Ransomware Readiness: Beyond Backups

Ransomware remains one of the most potent threats facing Australian businesses. While robust backups are vital, true “readiness” extends well beyond simply copying data. Here’s how to think about building resilience that can withstand a full-scale ransomware onslaught.

1. Immutable Storage & Air-Gapped Snapshots

Traditional backups can be encrypted—or worse, deleted—by a determined attacker. Immutable storage (where data cannot be altered or deleted for a set period) and air-gapped snapshots (offline copies inaccessible from the network) ensure that clean data copies survive even a ransomware sweep. Many cloud providers, including Azure Backup Vaults and AWS Backup, now offer immutability features—configure these policies for your most critical datasets (financial records, customer databases) to guarantee recoverability.

2. Recovery Drills & Playbooks

A backup that hasn’t been tested isn’t a backup at all. Schedule quarterly recovery drills where you restore a subset of data (or entire VMs) into a sandbox environment. Validate not just file integrity but also application functionality and user access workflows. Document every step—who ran the restore, how long it took, what issues arose—and refine your incident playbook accordingly. These exercises uncover hidden gaps (e.g. missing system state backups or overlooked configuration files) before real-world crises strike.

3. Segmentation & Least-Privilege Access

Ransomware often spreads laterally via compromised credentials or privileged access paths. Limit the blast radius by micro-segmenting networks and applying least-privilege principles to administrative accounts. For example, restrict backup service accounts so they can write to storage but not execute binaries or modify system configurations. When ransomware encrypts files, segmentation and strict access controls prevent it from hopping unchecked across your environment.

4. Early Detection & Automated Response

Recovering after encryption is costly. Detecting a ransomware event in its early stages can enable near-instant containment. Leverage file-integrity monitoring (FIM) to watch for mass file renames or encryption patterns. Integrate these alerts into your SIEM or Microsoft Sentinel, and build automated playbooks—such as isolating affected devices or revoking compromised credentials—to halt the spread within minutes.

5. Governance & Executive Buy-In

Ransomware preparedness isn’t purely technical—it requires board-level sponsorship. Frame your readiness programme in business terms: estimated downtime costs, regulatory implications under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, and reputational impacts of extended outages. Use concise risk dashboards to demonstrate how investments in immutable storage and drills reduce average downtime from days to hours, translating directly into lower potential losses.