Backups are not a simple ransomware defense, with Matt Crape: Lock and Code S02E17

A recent spate of ransomware attacks in the US and abroad have derailed major corporations, spurring a fuel shortage on the US East Coast, shuttering grocery stores in Sweden, and sending students home from grade schools. The solution, so many cybersecurity experts say, is to implement backups, which are additional copies of vital data, databases, and networks so that, even if a ransomware attack takes root, an organization can recover quickly with a second set of safe, unencrypted data.

But if backups are so useful, why aren’t they visibly working?

In June, the meat supplier JBS was hit by ransomware and despite the company having backups in place, it still paid the attackers $11 million for a decryption key. And Northshore School District in Washington State, which suffered a ransomware attack years ago, also had backups in place, but those backups were improperly configured, providing little value to the district during its cyber emergency.

Today, on the Malwarebytes podcast Lock and Code, host David Ruiz speaks with Matt Crape, technical account manager for VMware, about why backups are so hard to get right, and what the most basic missteps are when companies roll out a backup plan.

“At the end of the day, though, unfortunately, a lot of folks likely won’t realize how important backups are until they need them, and you’re usually not in a very good situation at that point.”

Matt Crape

Tune in to learn about backup complexity, common backup pitfalls, and why backups are not just a “set-it-and-forget-it” solution to today’s thorniest cybersecurity problem.

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