Acronis Cyber Protect is a business platform that combines backup, disaster recovery, anti-malware and endpoint management under one agent and one management console. It protects Windows, macOS and Linux computers, Android and iOS devices, virtual machines on common hypervisors, and Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace data. It is sold as a subscription in three editions, with a 30-day trial that unlocks all features.
Administrators run Acronis Cyber Protect either from the Acronis cloud console or from Cyber Protect Local. Cyber Protect Local places the management server on the company’s own premises. The local deployment suits isolated networks and remote sites, and it can keep backups locally only or combine local and cloud storage.
Protection plans as the control point
Administrators configure almost everything in Acronis Cyber Protect through plans. A protection plan is a set of modules that the administrator switches on and configures, then applies to one or several workloads. Typical modules include backup, antivirus and antimalware protection, URL filtering, vulnerability assessment, patch management, device control and the data protection map.
The agent installed on each machine is modular. It adds only the components a plan requires, so a company that wants backup alone does not need to deploy the security features.
Image and file backup
The backup module can capture a full disk image of a machine or selected files and folders and databases on supported servers. Continuous data protection records changes between scheduled backups. Immutable backups prevent stored copies from being altered or deleted before their retention period ends. Destinations include Acronis cloud storage, local disks, network-attached storage and S3-compatible cloud storage.
Virtual machines can be protected with an agent inside each guest or agentless at the hypervisor level. Supported platforms include VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Nutanix, Proxmox and Azure virtual machines, among others.
Separate plans replicate, validate and clean up existing backups. Backups kept in Acronis Cloud can also be scanned for malware, including ransomware, so an infected file is not restored later.
Recovery and cloud failover
Restoring from a backup covers both whole machines and individual files. For larger outages, the disaster recovery module creates copies of protected machines in the Acronis cloud. It moves the workload from damaged originals to these cloud recovery servers. Administrators can fail over to a chosen clean restore point and define runbooks that automate recovery steps across several workloads. They can fail back once the primary site is ready. Disaster recovery and additional cloud storage are licensed separately from the base subscription.
Anti-malware engine
The security side of Acronis Cyber Protect scans files in real time and on demand. Real-time protection can check files whenever they are executed, read or edited, or check only executables as they start. Scheduled scans come as a quick, full or custom scan.
On Windows, the engine also watches running processes for malicious behavior and blocks access to malicious URLs. Real-time protection does not run alongside another real-time antivirus. If a different product is registered in Windows Security Center, Acronis switches its own real-time scanning off.
Depending on the services enabled, plans can also include Endpoint Detection and Response. It records suspicious activity and builds incidents showing how an attack unfolded. Device control limits which peripheral devices users can connect, and data loss prevention blocks sensitive data from leaving through devices or network transfers.
Vulnerabilities and patching
With vulnerability assessment enabled, agents scan their machines on a schedule or on demand and report results to the console. The check covers Windows, macOS and Linux systems as well as supported third-party applications.
Patch management builds on this scan and requires it to be enabled. It installs operating system and application updates, with approval set to manual or automatic, on demand or on a schedule. A backup can be taken just before patching. If an update fails, the machine can be returned to its previous state.
Remote management tools
Acronis Cyber Protect also covers everyday endpoint administration. It discovers devices on the network, keeps software and hardware inventories, and offers remote desktop access. Scripting plans run scripts on many machines at once. Monitoring plans track performance, hardware, software and security parameters and raise alerts.
The data protection map shows how many files on each workload remain unprotected, grouped by extension and location. An administrator can create a backup plan for the uncovered files from that view.
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Cloud application backup protects Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace data through cloud agents and cloud storage, without installing anything on users’ computers. A separate archiving plan keeps a Microsoft 365 organization’s email in an immutable cloud archive with audit logging and a web console for searching it.
Editions and licensing
Acronis Cyber Protect comes in Standard, Advanced and Backup Advanced editions. Standard targets smaller businesses, and Advanced adds deeper security for larger environments. Backup Advanced focuses on data protection at scale, including Microsoft 365 backup. Licensing is per protected workload, by type (workstation, server or virtual host). With a perpetual license, cloud deployment and some features, such as cloud-to-cloud backup, are not available.
