A history of ransomware is more than just dates and names—it's the story of how criminals evolved from mailing infected floppy disks in 1989 to running billion-dollar enterprises that cripple entire organizations. On this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, I sit down with Dr. Mike Saylor, my co-author on "Learning Ransomware Response and Recovery," to trace this evolution from the AIDS Trojan to today's sophisticated double extortion attacks.

We talk about how ransomware went from requiring physical distribution to scaling globally through the internet, how cryptocurrency made anonymous payment possible, and why the shift from tape to disk backups created vulnerabilities that attackers now exploit first. You'll learn about the wild west days when IT focused on building systems without understanding how bad guys attack, the emergence of ransomware-as-a-service that democratized cybercrime, and why modern attacks target your backups before encrypting your production systems.

If you've ever wondered why backup immutability matters or how we got to a point where ransomware is inevitable rather than hypothetical, this episode connects those dots. Dr. Mike and I also discuss why having backups is still critical even with double extortion threats, and what you need to know about defending your backup systems in today's threat environment.

Chapter Markers:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:19 - Welcome and Guest Introduction

00:02:19 - Curtis's First Ransomware Memory

00:03:40 - The AIDS Trojan: First Ransomware (1989)

00:04:42 - The Wild West Era: Late 1990s Security

00:08:05 - Y2K and Budget Shifts

00:11:26 - The Transition from Tape to Disk Backups

00:15:45 - How Disk Backups Created Vulnerabilities

00:19:30 - The Rise of Cryptolocker and Bitcoin

00:23:15 - Ransomware as a Service Emerges

00:27:40 - WannaCry and NotPetya

00:31:20 - Double Extortion: The Game Changer

00:35:10 - Why Backups Still Matter

00:37:55 - Should You Just Pay the Ransom?

00:40:01 - Defending Your Backup System

Understanding how ransomware works is critical for anyone responsible for protecting their organization's data. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, we examine the five core objectives that drive nearly every ransomware attack - from initial access through the final ransom note delivery.

I'm joined by my co-author Dr. Mike Saylor as we kick off what's going to be a comprehensive series on our new book, "Learning Ransomware Response and Recovery." We start at the beginning: how do these attackers even get in? Mike breaks down the role of initial access brokers (IABs) - the bad guys who specialize in harvesting and selling credentials. We talk about why email phishing remains the cheapest and most statistically reliable attack vector, even with all our defenses.

From there, we walk through lateral movement and reconnaissance. Once attackers are inside your network, they're not sitting idle. They're mapping your environment, identifying your crown jewels, and figuring out where your backups live. The "phone home" phase establishes command and control, letting attackers coordinate their activities and receive instructions.

We dig into data exfiltration and the rise of double extortion. It's not enough anymore to just encrypt your data - attackers are stealing it first, threatening to publish it even if you can restore from backups. Mike shares some fascinating details about how sophisticated ransomware can be, including variants that examine file headers rather than just extensions to find valuable targets.

The encryption phase itself is resource-intensive, and Mike explains why you might actually notice your computer acting weird if you're paying attention. Your mouse hesitates, typing lags, the network slows down - these are all potential warning signs.

Finally, we cover how ransom notes are delivered today. Spoiler: it's not the old-school desktop background takeover anymore. Modern ransomware drops text files in every folder it touches, making sure you can't miss the message.

This episode sets the foundation for understanding how ransomware works, which is the first step in defending against it and recovering when prevention fails.

Disk backup security is the weak link that ransomware attackers exploit every day—and most backup admins don't even realize it. In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna examine how the move from tape to disk-based backups created an unintended security gap that threat actors now target as their first priority.

The transition to disk brought real benefits: deduplication made storage affordable, replication eliminated the "man in a van" for offsite copies, and backup verification became practical. But disk backup security wasn't part of the original architecture. When backups lived on tape, physical access was required to destroy them. Disk backups sitting in E:\backups can be wiped out with a single command.

