Case Study: Ransomware Recovery With Encrypted Cloud Backups
Ransomware does not usually announce itself with flashing lights. For many small and mid sized US businesses, it starts as a normal Monday. A user reports that a shared folder will not open. A server feels slow. Then the first ransom note appears. Within minutes, panic spreads from IT to operations to finance, because the question is never just "Can we fix it?" The real question is "How long can we keep the business running if we cannot access critical data?"
This case study walks through a real world style ransomware recovery scenario and shows what changed when the business moved to a backup and disaster recovery approach that prioritized encryption before data left their environment, predictable restores, and a practical plan that non technical stakeholders could understand.
If you want the short version before the details, the winning combination was simple: encrypted backups that stayed protected in transit and at rest, clean recovery points that could not be quietly overwritten, and a restore process that had already been tested.
When the incident happened, the company did not need a miracle. They needed a system. That is exactly what they had built with RedVault Systems cloud storage and a clear recovery workflow.
Company Profile and Environment
The client was a US based professional services firm with about 85 employees. Like many mid market businesses, their tech stack was a mix of modern SaaS plus a few systems that still lived on servers. They ran a Windows domain, had file shares used by multiple departments, and hosted a line of business application used by operations and finance. Email was cloud based, but the day to day heartbeat of the company depended on local files and app data.
Their biggest risk was not the number of systems. It was how tightly their work depended on them. If their file shares went down, projects stalled. If their app data went down, billing and delivery stalled. If both went down at the same time, cash flow stalled.
Before the project, they had a basic backup solution, but it had three problems:
First, backups were treated like a background chore, not a business continuity capability. They existed, but there was no confident answer to "How fast can we restore?" or "What do we restore first?"
Second, the backup design assumed the biggest issue would be hardware failure, not ransomware. That meant limited isolation, uncertain retention, and no firm guardrails around restore points.
Third, encryption was inconsistent. Some data was protected, but it was not enforced as "encrypted before it leaves our environment," which mattered for both security and risk conversations.
They decided to modernize to a backup and disaster recovery plan that IT could run and leadership could trust. The goal was measurable, not vague.
Goals and Recovery Targets
The project started with two business questions:
- How much data can we afford to lose?
- How long can we afford to be down?
Those map to two critical disaster recovery metrics: RPO and RTO.
They set a target RPO of four hours for the most critical systems and a target RTO of eight hours for "back in business" operations. For less critical file shares, the RPO could stretch longer, but restores still had to be predictable.
The second goal was security by design. The client wanted encryption that was not optional and not dependent on individual admin behavior. Backups needed to be encrypted before they were sent to storage, so even if storage credentials were compromised, the data would still be unreadable.
This is where the Backup and Disaster Recovery approach from RedVault Systems fit their needs. Data is encrypted before it is sent into Backblaze B2 storage, which supported their security posture and made the leadership team more confident in the design.
Implementation Overview
The implementation focused on three practical layers.
The first layer was backup scope and prioritization. The team documented what had to be recovered first and what could wait. They separated systems into tiers.
- Tier 1 included the line of business database and the identity components required to authenticate users.
- Tier 2 included shared file data and department folders.
- Tier 3 included archives and non urgent systems.
The second layer was scheduling and retention that matched ransomware realities. Short retention windows can be dangerous because ransomware sometimes sits quietly before detonating. The client adjusted retention so they had multiple clean restore points from earlier days, not just yesterday.
The third layer was restore readiness. Backups are only half the story. The business wanted proof that the restores would work. That meant test restores and documentation that could be used under pressure.
During rollout, the client also tightened access practices. Only a small group had backup administration rights, and those accounts were separated from day to day admin accounts. The core idea was to reduce the chance that one compromised credential could wipe out everything.
The Incident: How the Attack Unfolded
About six weeks after implementation, the company experienced a ransomware event. It began with a compromised user account that gained access to a workstation and then to shared folders. The attacker escalated privileges and began encrypting network accessible data.
The earliest signs were subtle. A user reported that a few folders had strange file names and could not open. Then a second user reported the same. Within 20 minutes, the help desk saw a clear pattern.
