The ransomware attackers aren’t just after your data. They want your data backup too. Organizations need to be prepared because the technologies around these attacks are getting more sophisticated, said Brandon McCoy, Senior System Engineer with Veeam at a recent ITWC briefing. “The goal is to get organizations to pay out,” said McCoy. “The criminals will encrypt your data and delete the backup to make that happen. We’re seeing this more often now.” It’s important to take a holistic and multi-layered approach to data protection, said Dale Levesque, Director, Cloud Data Protection and Recovery at iland. “It’s about business outcomes,” he said. “Organizations should look at acceptable downtime and how that fits with their business continuity and financial requirements. If you lose all your data, how much will that cost you?”