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antivirus guide

Ransomware: The Backup Beats the Badge

Sam OkonkwoSam Okonkwo· Security Researcher· Updated February 19, 2024· 11 min read

Some links on this page may earn GUIDEORA a commission. Disclosure

Quick take

Antivirus can catch known ransomware loaders. It cannot promise a clean Tuesday. Offline or versioned backups are how you decline the ransom. Norton 360 is the suite example this site uses — some plans include backup. Confirm the live SKU. We will not tell you to pay a criminal.

The badge is not a time machine

Ransomware encrypts files and sells the key. A suite that misses the first sample is a Tuesday. Your bargaining chip is a copy they cannot touch.

CISA and every boring backup article agree: 3-2-1 style copies beat heroics. We will not romanticize paying.

From the record

Filter what you can. Store what you cannot afford to retype. Do not reverse those jobs.

GUIDEORA rule for ransomware

What a useful backup looks like

One copy offline or immutable. One copy off-site. Test a restore once. Photos and tax PDFs first. A NAS on the same LAN as the PC is not 'off-site.'

An offline backup drive next to a locked PC
The badge is a filter. The drive is a refusal.

Suite

A filter

Offline copy

A refusal

Plugged-in disk

Also a victim

Pay ransom

Not our advice

  • Disconnect an infected machine. Then copy from a known-good backup — not the other way around.
  • Cloud version history can be the off-site copy if it cannot be mass-deleted.
  • Email is not a backup.
  • A suite's 'backup tile' only counts if you turned it on and tested it.

Norton as a filter-plus-tile

Norton 360 currently bundles real-time shielding and, on higher plans, cloud backup. That is the honest reason it appears: one vendor for filter plus a backup tile. Confirm GB and whether ransomware-locked files are excluded. Proton Drive is the encrypted-cloud example elsewhere on this site.

A first-year discount is not a restore test. Checkout and the backup settings win.

Pros

  • +A filter still blocks a lot of commodity loaders
  • +A suite backup tile is better than no tile if you use it
  • +Offline copies refuse the ransom economy

Cons

  • −New families bypass signatures
  • −Attached disks die with the PC
  • −People buy the badge and skip the restore test

Buy the restore, not the fear

Keep a suite if you want a filter. Keep a backup you have restored. Norton is the bundle example this site uses. GUIDEORA will not pay your ransom.

Editor take

Refusal beats a badge

Backups you can restore beat a logo. Norton 360 is the suite-plus-backup example. Confirm live SKU. Do not pay criminals.

See Norton's current deal