The Backup Wrap-Up
The Backup Wrap-Up, formerly known as "Restore it All," is a podcast that focuses on backup, data protection, and cyber recovery. Hosted by W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup) and Prasanna Malaiyandi, each episode examines backup-related news and dives deep into a specific topic to help organizations guard against data loss from accidents, disasters, or ransomware. The show emphasizes the importance of backups and also touches on information security techniques to protect backup systems from ransomware attacks. With a blend of technical insights and practical advice, it aims to turn unappreciated backup admins into cyber recovery heroes.
Episodes
Endpoint Hardening: Closing Windows Before Somebody Climbs In
Endpoint hardening is the unglamorous work of closing the windows and locking the doors before somebody comes along and jiggles the handle. Prasanna, Dr. Mike Saylor and I walk through what that actually looks like: secure builds and golden images, which services to shut off, which ones to uninstall so a bad guy can't just switch them back on, USB lockdown, full disk encryption, BIOS and UEFI, and
Least Privilege Best Practices: Where to Start
Least privilege best practices start with one uncomfortable question: does this person actually need this access? A hospital in Portugal answered yes for everybody, gave every employee doctor-level access to patient records, and got hit with a 400,000 euro GDPR fine. The court's read was that they hadn't even attempted the concept.Mike Saylor, Prasanna, and I get into what least privilege really m
Password Length vs Complexity: Why Longer Always Wins
Password length vs complexity isn't a close call. Dr. Mike Saylor joins Curtis and Prasanna to explain why the capital letter, the number, and the special character your bank demands do less for you than simply adding characters.Mike walks through the rainbow table project — an operation that has spent years computing password hashes nonstop and will sell you 20 terabytes of the results. Nobody cr
RDP Security Best Practices Every Admin Ignores Until It's Too Late
RDP security best practices come down to one rule most admins break on day one: that protocol has no business facing the internet. Dr. Mike Saylor and Prasanna Malaiyandi join me to break down why RDP earned the nickname Ransomware Deployment Protocol, who's out there scanning for your open port right now, and what to actually do about it.Here's the part that gets me. Every Windows box ships with
Phishing Resistant MFA: Regular MFA Isn't Enough Anymore
Phishing resistant MFA is the difference between a bad guy getting one email address and a bad guy getting your entire company's inbox. On this episode, Prasanna, Dr. Mike Saylor, and I dig into why plain old multi-factor authentication isn't the finish line anymore; it's the starting line.We open with a real attack: a vulnerable REDCap database, stolen Google Workspace admin credentials, and emai
Backup Security Best Practices: Lessons From a Real Red Team Breach
Backup security best practices start with one uncomfortable truth: if you haven't checked your backup server for a default password, someone else might check it for you. In this episode, Prasanna and Mike Saylor join me to dig into how backup systems become the easiest way into your network — and the easiest way out for stolen data. We walk through the real story of a red teamer who used a backup
Building a Cybersecurity Culture in Your Company (Encore)
Building a cybersecurity culture in your company doesn't take a bigger budget — it takes a weekly habit. In this final episode of our encore series, returning guest snorkel42, a longtime Reddit voice in InfoSec, breaks down how he turned a company with zero dedicated security staff into one with a real security culture, just by committing to one small improvement every week instead of waiting on t
Cybersecurity Best Practices for Individuals (Encore)
Cybersecurity best practices for individuals aren't complicated — they're just often ignored, and that's exactly what this encore episode digs into. This is a rerun of one of our most-engaged episodes, brought back not just because of how many people downloaded it, but because of how much of it people actually stuck around for. Curtis and Prasanna sat down with Mark Shriner, host of the SecureTalk
Stopping Ransomware Lateral Movement Before It Spreads
Ransomware lateral movement is exactly what it sounds like — once an attacker's inside your network, they start crawling around looking for more to encrypt, and stopping that crawl is often the difference between a bad day and a catastrophe. In this encore episode, part four of our seven-episode series pulling the best of the archives back into your feed, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi
Ransomware Response Checklist: Prevent It, Slow It, Survive It