IT initiated incident response immediately:
- They isolated the affected workstation.
- They disabled the compromised user account.
- They disconnected impacted servers from the network.
- They communicated a temporary hold on shared drive access to prevent further spread.
At this stage, the business still had hope that the damage was limited. But within an hour, it became clear that a key file share had been heavily impacted. The question shifted from containment to recovery.
Recovery Strategy Chosen
They chose to restore from known clean points rather than attempt piecemeal decryption. The logic was straightforward. Ransomware payments are uncertain, and even when data is returned, systems may be reinfected or altered. Restoring from clean backups is the fastest path to trusted data.
The recovery plan followed their tier model:
- Confirm the last clean restore points.
- Restore the highest priority application data.
- Restore file shares by department, starting with the teams needed to keep revenue moving.
Because the backup plan had been designed with ransomware in mind, they had multiple restore points. They selected a restore point from the previous evening, well before the encryption event.
Throughout the process, the IT lead used the internal runbook created during the rollout. In crisis moments, that documentation matters more than most teams realize. When people are stressed, they forget steps. A runbook prevents "best guesses" from becoming mistakes.
This is the difference between having backups and having a system you can execute. The team kept leadership updated using simple status checkpoints.
If you want to see what that kind of readiness can look like for your environment, the baseline approach is explained on RedVault Systems cloud backup and recovery and it maps well to US small business needs.
Restore Execution and Timeline
The company's restore timeline was strong because they had already practiced.
- Hour 0 to 1: containment, isolation, account lockdown, and decision to restore.
- Hour 1 to 3: validation of clean restore points and restoration of Tier 1 application data.
- Hour 3 to 6: restoration of shared file data for operations and finance first.
- Hour 6 to 8: restoration of remaining department folders and verification checks.
By the end of the business day, the most critical functions were operational. Some teams worked with limited access while restores completed, but the company avoided a multi day outage.
The real win was not just speed. It was confidence. They were not restoring data and hoping. They validated integrity as they went.
What Encryption Changed in This Scenario
This case matters because encryption was not a box checked at the end. It was foundational. Their backups were encrypted before being sent to B2 storage.
That changed the risk profile in two ways.
First, even if someone got access to stored backup data, it would be unreadable without encryption keys. That mattered to leadership and compliance conversations, especially with client contracts.
Second, encryption reinforced a culture of treating backup data as sensitive data. Too many businesses act as if backups are separate from security. In reality, backups contain the most valuable data in the company.
In addition, encrypted backups helped avoid a common fear executives have after ransomware: "Did the attacker also steal our backups?" Even if the attacker touched the storage side, the encrypted content would remain protected.
For companies that want to align backup strategy with security expectations, the overall approach is consistent with what RedVault Systems secure cloud storage is designed to support.
Business Impact and Outcomes
The business outcome was measurable:
- They restored operations within the same day.
- They avoided paying ransom.
- They reduced customer impact to minor delays rather than missed commitments.
- They preserved billing timelines and avoided a major cash flow disruption.
The less obvious impact was stakeholder trust. After an incident, leadership will ask hard questions. Why did this happen? Could it happen again? Are we safe now?
Because the company had a structured backup and disaster recovery plan, IT could answer confidently. They could show the restore points, the timeline, the validation checks, and the improvements already implemented.
That reduces the emotional cost of an incident. It also makes future investment conversations easier, because leadership has seen what "prepared" actually looks like.
Lessons Learned
The incident confirmed several practical lessons that apply to most US businesses.
- Backups without restore testing are a gamble. The team's prior test restores prevented surprises.
- Retention must account for ransomware dwell time. Having multiple recovery points from earlier days matters.
- Access control is part of backup strategy. Separating backup admin privileges reduces blast radius.
- Communication is part of recovery. Leadership needs clear status updates, not technical noise.
- Encryption needs to be enforced early, not added later. Encrypting before data leaves the environment reduces risk and supports compliance expectations.
The client also refined their response playbook after the event. They added a faster internal notification process and introduced quarterly recovery drills. The drills were short and practical, not big theatrical exercises. The goal was simply to keep the muscle memory fresh.