October 14, 2026
Ransomware Defense in 2026: Beyond Prevention
🌐 این مقاله را به فارسی بخوانید
By Kazem Mortazavi
1 min read
🌐 This is the English edition of an article first published in Persian: باجافزار در ۲۰۲۶؛ چرا رویکرد "فقط پیشگیری" دیگر کافی نیست
Ransomware remains the most costly and destructive type of cyberattack for organizations. The key change is that ransomware groups no longer just encrypt data. Before encryption, they steal it and threaten to leak it. This means that even if you have a complete backup, you are still exposed to extortion.
Why do these attacks still succeed?
1. The initial entry point is rarely sophisticated
Most attacks begin with a simple phishing email, a weak password, or an unpatched vulnerability, not with a complex intrusion. This is actually encouraging: closing the easy paths removes a large part of the risk.
2. Lateral movement often goes undetected
After the initial foothold, an attacker can move through the network for days or weeks without raising an alarm until they reach the most sensitive data. Encryption is the last step, not the first, which means there is a long detection window that usually goes unused.
3. Backups are targets too
If backup copies are reachable from the same network and with the same credentials, the attacker destroys them before encrypting anything. A backup that an attacker can delete is not really a backup.
What does a multilayered strategy include?
- Endpoint detection and response. Detect suspicious behavior, not only known signatures, before large-scale encryption starts.
- Immutable backups. Copies that cannot be changed or deleted even with administrator access, and that are isolated from the production network.
- Network segmentation. Limit lateral movement by separating sensitive parts of the environment from each other.
- Strict control of privileged access. Most ransomware attacks ultimately depend on an administrator account; restricting these accounts is the most effective point of intervention.
Deployable solutions
Conclusion
Ransomware is no longer a remote possibility. The real question is not whether you will be targeted, but how quickly you will detect an attack when it happens and how ready you are to recover.
To assess your organization's readiness against ransomware, contact us.
💬 Let's discuss Can you say right now how many of your backups are reachable with the same credentials as your production systems? If not, what is the biggest obstacle: missing tools, missing ownership, or missing time?
- Kazem Mortazavi, independent network-security consultant
Originally published at https://symantecland.com on October 14, 2026.