This episode is built around a ransomware response checklist — a three-part Reddit series by a security specialist who goes by snorkel42, breaking down exactly how to prevent, contain, and recover from a ransomware attack.This is an encore episode, and it's back not just because a lot of people downloaded it originally, but because so many of you listened all the way through — some of you more tha
How to Protect Backups from Ransomware (Encore)
How to protect backups from ransomware starts with a hard truth: attackers aren't just encrypting your data anymore, they're stealing it first — and no backup system on earth undoes an exfiltration. In this encore episode of The Backup Wrap-Up, Curtis and Prasanna dig into what real immutability looks like versus the marketing version, why root access quietly undermines most "immutable" storage cl
What Is Data Deduplication? (Encore)
What is data deduplication, and why does Curtis call it the single most important development in backup over the last 30 years? In this encore episode, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi break down exactly how dedupe works, why it's not the same as compression, and why the fine print of your dedupe domain determines how much storage you actually save.This episode originally aired as part of
The REDCap Attack that Phishing-Resistant MFA Could Have Stopped
Phishing-resistant MFA could have stopped a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor from spending over a year inside North American academic and medical research networks — and we're going to tell you exactly how it happened and what you need to do about it.A group called UNC5608, tracked by Google's Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), exploited a vulnerability unique to REDCap — a research data platfo
California Election Fraud? (Pt 2)
California election fraud claims are flooding social media — and most of them fall apart under basic scrutiny. In this follow-up episode, longtime San Diego County poll worker W. Curtis Preston tackles the wave of viral fraud allegations head-on, with sources so you can check his work yourself.Topics covered: the LA mayoral race "statistically impossible" surge for Nithya Raman, the AP reporting e
California Election Counting Explained by an Actual Poll Worker
California election counting has confused — and frankly ticked off — a lot of people, and I get it. I'm W. Curtis Preston, I've worked every California election since the 2016 presidential primary, and I've managed the polls at multiple elections here in San Diego County. This episode, I'm going solo to explain exactly what's going on, why it takes so long, what the "red mirage" actually is, and w
Stop 90% of Ransomware Attacks with Basic Cyber Hygiene
Basic cyber hygiene — patch management, password management, and MFA — is responsible for stopping roughly 90% of the ransomware attacks that could hit your organization. This episode is the overview: what those three things are, why they matter, and what happens when you skip them.WannaCry infected over 200,000 systems worldwide. A patch existed. People just hadn't applied it. Rackspace lost an e
Claude Deletes a Company — But It's Not Really Claude's Fault
Claude deletes a company — and the internet immediately blamed the AI. But this story is really about backup design, credential management, and least privilege. An AI coding agent running Claude via Cursor deleted PocketOS's entire production database and all its backups in nine seconds. One bad design decision at a time, a startup built itself a disaster waiting to happen. Claude just happened to
How Honeypots and Canary Files Catch Attackers Before They Strike
Honeypots and canary files are two of the most underused tools in cybersecurity — and in this episode, Dr. Mike Saylor and I break down exactly how they work and why you should be using them. The short version: they're tripwires. They tell you a bad guy is poking around your network before anything gets encrypted.Mike walks through his layered security analogy, explains the three different ways or
Network Segmentation to Prevent Ransomware: What the UCSF Attack Taught Us
Network segmentation to prevent ransomware isn't just a nice-to-have — the UCSF ransomware attack proves it's what separates a contained incident from a catastrophe. UCSF got hit. Their segmented network kept the damage from spreading across their entire operation. That's the difference we're talking about in this episode.Dr. Mike Saylor — my co-author on Learning Ransomware Response and Recovery
Stop Using VSS as a Backup Before Ransomware Deletes Your Shadow Copies
Stop Using VSS as a Backup Before Ransomware Deletes Your Shadow CopiesRansomware deletes shadow copies using your own built-in Windows tools against you — and if VSS was your backup plan, you just found out the hard way that it wasn't. In this episode, W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup), Prasanna Malaiyandi, and Dr. Mike Saylor break down exactly what shadow copies are, why they don't qualify as a re