Threat actors figured this out fast. After gaining initial access, the first thing they do is identify and eliminate your backups. No backups means no recovery—which means you pay the ransom.

Curtis and Prasanna discuss the history of how we got here, why backups are now the number one target, and practical solutions including obfuscation, getting backups out of user space, and implementing truly immutable storage. The standard is simple: if you can't delete the backups, they can't delete the backups.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Episode intro

1:24 - Welcome & introductions

4:04 - Tape explained for the modern audience

9:07 - Why tape got faster (and problematic)

10:54 - The shoe-shining problem

12:27 - Deduplication changes everything

15:35 - Benefits of disk-based backup

20:29 - THE PROBLEM: RM -r / DEL .

23:43 - Backups are the #1 ransomware target

26:26 - Immutability as the solution

27:32 - Book: Learning Ransomware Response & Recovery

What is ransomware, and why does it remain the number one threat to businesses of all sizes? In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi break down the fundamentals of ransomware attacks and explain why the question "what is ransomware" still gets searched tens of thousands of times each month.

We cover the two main types of ransomware attacks: traditional encryption-based attacks where hackers lock your data and demand payment, and the newer double extortion model where attackers steal your sensitive information before encrypting it—then threaten to publish everything if you don't pay.

Our hosts share real-world examples including the Sony hack, the Costa Rica government attack, and the massive Jaguar Land Rover breach that cost over $2.5 billion. Whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a small dental office, this episode explains what is ransomware, why you're a target, and why preparation is your best defense.

What's your real backup TCO? Most organizations focus on software licenses, hardware, and cloud storage when budgeting for backup infrastructure. But those are just the visible costs. The true backup TCO includes something far more expensive: the humans managing it all.

In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna break down the complete picture of backup costs. They explore why soft costs—the labor, the troubleshooting, the daily monitoring—often exceed what you're paying for technology. With studies showing over half of environments spend more than 10 hours weekly on backup management, those labor dollars add up fast.

The discussion covers cloud storage pitfalls (especially with object lock and retention policies), why automation is your best friend, and whether SaaS-based backup might actually save you money. Curtis shares his infamous 1993 story about losing a production database – the origin story of Mr. Backup himself. If you're looking to get a handle on your backup TCO, this is the episode for you.

Ransomware attacks on backups have reached epidemic levels, with 96% of attacks now targeting backup infrastructure. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi break down the alarming statistics and explain why cybercriminals have made your recovery systems their primary target.

The math is simple: if attackers destroy your backups, you're far more likely to pay the ransom. And with only 25% of organizations feeling prepared for ransomware attacks on backups, the gap between threat and readiness is massive.

Curtis and Prasanna discuss two studies revealing these numbers, explore why less than 7% of companies recover within a day, and outline practical defenses including true immutability, separate identity management systems, and MFA. If you're not protecting your backup infrastructure from ransomware attacks on backups, you're leaving yourself wide open.

Building a cyber security team isn't optional anymore; it's the difference between recovering from ransomware and going out of business. In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna explain why hardening your backup infrastructure is only half the battle. You need professionals who know how to configure XDR systems without drowning you in false positives, blue teams to defend your environment, and red teams to test whether your defenses actually work. They cover the role of MSSPs, incident response planning, cyber insurance requirements, and why attempting ransomware response on your own is like those old TV warnings: "Don't try this at home." If you've been following their series on backup basics and system hardening, this episode ties it all together with the human element that makes or breaks your recovery plan.

Want to know how to build an resilient backup system that protects from ransomware attacks? In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna go beyond the basics to discuss four critical security features every modern backup system needs. Building on feedback from their previous episode about backup fundamentals, they cover multi-factor authentication (and why SMS doesn't cut it anymore), secure remote access methods, role-based access control, and when to bring in managed security service providers. The hosts explain why the person with full backup system access is literally the most powerful person in your company from a data destruction standpoint. If ransomware is your number one recovery scenario—and it is—then these security hardening techniques aren't optional. They're survival skills for your backup infrastructure.