through three integrated capabilities: (1) Real-time AI-powered threat detection that proactively identifies ransomware and data exfiltration attempts, (2) Immutable data architecture that prevents attackers from destroying recovery points, and (3) Global snapshots with sub-60-second recovery point objectives (RPO) that ensure rapid recovery even if threats evade initial detection. This layered approach is difficult for attackers to overcome and eliminates the need for separate security tools.

• What is ‘recovery confidence’ and why is it important for enterprise security teams?

  Recovery confidence is the assurance that restored data is clean, complete, and safe to reintroduce into production. In modern ransomware attacks, threat actors often compromise identity systems and administrative credentials before triggering encryption, meaning that backup copies may themselves be corrupted or untrustworthy. Cyberstorage solutions address this by providing clean-copy validation, isolated recovery environments, and forensic verification capabilities.

• How does immutable snapshot technology in Panzura CloudFS support cyberstorage requirements?

  The default setting of Panzura CloudFS creates immutable snapshots every 60 seconds. These granular, tamper-proof recovery points cannot be altered, encrypted, or deleted even by an attacker with administrative credentials. CloudFS ensures that a clean recovery point always exists regardless of the scope of the attack. Combined with Threat Control’s active detection and automated response, these snapshots serve as the final defense layer in a multi-layer defense strategy: even if a threat bypasses detection, attackers cannot destroy the recovery points, enabling rapid, confident restoration.