Ransomware Sanctions, OFAC, and the Lazarus Group: A Real Case Study
Ransomware sanctions are something most companies never think about — until they're staring down a ransom demand from a group the US government has already put on a sanctions list. In this episode, Dr. Mike Saylor walks us through a real incident involving a construction company, hundreds of millions in active contracts, and the Lazarus Group — a North Korean state-sponsored threat actor. Before t
The Real Cost of a Ransomware Attack: The Ransom Is the Least of Your Problems
The cost of a ransomware attack goes way beyond the ransom itself — and most organizations don't find that out until it's too late. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup) and co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi sit down with Dr. Mike Saylor of Black Swan Cybersecurity to walk through every category of cost that hits when ransomware strikes.The case that kicks everything off:
How Polymorphic Malware Evades Detection — And What to Do About It
Polymorphic malware is the kind of threat that changes its own code — its signature, its behavior, even the command-and-control server it reports to — specifically so your antivirus can't catch it. In this episode, Dr. Mike Saylor of Black Swan Cybersecurity joins Prasanna and me to break down exactly how this works, why signature-based detection keeps losing the race, and what defenders actually
Emergency Episode: The PyPI Software Supply Chain Attack You Need to Know About
A PyPI software supply chain attack hit LiteLLM — a library pulled into developer environments 97 million times a month — and if you use it, you may already be compromised. This wasn't a fake package or a typo-squatting trick. Attackers stole real credentials, published malicious code as the real thing, and walked out with SSH keys, cloud credentials, Kubernetes tokens, API keys, and more — all en
Fileless Malware: The Attack That Lives in Memory
Fileless malware is one of the most dangerous attack types out there — it never writes to your hard drive, lives entirely in RAM, and can steal your credentials before your antivirus has any idea it's there. In this episode, I bring in Dr. Mike Saylor — my co-author on Learning Ransomware Response & Recovery — to break down exactly how this attack works, why it's so hard to detect, and what yo
Living Off the Land Attack: Hackers Using Your Own Tools Against You
A living off the land attack is one of the sneakiest techniques in a ransomware operator's playbook — and in this episode, Dr. Mike Saylor breaks down exactly what it is, how it works, and what your organization can actually do about it.Instead of bringing their own tools into your environment (which might trip your alarms), attackers just use what's already there. PowerShell. WMI. RDP. The same t
New Research Exposes Password Manager Vulnerabilities in LastPass, Bitwarden & Dashlane
Password manager vulnerabilities aren't just about bad code — and a new research paper out of Zurich just proved it. Researchers analyzed three of the most popular password managers and found fundamental design flaws baked into the very architecture that's supposed to keep your credentials safe. Curtis and Prasanna break it all down and tell you what to do about it.If you've ever been that person
What Is an Initial Access Broker — and Why Should You Care?
What is an initial access broker — and why does it matter to your organization? In this episode, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi are joined by Dr. Mike Saylor of Black Swan Cybersecurity to break down the role of the initial access broker in today's ransomware attacks.Most people picture ransomware as a single bad guy with a keyboard. The reality is way scarier. There's an entire crimina
Ransomware as a Service: How Anyone Can Buy a Cyberattack
Ransomware as a service has turned cybercrime into a franchise business — and in this episode, Dr. Mike Saylor and I break down exactly how it works, who's buying, and why the buyer might end up as the patsy.If you thought ransomware was just a lone hacker writing code in a basement, this episode is going to change how you think about it. Ransomware as a service means that today, literally anyone
The CryptoLocker Virus and the Birth of Modern Ransomware
The cryptolocker virus was the attack that turned ransomware from a nuisance into a full-blown criminal industry — and in this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, we break down exactly how that happened. W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup) sits down with co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi and cybersecurity expert Dr. Mike Saylor to trace the full evolution of ransomware and explain why CryptoLocker was the turning
A Brief History of Ransomware
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
How Ransomware Works: The Five Objectives of Every Attack
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
Disk Backup Security - Disk Make Things Worse?
