Does Cloud Backup Protect Against Ransomware?

Yes, in fact, cloud backup is the only surefire way to protect against ransomware, as it lets you restore files to their original state.

How Do Ransomware Attacks Work?

A cybercriminal will first gain access to a company’s internal network via social engineering attacks and then infect company files. They encrypt the files and make them inaccessible to the company, with the offer to restore them for a large fee.

What Is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule for Ransomware?

The 3-2-1 rule means keeping three copies of your data, with two copies on different media and one kept off-site. In practice, this involves keeping one production copy, one cloud backup and one off-site physical backup.83232

Ransomware Backup Explained: 5 Best Cloud Services to Protect Your Data in 2026

Explore the best ransomware backup software options and learn how to craft the perfect protection strategy for your business in this guide.

Written by Aleksandar Kochovski (Writer)

Reviewed by Valentina Bravo (Managing Editor)

Facts checked by Eugenie Tiu (Editorial Assistant)

Last Updated: 18 Mar'26

All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.

Key Takeaways: These Are the Best Ransomware Backup Cloud Services

IDrive — Flexible, affordable and secure ransomware backup. Try IDrive’s 10GB free plan.
pCloud — Fast cloud storage with backup for ransomware protection. Try pCloud’s 10GB free plan.
Proton Drive — Swiss-based privacy suite with up to 10-year version history. Try Proton Drive’s free plan.
CrashPlan — HIPAA-compliant cloud backup for ransomware recovery. Try CrashPlan’s 14-day free trial.
Backblaze — Secure cloud backup with unlimited storage. Try Backblaze’s 15-day free trial.
Acronis Cyber Protect — Enterprise-grade ransomware backup. Try Acronis Cyber Protect with its 30-day free trial.

Facts & Expert Analysis About Cloud Backup With Ransomware Protection:

Security features: To remain safe from ransomware, a cloud backup needs features like client-side encryption and two-factor authentication.
Login and content access: Because social engineering is the prime vector for ransomware infections, restricting user access and maintaining login integrity is key to protection.
The importance of versioning: Keeping older versions of backed-up files is the most important safeguard against ransomware, as it ensures you can roll your files back to an uninfected version.

Best Cloud Service for Ransomware Protection

Ransomware attacks can cost you or your company thousands of dollars in recovery efforts, with no guarantee you’ll get those files back. Using a ransomware backup service is the best way to keep your files safe. In this article, I’ll list the best cloud backup services for ransomware recovery, highlighting their protection capabilities.

Meet the experts

Aleksandar Kochovski (Writer)

Aleksandar Kochovski is a cybersecurity writer and editor at Cloudwards, with a rich background in writing, editing and YouTube content creation, focused on making complex online safety topics accessible to all. With a Master’s in Architecture and experience as an assistant professor of architectural planning and interior design, Aleksandar applies his research prowess to guide readers through the intricacies of VPNs and secure cloud services. His work is featured in Cloudwards and he has been quoted in The Daily Beast, reflecting his dedication to internet privacy. When not demystifying digital security, he indulges in diverse hobbies from bonsai to powerlifting.

More about Aleksandar Kochovski

Valentina Bravo (Managing Editor)

Valentina Bravo is a managing editor at Cloudwards with a rich background in technology topics, particularly productivity tools and online security. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and a triple Master’s degree in Literary and Cultural Studies. Her prior role as an academic writing instructor and over a decade of freelance editing across various fields, including academic publishing and tech education, have honed her skills in nurturing writers and producing strategically resonant content. Outside of work, she is a travel enthusiast, music lover and avid learner interested in global cultures, spirituality, psychology and neuroscience.

More about Valentina Bravo

Learn more about our editorial team and our research process.

08/24/2022 Facts checked

Updated IDrive’s pricing information.
10/26/2022 Facts checked

Updated Carbonite’s prices.
05/23/2023 Facts checked

Updated to remove IDrive’s discontinued free plan.
07/11/2025 Facts checked

We expanded the list to have six backup options.
02/17/2026 Facts checked

We rewrote this article to better reflect our latest backup software performance testing data.
updates

Cloudwards’ Choice: IDrive

Cloudwards' Choice: IDrive

Aleksandar Kochovski is a Cloudwards expert in cloud storage and backup services.

When considering the threat of ransomware attacks, my top storage suggestion is IDrive because of its broad feature set that lets you create backups — with unlimited version history — of pretty much any device you can think of, including server devices. Best of all, it’s more affordable than most backup solutions, with unlimited users on the business plan.

What Ransomware-Proof Backups Really Are & Why You Need Them

Ransomware-proof backups are specialized backup systems that prevent cybercriminals from encrypting or deleting your data during a ransomware attack. While all backups protect against ransomware attacks, some services offer features that are especially helpful, such as extended versioning or malware protection.

