If you’ve never heard the term “initial access broker,” you’re not alone — but that’s exactly the problem. An initial access broker is one of the most dangerous players in the modern ransomware supply chain, and most organizations don’t even know they exist until it’s too late. This blog post summarizes the main points of…
Ransomware as a service has turned cybercrime into a franchise — and you don’t need any technical skills to buy in. This blog post summarizes the main points of my latest podcast episode. If you’d like, you can listen to it or watch it at https://www.backupwrapup.com/ransomware-as-a-service-how-anyone-can-buy-a-cyberattack. I’ve been doing this long enough to remember when…
The cryptolocker virus is one of the most significant pieces of ransomware ever created — not because the code was brilliant, but because it became the blueprint that every ransomware gang since has built on. If you want to understand why ransomware looks the way it does today, you need to understand CryptoLocker. This blog…
If you want to understand a history of ransomware, you need to know this: what started as a prank delivered on floppy disks in 1989 has evolved into a billion-dollar criminal enterprise that targets your backups before it touches your production systems. And that shift—from tape to disk backups—is one of the key reasons we’re…
Understanding how ransomware works isn’t just academic curiosity – it’s the foundation for defending your organization against one of the most destructive cyber threats we face today. After analyzing countless ransomware incidents for our new book “Learning Ransomware Response and Recovery,” my co-author Dr. Mike Saylor and I have identified five core objectives that drive…
The move from tape to disk-based backups was one of the most significant shifts in data protection history. Disk backup security, as it turns out, wasn’t something anyone thought about during that transition. We were too busy celebrating the end of shoe-shining tape drives, failed restores, and the man in a van who took our…
The question sounds almost too basic for 2026: what is ransomware? Yet tens of thousands of people search for this term every single month. And here’s the truth—even seasoned IT professionals need to revisit this topic because ransomware attacks have changed dramatically over the past few years. This blog post summarizes the main points of…
When IT teams calculate backup TCO, they usually focus on the line items that show up on invoices: software licenses, hardware appliances, and cloud storage subscriptions. Those numbers are real, and they’re not small—we’re talking five, six, sometimes seven-figure purchases. But here’s the problem: those visible costs are actually the minor part of what you’re…
The statistics are in, and they’re not pretty. Ransomware attacks on backups have become the norm, not the exception. According to recent data from Veeam and Sophos, 96% of ransomware incidents now include attempts to compromise backup infrastructure. If you round that up, it’s basically every single attack. This blog post summarizes the main points…
Let me tell you something I learned the hard way when working on my new book: you can’t fight ransomware alone. You need a proper cyber security team. This blog post summarizes the main points of my latest podcast episode. If you’d like, you can listen to it or watch it at https://www.backupwrapup.com/ I’ve spent…