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, replicat
What Is Ransomware and Why Should You Care?
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 encry
Backup TCO: The Costs Nobody Talks About
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 t
Why Ransomware Attacks on Backups Should Terrify 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 t
Building Your Cyber Security Team: Blue Teams, Red Teams, and Cyber Insurance
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 tea
Building a resilient backup system
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
10 Must-Have Features of Any Backup System
Every backup system needs certain design elements to actually work when disaster strikes. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup) and Prasanna Malaiyandi break down the 10 non-negotiable components your backup system must have. They cover the 3-2-1 rule, automated scheduling, recovery testing, defined RTOs and RPOs, backup security, SaaS protection, documentation, ret
The Death of the 3-2-1 Rule: Enter 3-2-1-1-0
The 3-2-1 rule is dead. Long live 3-2-1-1-0. For decades, the 3-2-1 rule has been the gold standard for backup strategies - three copies of your data, on two different media, with one copy somewhere else. But ransomware killed it. Not because the fundamentals were wrong, but because threat actors learned to target backups specifically. In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna explain why the tradition
How to Set Realistic Recovery Point Objective (RPO) Goals
Want to know how much data you're really willing to lose? We're breaking down recovery point objective RPO - the agreement about how much data loss you can accept, measured in time. Most organizations have RPOs that are pure fantasy, claiming they can only lose an hour of data when they're backing up once a day. Curtis and Prasanna discuss why RPO matters, how ransomware scenarios can force you to
Recovery Time Objective vs Reality: Closing the Gap
Most IT teams can't meet their recovery time objective—and they don't even know it. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, Curtis and Prasanna explain why your RTO is probably fantasy, who should actually be setting it (hint: not you), and what recovery time actual really means. We cover the critical difference between objectives and reality, why testing is non-negotiable, and how to have honest c
Microsoft 365 backup is NOT an option - It's mandatory
Many organizations believe that Microsoft 365 backup is handled by Microsoft. That's a dangerous misconception. In this episode, W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup) and Microsoft 365 expert Vanessa Toves explain why you own your data and are responsible for protecting it—not Microsoft. They discuss the limitations of the recycle bin, why retention policies aren't backups, and what can go wrong when org
Detect Ransomware Before It Destroys Your Business
Ransomware detection is more complex than most organizations realize. In this episode, cybersecurity expert Mike Saylor breaks down the real-world signs of ransomware attacks—from users complaining about slow computers to smart devices acting strangely. We explore polymorphic malware that changes based on its target, the risks posed by managed service providers using shared credentials, and why mi
The ArcGIS Hack That Turned Backups Into a Malware Repository
This episode examines a sophisticated ArcGIS hack that remained undetected for 12 months. The threat group Flax Typhoon compromised an ArcGIS server by exploiting weak credentials and deploying a malicious Java extension that functioned as a web shell. The attack highlights critical failures in traditional security approaches: the malware was backed up along with legitimate data, signature-based d
Deepfake Attacks: The Growing Threat to Enterprise Security
Deepfake attacks are exploding, and your company is probably not ready. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, we dive into how cybercriminals are using AI to clone voices and create fake videos to authorize fraudulent wire transfers and reset credentials. With nearly 50% of businesses already experiencing deepfake attacks, this isn't a future problem – it's happening right now. We break down the
Cyber Attack Notification - Final Lessons from Mr. Robot Season One
When cyber attack notification goes wrong, companies face a disaster worse than the original breach. This episode dives deep into the critical mistakes organizations make when communicating about security incidents - and why transparency beats secrecy every time.We examine real-world failures like LastPass and Rackspace, where poor communication strategies amplified the damage from their cyber att
Insider Threats and the Power of Least Privilege Access
Insider threats represent one of the most dangerous cybersecurity risks facing organizations today - and they're way more common than you think. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, we explore the three main types of insider threats: compromised employees who get extorted or have their credentials stolen, disgruntled workers who want revenge after getting fired, and outside attackers who infiltr
Advanced Persistent Threats Explained Through Mr. Robot
Advanced persistent threats represent one of the most dangerous cyber security challenges facing organizations today. These long-term, stealthy attacks allow hackers to maintain undetected access to networks for extended periods. In this episode, we analyze multiple APT scenarios from Mr. Robot, including the Evil Corp hack, Ollie's compromised laptop, and the Dark Army's infiltration of Allsafe.
