RANSOMWARE DESTROYS BACKUPS BEFORE ENCRYPTION

Modern ransomware campaigns target backup infrastructure as their first step, according to security firm Acronis. Attackers identify and compromise backup systems before deploying encryption, ensuring victims have no clean data to restore from. This two-stage approach exploits a critical gap in many organizations' security practices. While companies maintain backups believing they provide protection, those backups remain vulnerable to the same initial access methods that compromise primary systems. Attackers typically gain entry through unpatched vulnerabilities, weak credentials, or phishing, then move laterally to backup storage locations. Once backup systems are compromised, encrypted or deleted, victims face a stark choice: pay the ransom or lose their data permanently. The implications are significant for business continuity planning. Having backups is no longer sufficient; organizations must also protect backup infrastructure with separate access controls, air-gapped storage, and monitoring systems. Backup security now ranks alongside primary network defense as essential risk mitigation.