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The whole problem has historically been that any "simple" solution lacks nuance. I've been across a number of these sorts of environments. Just look at your answer: Daily backups off site.

Sure, so I've seen this. There's a Veeam server with a backup repo in the main datacenter. And it takes backups to a server "offsite". Let's forget for a moment I've got an environment that take six days to do a full backup.

Then one day the attacker gains a vendor's Teamviewer account and finds themselves on a server console that's been left logged on as a Domain Admin. And they open windows file explorer, and browse to \\offsiteserver\backups, and then press "delete". Noone cares if it's offsite, it's gone.

OK, so when you said "offsite backups" I'm sure you meant something not contactable from an average network machine right? Maybe ACLs only allow access from the backup server itself. Well fear not, the attacker can still just RDP to that Veeam server and repeat.

OK OK so what you really wanted was a properly isolated network for all the backup content and they can't make a connection from the general network to it right? Once again fear not, there's a Group Policy deploying this ransomware, which means it's going on every domain joined machine including the backup server.

Look, now we're getting somewhere, there should be an entirely separate administration domain for backups and infrastructure. Well firstly someone from Microsoft will yell at you because "ESAE" is deprecated, and some overpriced consultant is about to explain to management that you're incompetent because you separated the networks (from personal experience). Fortunately that doesn't matter to the one guy with a popped Domain Admin account on the general domain used the same password on the administrative domain against policy, and the attacker spreads anyway.

Yes you've got options here. For example someone might mention "Veeam Immutable Storage", which is pretty effective. But now you'll find the iLO for that server still presents a forgotten entrypoint to wiping it.

There's absolutely ways to do this properly but it's never simple, and the further you go down the hole the more likely you are to hit pricing or political stumbling blocks.



Opsec is expensive and requires discipline. The average for profit organization can at best perform box checking security theater. Any real hindrance to their business goal is gonna get diluted or sidelined into irrelevance.

Security is not a technical problem, it's a sociopolitical problem. That's my main gripe with the business of computer security (even the name cybersecurity rubs me the wrong way... cybernetics is about robotics control systems). All these hard selling seemingly highly advanced stuff, all these script kiddies showing companies how much vulnerability is peppered all over their systems. And in the end you can call up people and they will cheerily give away credentials against vague verbal assurances.


I'm well with you there. It has been the bane of my existence trying to sell "lets enforce MFA" when you can command far more authority and respect for saying "let's buy security copilot".


It's frustrating to say the least. Venting on a forum where I don't get stared at like I've grown a second head for daring to think about more context than my own deliverables is my single outlet...




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