For example, if a ransomware attack is successful at encrypting on-device files, a backup lets you simply restore them from a backed-up version on the cloud. However, if the backup service has overwritten your backed-up files with the new encrypted versions, the backup data will be useless. That’s why it’s crucial for the service to keep multiple versions of files.

Integrated malware protection is another way to protect backups from becoming infected, but it isn’t essential. You still have to restore the backup, so it is functionally the same as using a non-malware-protected backup.

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How Attackers Target Backup Systems & Why Traditional Backups Fail

Cybercriminals have become wise to traditional backup strategies and evolved their methods beyond targeting only your data. They now target backup systems to eliminate recovery options and force businesses to pay out. Not hedging against modern ransomware strategies can lead to the following failures:

Improper access management exploits: If employees have direct access to backups, they present a potential vector for compromising those backups.
Network-attached backup attacks: Local backups, such as on network-attached storage (NAS) or on-premises servers, are particularly vulnerable, as they are just one more part of the already compromised network.
Insufficient retention or versioning: Versioning is key to a proper ransomware backup strategy, so providers that lack it are especially vulnerable.

Ransomware Cloud Backup Strategies

Effective ransomware protection requires backups that are fundamentally inaccessible to attackers — not just online copies of your data but also copies that are impossible to reach without physical access.

A good ransomware backup strategy relies on four design principles: immutability, air-gapping, isolation and separate credentials.

Immutable storage refers to the inability for anyone to alter a backup, even administrators who have full access to your organization’s backups.
Air-gapped backups are backups stored on offline physical media, such as flash drives and external hard drives kept under lock and key. Air-gapping is the only true way to protect against a ransomware infection. However, recovery from physical media can be laborious, so it shouldn’t be your first line of defense.
Isolating production environments from backup systems ensures your backup remains safe even if the network is compromised.
Keeping separate credentials for production and backup environments is crucial to enforcing the principle of isolation. Employees should use one account and set of credentials for necessary company resources. If they need access to backup data, their credentials must differ from those of the other account.

Cost, Risk and Business Value: Choosing the Right Level of Protection

Backup systems can quickly become costly if you go all out. There’s a huge difference in the sensitivity of data that a law firm and a retail store keep, and your company’s strategy should reflect this.

The key is matching the level of backup protection to your business’ realistic risk exposure and cost of downtime. After all, a brick-and-mortar shop will likely function perfectly fine without access to company files for a while, but an online store can be completely incapacitated by a ransomware attack.

Healthcare: Due to HIPAA regulations, the highest level of protection is an absolute must for healthcare providers and medical companies dealing with patient data.
Legal: Data leaks can compromise attorney-client privilege and regulatory compliance, and data loss can further compromise ongoing cases or instances in which the company would require previous case files. The highest level of protection is essential in the legal field.
Software and tech: The entire business of a software company is its data. Data loss is catastrophic to a tech company, though there’s no legal culpability. I recommend making monthly or quarterly air-gapped backups of code repositories.
Small business: Smaller businesses rarely have the resources for a full backup strategy, but thankfully, commercial cloud backup software with business plans is usually enough for their needs.

How to Choose a Cloud Backup Provider With Ransomware Protection Features

Ransomware backup software can be complicated, with a ton of features that may confuse you more than aid you. My recommendation to small business owners is to use a commercial solution with the following features:

Administrative access controls: You need to be able to restrict access to your backup servers. In the event that an employee’s account or device becomes compromised, it will be fully isolated from your backup.
Two-factor authentication: Two-factor authentication further protects logins, even if an attacker gets hold of a user’s credentials.
Unlimited or extended version history: Keeping an unlimited number of versions for an unlimited amount of time means you always have a clean version of your files to restore.
Diverse backup options: Businesses that store their data on a central server will require a service with server backups, while local backups are crucial for air-gapping.
Client-side encryption: While this isn’t crucial for ransomware protection, client-side encryption does prevent your backup provider from accessing your files — crucial for storing sensitive data.

