Acronis True Image 2019 Delivers a New Standard of Cyber Protection as Data Threats to Macs Increase

Sydney, 22 August 2018 – Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection and hybrid cloud solutions, today released the 15-year Anniversary Edition of its award-winning personal backup software, Acronis True Image 2019. In making the announcement, Acronis revealed that its artificial intelligence-based anti-ransomware technology – which is integrated into all of its backup solutions, including the new product – stopped more than 200,000 ransomware attacks on 150,000 customers last year. With current ransoms demanding an average of $522 per attack, the defense prevented more than $104 million in damages.

While Macs have been at low risk from such attacks in the past, sales of Macs have been steadily growing  – and this increased popularity makes them a more attractive target for cybercriminals. In fact, Palo Alto Networks projects an increase in Mac-focused ransomware in 2018. 

Acronis had the foresight to include an integrated anti-ransomware shield for Macs in last year’s version of Acronis True Image, and that kind of thought leadership is an example of how Acronis constantly redefines what modern data protection is. The newly released Acronis True Image 2019 continues that tradition with several enhancements designed specifically for macOS.

The result is the most comprehensive, feature-rich protection available to Mac users, which offers many capabilities that are not available through solutions such as Apple’s Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner.

Easy backup

By adding the ability to create an all-in-one recovery tool on an external hard drive, Acronis True Image 2019 makes restoring a system as easy as plugging in the external drive. Called the Acronis Survival Kit, it is as comprehensive and flexible in emergencies as a Swiss Army Knife – containing everything a user needs to restore a system from boot media to the system partition and all of their backups.

Creating backups is also easier with new event-based scheduling options, such as automatically backing up when an external USB hard drive is attached. For a personal backup solution that already offers tremendous customization, the new trigger-based options provide even more flexibility to users.

Acronis True Image 2019 also uses the native API of the newly released Parallels Desktop 14 to back up virtual machines, which means recovery is streamlined completely. Now VMs can be recovered as a set of files that can be booted in a Parallels Desktop environment.

An improved file-to-cloud format increases the reliability and performance of online backups for Mac. That means the fastest cloud backup – a description backed by the results of tests from multiple independent labs – is even better.

Efficient operations

Migrating your system to a new Mac is fast and precise with Acronis True Image 2019, which now includes the ability to clone a Mac system disk while it is in use. By connecting a USB-c cable, data migration benefits from super-speed data transfer. Users can also plug in an external drive and create a bootable copy. The disk cloning capability also supports Bootcamp installations.

Not everyone wants things to be automated, and the new Backup Cleanup utility builds on that desire for data control. It allows users to free up disk space by manually selecting unnecessary versions of backups and deleting unneeded files – so they can keep what’s needed and wipe what’s not.

Some of the enhancements in the 2019 release relate to improving performance rather than adding capabilities. A new file-to-cloud format, for example, increases the reliability and performance of cloud backups for both Windows and Mac, while adjustments to the program’s interface are designed to make the user experience even more intuitive.

Keeping data, apps and systems secure

While Macs users may not be taking the threat of ransomware seriously yet, Acronis True Image 2019 continues to enhance Acronis Active Protection, its artificial intelligence-based anti-ransomware defense. The 2019 release expands the coverage of this proven technology by protecting the data on network shares and NAS devices. 

 “The amount of data people rely on each day has exploded, as has the number of devices used to access that data. Protecting all of those files, apps and systems can be a challenge for consumers,” explained John Zanni, President of Acronis. “At the same time, data threats continue to evolve as cybercriminals increasingly target traditionally safe platforms like Macs and the backup files people rely on. Users need a modern solution built for modern data protection, and Acronis True Image 2019 for Mac delivers that protection.”

The combination of robust, comprehensive data protection with this world-class anti-ransomware solution makes Acronis True Image 2019 the most secure personal backup available today.

Availability

There are three editions of Acronis True Image 2019:

·       Standard is a perpetual license designed for customers who prefer to store their data on local drives only. No cloud storage or cloud-based features are included. 

·       Advanced is a one-year subscription that includes 250 GB of Acronis Cloud Storage and access to all cloud-based features. 

·       Premium is a one-year subscription that includes exclusive blockchain-based data certification and electronic signature capabilities, as well as 1 TB of Acronis Cloud Storage. 

All versions include Acronis Active Protection against ransomware and cover an unlimited number of mobile devices. Subscription customers can purchase additional cloud storage as needed.

About Acronis

Acronis sets the standard for cyber protection and hybrid cloud storage through its innovative backup, anti-ransomware; disaster recovery, storage, and enterprise file sync and share solutions. Enhanced by AI-based Active Protection technology, blockchain-based authentication and a unique hybrid-cloud architecture, Acronis protects all data in any environment, including physical, virtual, cloud, mobile workloads and applications.

Founded in Singapore in 2003, today the company is trusted by more than 5 million consumers and 500,000 businesses worldwide, including 79 of the top 100 most valuable brands.