Why Encrypted Backups May Fail In An AI-Driven Ransomware Era
ZDNet, Monday, March 2nd, 2026
Think your encrypted backups are safe? AI-driven ransomware now infiltrates networks, corrupts recovery points, and silently targets backup systems before you ever realize your data protection strategy has failed.
ZDNET's key takeaways
- AI-driven ransomware now targets backups, too.
- Malware can dwell for weeks, mapping recovery systems.
- Your clean restore point may already be corrupted.
We all know the benefits of backups, right? If a computer or server goes down or is otherwise compromised, backups come to the rescue. It's a common, standard, non-controversial, no-brainer best practice. If you don't want to lose your data, back it up.
For 20 years, I've talked up the benefits of the tech industry's best-practice 3-2-1 backup strategy. The idea is to have three copies of every file, two on different physical devices and one located off-site. I practice what I preach, backing up to a couple of servers at home and to cloud storage off-site.