The Best 5 Ransomware Backup Cloud Services — Quick Comparison

Free Storage	Best Price	Users & Devices	Version History	Limitation
10GB	$5.81 per month (one-year plan) for 5TB	5 users, 5 devices	Unlimited	Only 30 file versions
10GB	$7.99 per month (one-year plan) for 1TB	3+ users, no device limit	365 days	Extra fee for longer versioning
5GB	$3.99 per month (one-year plan) for 200GB	1 user, no device limit	10-year paid plan	Free plan limited to 7-day versioning.
No, 14-day free trial	$6.58 per month (two-year plan) for Unlimited GB	1 user, 1 device	Unlimited	Some reliability issues
No, 15-day free trial	$7.88 per month (two-year plan) for Unlimited GB	1 user, 1 device	365 days	Not truly zero-knowledge
No, 30-day free trial	$4.17 per month (one-year plan) for 1 computer; no cloud storage	1 user, 1 device	Unlimited*	No cloud storage included

*Or dependent on cloud storage provider

Lab Data & Hands-On Testing

Speed Test Comparison (5GB Folder)

Provider:	Download Avg.	Upload Avg.
	0:06:58	0:06:45
	0:06:52	0:07:06
	0:07:11	0:07:15
	0:07:09	0:16:54
	0:07:37	0:19:17
	0:07:00	0:07:04

Speed is crucial for disaster recovery, as it means less downtime for your business operations. pCloud and IDrive are the fastest performers on this list. Proton Drive has seen significant speed improvements in 2026 and is now highly competitive.

The data for Acronis Cyber Protect applies only if you’re using its own (very expensive) cloud storage add-on.

Security & Privacy Analysis

Encryption Type	Client Encryption	2FA Options	Server Locations	Compliance
AES-256	Yes	SMS, email, app-based	EU, U.S., Singapore	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA
AES-256	Yes, single folder	SMS, app-based	EU, U.S.	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
AES-256	Yes	SMS, App-based	Switzerland	GDPR, HIPAA
AES-256	Yes	App-based	Global	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA
AES-256	Partial	SMS, app-based	EU, U.S.	ISO 27001, GDPR
AES-256	Yes	App-based	Global	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA

Client-side encryption is the most important data security feature. It encrypts the files on your device before they’re sent to the cloud, ensuring the company storing your data can’t decrypt and access it.

All of my top choices have client-side encryption. However, pCloud covers only one folder, and Backblaze asks for your encryption key if you need to recover your files, which defeats the purpose. Proton Drive and Internxt both offer true zero-knowledge encryption.

The Best Backup Options to Protect Against a Ransomware Attack

My top software options for companies to back up their data in case of a ransomware attack include IDrive, pCloud, Proton Drive, Internxt, Backblaze, CrashPlan and Acronis Cyber Protect.

1. IDrive — Best Ransomware Backup Overall

Pros:

Client-side encrypted backups
Up to 30 previous versions of files kept forever
Store backups on external drives for air-gapping

Cons:

No unlimited storage

Get up to 75% off an IDrive business plan and protect yourself from ransomware attacks.

IDrive is the best backup for ransomware protection thanks to its extended versioning, the option to back up to external drives and the wide variety of backup types, including servers. The business plan covers an unlimited number of users and devices at no extra cost and comes with decent administrative controls.

What Makes IDrive Special

When to Choose IDrive

IDrive is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses that need ransomware protection on a budget. Its ease of use means you don’t need a skilled admin to set everything up. The one-year Business plan costs $5.80 per month for storage starting at 250GB. Read our IDrive review for more.

Basic

No credit card required.
10GB

FREE

Mini

One user.
100GB

Cloudwards’ Choice: IDrive

What Ransomware-Proof Backups Really Are & Why You Need Them

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How Attackers Target Backup Systems & Why Traditional Backups Fail

Ransomware Cloud Backup Strategies

Cost, Risk and Business Value: Choosing the Right Level of Protection

How to Choose a Cloud Backup Provider With Ransomware Protection Features

The Best 5 Ransomware Backup Cloud Services — Quick Comparison

Lab Data & Hands-On Testing

Speed Test Comparison (5GB Folder)

Security & Privacy Analysis

The Best Backup Options to Protect Against a Ransomware Attack

1. IDrive — Best Ransomware Backup Overall

What Makes IDrive Special

When to Choose IDrive

2. pCloud — Best Ransomware Protection With Cloud Storage

What Makes pCloud Special

When to Choose pCloud

3. Proton Drive — Best Privacy-Focused Ransomware Backup

What Makes Proton Drive Special

When to Choose Proton Drive

4. CrashPlan — Best Ransomware Backup With Unlimited File Versioning

What Makes CrashPlan Special

When to Choose CrashPlan

5. Backblaze — Simple Unlimited Ransomware Protection

What Makes Backblaze Special

When to Choose Backblaze

6. Acronis Cyber Protect — Best Ransomware Backup for Enterprises

What Makes Acronis Cyber Protect Special

When to Choose Acronis Cyber Protect

Methodology: Testing Framework for the Best Cloud Backup With Ransomware Protection

Security & Privacy

Sync Speed & Performance

Backup Features

Storage Space & Pricing

Final Thoughts: Cloud Backup Ransomware Protection

FAQ: Cloud Ransomware Protection