The Backup Wrap-up
The Backup Wrap-up podcast turns unappreciated backup admins into cyber recovery heroes. After a brief analysis of backup-related news, each episode dives deep into one topic that you can use to better protect your organization from data loss, be it from accidents, disasters, or ransomware.
Recent Episodes
Nov. 9, 2026
How to Prevent Credential Theft Before It Owns Your Network
Credential theft is how one stolen laptop turns into a full-blown breach. In this episode, Prasanna and I sit down with Dr. Mike Saylor to walk through how it happens and how to stop it. Mike opens with a story that should make every IT person wince. A credit union employee had a logged-in laptop at a coffee shop, turned around, and it was gone. BitLocker didn’t help, because the machine was unlocked. The attackers harvested local credentials, learned how the credit union’s business processes w
Nov. 2, 2026
Network Segmentation Best Practices: Shrink Your Ransomware Blast Radius
Network segmentation best practices can be the difference between ransomware taking out one laptop and ransomware taking out your whole company. Prasanna, my co-author Dr. Mike Saylor, and I talk about how to stop running a flat network, what VLANs and microsegmentation actually do, and where you should start. Mike and I wrote Learning Ransomware Response and Recovery around one basic idea: assume breach. You’re probably going to get hit, so the real question is how big the blast radius will be
Oct. 26, 2026
Application Whitelisting Best Practices: The Silver Bullet Nobody Uses
Application whitelisting best practices can stop malware your antivirus never sees coming, but almost nobody follows them. Dr. Mike Saylor joins Prasanna and me to talk about why, and what it really takes to build an approved software list that sticks. We start with SocGholish, a fake browser update campaign that’s been around since 2018. Every download is built just for the victim, so pattern-based tools can’t spot it. That’s exactly the kind of threat an approved software list shuts down. Th
Oct. 19, 2026
Building an Incident Response Team (Before You Need One)
Building an incident response team is something you do before the incident, not during it. Prasanna, Dr. Mike Saylor, and I walk through who needs to be on that team, why each person matters, and how to get them lined up now so nobody’s scrambling when ransomware hits. We’re back after a few weeks off, and we came back with a topic I care a lot about. When I cracked a rim on my Tesla, I didn’t watch YouTube videos and grab a wrench. I called a team of people who know tires. Your cyber incident
Sept. 21, 2026
Endpoint Hardening: Closing Windows Before Somebody Climbs In
Endpoint hardening is the unglamorous work of closing the windows and locking the doors before somebody comes along and jiggles the handle. Prasanna, Dr. Mike Saylor and I walk through what that actually looks like: secure builds and golden images, which services to shut off, which ones to uninstall so a bad guy can't just switch them back on, USB lockdown, full disk encryption, BIOS and UEFI, and the phone in your pocket that logs onto your corporate Wi-Fi every morning. Mike opens with the an
Sept. 14, 2026
Least Privilege Best Practices: Where to Start
Least privilege best practices start with one uncomfortable question: does this person actually need this access? A hospital in Portugal answered yes for everybody, gave every employee doctor-level access to patient records, and got hit with a 400,000 euro GDPR fine. The court's read was that they hadn't even attempted the concept. Mike Saylor, Prasanna, and I get into what least privilege really means, then move straight to the part nobody wants to talk about: where you start when everybody al
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