Backups: the control that undoes ransomware

If ransomware encrypts every file on a device, the only reliable way back without paying a criminal is a working, tested backup.

What a genuinely useful backup looks like

A common guideline is 3-2-1: at least three copies of important data, on two different types of storage, with at least one copy kept offline or otherwise disconnected from the network. A backup that's permanently connected to the same network as the original data can be encrypted by the same ransomware attack, which defeats the point.

The part people skip

A backup that's never been tested isn't a backup, it's a hope. Periodically confirming that a restore actually works is what separates a real recovery plan from a folder nobody has opened in two years.