• Immutable backup storage is the best ransomware protection
• Research shows backups are almost always targeted in ransomware attacks
• Ransomware is on the rise already in 2025

Ransomware attacks in the first quarter of 2025 set new records, up by 84% in the same period of 2024, new research has claimed.

Moreover, ransomware is often talked about as an attack that businesses should expect to be hit by, with two-thirds of organizations experiencing an attack in the last two years.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, as new findings from Object First shows 81% of IT decision makers agree that immutable backup storage is the best ransomware protection.

Segmentation, zero trust, and immutable storage

While having a 3-2-1 backup strategy is a start when it comes to ransomware protection, the Object First research also reveals that 96% of organizations who have suffered a ransomware attack in the last two years saw their data backups targeted as part of at least one attack, with one in ten seeing their backup storage targeted in every attack.

While there is a general consensus that immutable backup storage is probably the best way to protect against ransomware, only 59% of organizations actually deploy this form of storage, and only 58% have multiple copies of their data in separate locations.

In addition to this, 61% of respondents believe that IT security hardening offers enough protection against ransomware attacks.

Object First recommends that businesses adopt a breach mentality, and couple this with Zero Trust principles and immutable backup storage.

To do this, businesses should segment their networks to minimize the potential blast radius of an attack, alongside using authentication mechanisms for log-ins such as multi-factor authentication and identity access management practices.

Moreover, each user should only have access to the files and applications they need for their specific workload.

Immutable backup storage helps protect against ransomware attacks by storing data in a way that it cannot be modified or deleted.

Traditionally, these have been hard drives or other storage mediums that are used to back up data and then stored in an ‘air-gapped’ environment that has no connection to the outside world. However, with cloud services booming, immutable cloud storage is now also an option.

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Benedict has been writing about security issues for over 7 years, first focusing on geopolitics and international relations while at the University of Buckingham. During this time he studied BA Politics with Journalism, for which he received a second-class honours (upper division), then continuing his studies at a postgraduate level, achieving a distinction in MA Security, Intelligence and Diplomacy. Upon joining TechRadar Pro as a Staff Writer, Benedict transitioned his focus towards cybersecurity, exploring state-sponsored threat actors, malware, social engineering, and national security. Benedict is also an expert on B2B security products, including firewalls, antivirus, endpoint security, and password management.