Cybersecurity Situational Awareness Lessons from Mr. Robot
This episode of The Backup Wrap-up examines cybersecurity situational awareness through the lens of Mr. Robot's prison break episode. Curtis and Prasanna analyze the technical accuracy of USB stick attacks, Bluetooth car hacking, and social engineering tactics. The hosts discuss real-world defenses including USB port management, network segmentation, and employee training. They explore WPA2 encryp
Honeypot Server Best Practices - From Mr. Robot to Reality
Learn the ins and outs of honeypot server deployment and management in this episode of The Backup Wrap-up. We break down the cybersecurity concept using examples from Mr. Robot episodes 1.6 and 1.7, showing how these deceptive systems can catch both external attackers and insider threats.A honeypot server works by creating an enticing target that looks valuable but contains no real business data.
Privilege Escalation Explained: Mr. Robot Cybersecurity Lessons
Privilege escalation attacks represent one of the most dangerous cybersecurity threats facing organizations today. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-Up, we analyze how threat actors use initial access to gain higher privileges and compromise entire networks. Through examples from Mr. Robot, we explore both vertical privilege escalation (exploiting vulnerabilities for admin access) and horizontal
Mr Robot Lessons: Cybersecurity in the Workplace
This episode examines cybersecurity in the workplace through the lens of Mr. Robot's "Exploits" episode, where social engineering takes center stage. Curtis Preston and Prasanna break down how Elliot infiltrates Steel Mountain data center using badge cloning, psychological manipulation, and fake identities.The hosts analyze real-world implications of these attacks, from coffee shop badge theft to
Social Engineering Attacks: Lessons from Mr. Robot Episode 3
Social engineering attacks are becoming more sophisticated, and this episode of The Backup Wrap-up explores real-world tactics through our Mr. Robot series analysis. Curtis and Prasanna examine how social engineering works, from Instagram stalking to phone compromise, and discuss actual ransomware groups like Scattered Spider who use social engineering to impersonate employees and reset passwords.
Reconnaissance in Cyber Security: Lessons from Mr. Robot ep 1.1
Reconnaissance in cyber security isn't just about scanning networks; it's about understanding your entire attack surface, including the human element. In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna analyze Mr. Robot season one, episode two, (AKA ep 1.1) to explore how sophisticated threat actors conduct reconnaissance before major attacks.Learn how F Society mapped Evil Corp's infrastructure, identified bac
Social Engineering Lessons from Mr. Robot Episode 1
Learn how social engineering attacks really work by analyzing the cybersecurity lessons from Mr. Robot's pilot episode. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi break down real-world social engineering tactics used by cybercriminals to manipulate victims into revealing sensitive information.This episode covers social engineering phone scams targeting even cybersecurity professionals, the dangers of
Insider Threat Prevention: Protecting Your Backups from Within
The insider threat represents one of the most dangerous and overlooked cybersecurity challenges facing organizations today. In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna explore the three distinct types of insider threats that can devastate your organization from within.From malicious employees seeking revenge to careless workers who fall for social engineering, insider thr
Mission Impossible Movie Teaches Real Cyber Security Lessons
This episode explores surprising cyber security lessons hidden within Mission: Impossible's latest blockbuster. We analyze how Hollywood's depiction of AI threats, immutable backups, and air-gapped storage actually reflects real-world data protection challenges.Curtis and Prasanna dissect the movie's central premise: an AI entity altering digital reality, making it impossible to distinguish truth
The EU Cloud Exit - Backup Strategies for Digital Sovereignty
The EU cloud exit movement is reshaping how European organizations think about data storage and sovereignty. Companies across Europe are moving away from US-based cloud providers like Microsoft 365, AWS, and Google Workspace due to concerns about the Cloud Act and data privacy regulations.In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna explore the backup implications of this major shift. They discuss the cha
What Is an Air Gap Backup? Real Protection vs Marketing
