Ransomware operators have evolved. They no longer just encrypt your active databases; their primary target is your backup repository. If your server backups are compromised, encrypted, or deleted, you lose your only leverage. The absolute best defense against this is configuring immutable backups using a WORM (Write Once, Read Many) architecture. An immutable backup ensures that once your data is written, it cannot be modified or deleted by anyone—not even the system administrator—until a strict time limit expires. The Architectural Choice: Cloud Storage vs. Dedicated Server When setting up immutable backups (S3 Object Lock), system administrators typically face two choices: Public Cloud Storage (AWS S3, Wasabi): Sending backups to a public cloud is easy, but you are charged per gigabyte and face unpredictable, massive "egress fees" when you need to download your data for a restoration.…