Where are the back ups?

You are correct. Backups prevent a loss of data from ransomware and hard drive failures.

Since only successful critical attacks (hospitals, government, schools, etc.) make the news, I suspect many more thwarted attacks happened that we don't know of.

Problem with back ups, the worm or what ever can also be backed up.

and the other issue, is how many times is it cycled, before it’s over written.

it’s a constant battle, with security and hackers.

once a hacker is caught, the punishment needs to be lying and harsh.

my company’s parent company had a recent hack. It’s at a point of cost/lost. It’s to a point, is what is safer and secure… hiring security. Or paying the hackers on keeping its files safe.

Well it seems to me you have to find the breach and correct that issue before you can safely restore your files, otherwise you risk reinfection...there are so many sneaky ways to infect machines now it's impossible to maintain a completely secure device....and the more users the worse the threat gets....

..."Ransomware attacks are unique because they work pretty slowly. This means that once hackers have gained access to a system, they work behind the scenes for weeks and sometimes months to encrypt sensitive information before calling for a ransom. "...

top five cyber threats to watch out for 2022

Years ago, one computer journalist , (Schofield ?) suggested that every organisation should maintain a "Sheep Dip" device at the front portal.

Clearly most organisations have ignored this as ? impractical ?