Air gap has become one of the most overused and misunderstood terms in backup and recovery. In this episode, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna explore what air gap really means, tracing its origins from the days when everyone used tape storage to modern virtual implementations. They discuss how true air gap required physical separation - tapes stored offsite at facilities like Iron Mountain - and why
Largest Data Breach in History: What You Need to Know
The largest data breach in recent memory has exposed 16 billion login credentials across multiple databases, and we're here to help you understand what it means for your security. This massive exposure involves data stolen primarily through infostealer malware rather than a single company breach.Join W. Curtis Preston, Dr. Mike Saylor, and Prasanna Malaiyandi as they break down this complex securi
How do you make a snapshot backup?
This episode breaks down snapshot backup fundamentals, covering the key differences between traditional storage snapshots and cloud-based approaches. Curtis and Prasanna explain copy-on-write versus redirect-on-write methods, performance implications, and why some snapshot systems can degrade performance by up to 50%.Learn about NetApp's redirect-on-write innovation, VMware's unique approach, and
Human error: Why We Backup
Human error has replaced hardware failures as the primary driver of data loss and restore operations in modern IT environments. This episode explores real-world examples of how both end users and administrators create the need for backup and recovery operations through accidental deletions, configuration mistakes, and poor processes. W. Curtis Preston shares war stories from his decades in the ind
How to Extract ROI from Backups
Learn how to extract measurable ROI from your backups beyond traditional disaster recovery. Curtis and Prasanna explore proven strategies for extracting business value from backup infrastructure through test and development environments, security monitoring, compliance checking, and AI-powered analytics. Discover why the shift from tape to disk storage created new opportunities for ROI from backup
World Backup Day: Take the Pledge to Protect Your Data
World Backup Day falls on March 31st - the day before April Fool's Day because not backing up your data is no joke. In this episode, hosts W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi discuss alarming statistics about data loss and why proper backup strategies are essential for business survival.The hosts break down the famous 3-2-1 backup rule and how it applies to both consumers and enterprises. Th
Ransomware Targets VMware ESXi: Melissa Palmer Explains the Threat
You've found The Backup Wrap-up, your go-to podcast for all things backup, recovery, and cyber-recovery. In this episode, we tackle one of the scariest threats out there - ransomware targeting VMware ESXi environments. I'm joined by Prasanna Malaiyandi and our special guest Melissa Palmer, also known as @vmiss, who's an independent technology analyst and ransomware resiliency architect. We get int
Breaking Down the VeeamOn Announcements for Backup Admins
In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, W. Curtis Preston breaks down the key VeeamON announcements from the VeeamON 2025 conference in San Diego. He highlights Veeam's focus on security and ransomware defense, including their new CrowdStrike integration and data resilience maturity model developed with McKinsey and MIT.Curtis shares his excitement about Veeam's long-awaited Linux-based software ap
DOGE and GSA Claim $1M Savings by Ditching Old Tape Tech
DOGE and GSA recently made headlines with a tweet claiming $1 million annual savings by converting 14,000 magnetic tapes to "permanent modern digital records." In this episode, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi analyze whether this claim is possible – although they cannot actually validate it due to lack of information. They discuss that DOGE and GSA's claim is possible given the significa
Why Tape Backup for Small Business Makes Sense Against Ransomware
Tape backup for small business might sound like old tech, but Mag Store's new Thunderbolt-compatible tape drive could change that perception. In this episode, we discuss how this new offering potentially opens tape technology to a wider market of SMBs and content creators looking for ransomware protection and cost-effective long-term storage.Curtis and Prasanna dive into the specifics of when tape
How Forever Incremental Backup Changed the World
In this episode of The Backup Wrap-Up, Curtis and Prasanna explore how forever incremental backup technology revolutionized the data protection industry. They discuss the evolution from traditional backup methods to modern approaches that eliminate the need for regular full backups, dramatically reducing network traffic, storage requirements, and backup windows.The hosts examine the technical foun
Cloud vs Tape Throwdown: Which is Better for Archiving?
