Yes, provided at least one backup copy is out of the attacker’s reach and you know you can restore from it. Backups do not stop ransomware getting in, but they give you a way to recover without depending on the attacker.
What makes a backup ransomware-resilient
- Immutability or offline storage: a copy that cannot be changed or deleted for a set period, or a disk disconnected after each backup.
- Separate credentials: backup storage that uses different accounts from your everyday network, with multi-factor authentication on the backup console.
- Version history: enough restore points to go back to before the infection began, since encryption is not always noticed straight away.
- Tested restores: confidence that you can rebuild in a known order.
What backups don’t solve
Some attackers copy data before encrypting it and threaten to publish it. Backups cannot undo that, so they belong alongside other protections such as prompt updates, multi-factor authentication and care with email attachments.
See how backup plans protect the backups themselves, or read about the 3-2-1 backup rule.