What would you do if you arrived at work tomorrow and all your files were gone?
Ransomware is not a distant threat. In the first quarter of 2025, attacks rose by 84% compared to the same period the previous year. Two-thirds of businesses have experienced ransomware in the past two years. The question is no longer whether your business will be targeted, but when.
There is a solution that provides reliable protection: immutable backup storage. This article explains why ransomware is becoming harder to defend against, how criminals target your backups, and why immutable backups change the equation.
Why Ransomware Is Getting Harder to Defend Against
Ransomware works by gaining unauthorised access to your systems, encrypting your files, and demanding payment for their release. What has changed in recent years is the sophistication of the attacks.
Attackers no longer target only your working files. According to current data, 96% of businesses affected by ransomware also had their backup data targeted. Criminals understand that backups are your recovery route, so they go after those first.
Traditional security measures, such as firewalls, antivirus software, and user permissions, remain important but are not enough on their own. A ransomware breach can bypass these controls and still lock down your data if your backups are left unprotected.
Why Standard Backups Are No Longer Sufficient
Businesses have long relied on backups as their safety net. The logic was straightforward: if ransomware encrypted your files, you could restore from an earlier clean version. That approach worked when backups were out of reach for attackers.
Today, attackers actively seek out and encrypt, delete, or corrupt backup data before triggering the main attack. Businesses then find themselves without any recovery option at all.
A backup that can be deleted or overwritten is not a reliable backup. What is needed is a solution that makes your backups genuinely untouchable.
What Is Immutable Backup Storage?
Immutable means unchangeable. Once data is written to an immutable storage system, it cannot be edited, deleted, or overwritten, even by someone with administrator access. It does not matter whether the attacker is inside your network or has compromised your credentials, the backup data cannot be touched.
You retain full access to your backup data for recovery purposes. The immutability only prevents deletion or alteration.
From Air-Gapped Storage to Cloud-Based Immutable Backups
Historically, businesses achieved tamper-proof backups through air-gapped storage: physically disconnected devices that could not be reached during a network attack. That approach worked, but it required expensive hardware, manual processes, and careful management.
Cloud-based immutable storage delivers the same protection without the hardware overhead. Your backups are automated, scalable, and protected by the same immutability guarantees, at a fraction of the complexity.
Adopting a Breach Mentality
The businesses that recover well from ransomware are not necessarily those that avoided the attack. They are the ones that planned for it. This is sometimes called a breach mentality: accepting that an attack may succeed and focusing on your ability to recover.
Immutable backup storage is the practical expression of that approach. It means that even if attackers get in and encrypt everything they can reach, your backup data remains intact and your business can get back on its feet quickly without paying a ransom.
How Blowfish Technology Can Help
If you are unsure whether your current backups would survive a ransomware attack, that uncertainty is worth addressing. Blowfish Technology works with North West businesses to review existing backup arrangements and put immutable cloud-based protection in place where it is needed.
We can assess your current setup, identify gaps, and implement a backup strategy that gives you a genuine recovery option if the worst happens.
Rise in ransomware attacks, Q1 2025
Of ransomware victims had backups targeted
Of businesses currently use immutable backups
The Blowfish Technology team. Managed IT, cloud services, software development and connectivity for North West businesses since 1999.