In this episode of The Backup Wrap-Up, we look at the cloud vs tape debate for active archives. The conversation was sparked by a LinkedIn post claiming tape libraries are the only robots not making things easier in 2025, suggesting cloud is superior to tape for active archives.We challenge this premise by pointing out that cloud vs tape is a false dichotomy since many cloud storage vendors use ta
Disaster Recovery Lessons from 9/11 and Beyond
In this eye-opening episode of The Backup Wrap-up, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi unpack crucial disaster recovery lessons from major events like 9/11. They discuss how companies lost both primary and backup data centers when both World Trade Center towers fell, highlighting why geographic separation is non-negotiable. The hosts break down the technical aspects of disaster recovery, com
How to Choose the Best Password Manager: Security Features That Matter
In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, Curtis and Prasanna discuss how to choose the best password manager in light of recent security breaches. They examine the LastPass hack that resulted in $150 million of stolen cryptocurrency and what that teaches us about password manager security.The hosts break down the critical security features to look for in the best password manager, including encrypti
Is Tape Backup Dead? Why This Technology Still Matters
Tape backup isn't dead – but it's glory days are gone. In this episode, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi discuss why tape backup remains relevant despite its diminished role in operational backups. They reveal how cloud giants have become the biggest consumers of tape technology while explaining common misconceptions about tape's performance.The hosts break down four core advantages tape
Hide Your Backup Disk from Ransomware
In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi discuss critical strategies for securing your backup disk against cyber threats. They explain why the default configuration of storing backups in easily accessible directories makes your backup disk vulnerable to threat actors who specifically target backup systems before launching attacks.The conversation covers seve
Your 4-Hour Recovery Time Objective is Fantasy
Ever wonder why your recovery time objective seems impossible to meet? In this episode, we challenge the common assumption that a four-hour RTO is achievable for most organizations. Host W. Curtis Preston and guest Prasanna Malaiyandi discuss why these aggressive recovery time objectives often exist only on paper.From ransomware attacks to natural disasters, we examine the real-world factors that
Passwords vs Passkeys: The Future of Backup Security
In this eye-opening episode about passwords vs passkeys, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi expose why traditional password protection isn't enough for your backup systems anymore. They break down the evolution from basic passwords to MFA, and explain why passkeys and FIDO compliance represent the next level in security.Learn why hackers target backup systems first, how they exploit passwor
No one cares about your backup window!
Understanding your backup window is crucial for effective data protection, but there's a twist - it's not just about backup speed. In this episode, we explore why focusing solely on backup speed misses the point entirely. The real measure of success? Your recovery capabilities.Join W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi as they share war stories about backup windows gone wrong, including a memo
Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Backup?
Artificial intelligence in backup isn't just marketing hype - it's changing how we protect our data. In this episode, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi break down the practical applications of AI in backup systems, from intelligent scheduling to ransomware detection.Learn how artificial intelligence helps with capacity planning, especially with deduplication systems where predicting storag
Disaster Recovery Testing: The Execution Phase
In part two of our disaster recovery testing series, we explore the critical steps of executing a DR test. From coordinating teams and documenting issues to maintaining communication channels during the test, this episode covers everything you need to know about running an effective DR test.Host W. Curtis Preston and co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi share practical advice from their extensive experienc
