A hacker can delete, change, or copy your backup files, which puts you at risk of not having viable backups-or potentially revealing sensitive data that you might want to keep offline. If hackers breach your network’s security, backups connected to your computer are susceptible to remote access. Remote hackers can’t reach data that’s not online. RELATED: How to Protect Yourself from Ransomware (Like CryptoLocker and Others) Better Data Security From Hackers delcarmat / Shutterstock If you keep some backups offline, they won’t be as vulnerable to damage from malware. Similarly, other types of malware and viruses can infect backups that are attached to a computer hooked to the Internet. You can simply wipe your infected drives and restore from the offline backup. If you have an offline backup, there is no need to pay the ransom to recover your data.

That’s why you need an offline backup that is not connected to your computer or the Internet. If your only backup is attached to the machine infected with ransomware, the backup can become encrypted as well. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts your files, making them inaccessible, and then demands a ransom (often using cryptocurrency) to decrypt them. RELATED: What's the Best Way to Back Up My Computer? Insurance Against Ransomware & Malware They are ideally (but not always) stored in a separate physical location from the original data source-sometimes offsite for extra protection and security.īelow, we’ll go over the main reasons you should use offline backups in addition to your regular backup routine (which might include attached or cloud backups)

Typically, offline backups are stored on external hard drives or USB flash drives. An offline backup is a copy of your data that is not stored on the same device (or attached to the same device) as your original data and is not connected to the Internet.

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