From fragmented to fortified: Motability Operations’ journey to a unified backup strategy with AWS

This article details how Motability Operations, a UK vehicle leasing service for 900,000 disabled customers, implemented a unified, ransomware-resilient backup strategy using AWS Backup.

• Motability Operations faced ransomware resilience gaps, operational fragmentation across multiple AWS accounts, and regulatory compliance challenges
• Solution uses five account types: delegated management, workload, central backup, forensic, and recovery accounts
• Two-tiered vault architecture with Tier 1 (operational) and Tier 2 (immutable, air-gapped) vaults for enhanced protection
• AWS Backup Vault Lock in governance mode (Tier 1) and compliance mode (Tier 2) prevents unauthorized deletion
• Automated validation using EventBridge, Lambda, and Elastio partner integration for forensic scanning and integrity verification
• Tag-based policy enforcement automatically extends protection to newly deployed workloads
• Account segregation implements zero-trust model with least-privilege access controls
• Delivered reduced operational overhead, verified recovery capabilities, and simplified compliance reporting

Motability Operations' multi-account backup architecture demonstrates how organizations can achieve comprehensive ransomware resilience through centralized governance, immutable storage, and automated integrity validation.