Sixty-nine percent of organizations were hit by ransomware in 2025, down slightly from 75 percent the previous year. But make no mistake: these attacks are increasingly common and aggressive, often triggered by phishing emails, malicious links, or software vulnerabilities. One wrong click can lock your entire organization out of its systems and data.
When that happens, your board of directors will have questions — big ones — and they won’t be satisfied with surface-level answers. They’ll want accountability, clarity and assurance.
Here are four questions they’re likely to ask and how to prepare your answers.
1. How did the attack happen?
Your board will require specific details from the attack for several reasons, primarily concerning effective crisis management and strategic decision-making.
The first step is to understand how the bad actors gained access and how long they remained undetected.
Was it through:- A phishing email?
- A compromised credential?
- A missed security patch?
2. What has been done to eliminate the threat?
Once your team has identified a system breach, swift action is necessary to combat the threat and begin recovery.
Be prepared to explain:
- Whether or not a ransom was paid
- What role internal IT, outside consultants, or law enforcement are playing
- How the spread was contained
- Whether or not status recovery operations are underway
It can be tempting to resolve the situation quickly by paying the ransom, but that decision carries serious risks. Imagine paying, only to discover your data is corrupted or that the attackers disappear without providing the decryption tools.
But partnering with cybersecurity experts can give your business major advantages, such as:
- Proactive security strategies that reduce the risk of future breaches
- Faster recovery through well-managed, secure backups
- Lower likelihood of paying ransom
According to Veeam, organizations that engage with cyber experts were 156 percent less likely to pay the ransom and significantly more likely to recover quickly. That kind of partnership can be the difference between chaos and control — especially when every second counts.
3. What systems, data, and operations were affected?
Cyberattacks can impact a wide range of systems, and each compromised point can carry serious consequences, from direct and indirect financial losses to data breaches and a loss of customer trust. That’s why it’s crucial for your organization to understand exactly what was impacted so they can plan and respond effectively.
Be prepared to outline:
- Which systems were encrypted or exfiltrated
- The effect on day-to-day operations
- The financial and reputational consequences
Seventy-five percent of businesses weren’t using immutable backups at the time of a security breach, giving cybercriminals the upper hand while leaving them with longer outages and a tougher recovery. In cases when ransomware victims did have backups, 89 percent of ransomware victims saw their backup repositories targeted. The good news: Organizations with strong backup strategies experienced shorter downtime and faster recovery, proving that preparation makes a measurable difference.
4. What has been done to prevent this from happening again?
The board doesn’t just want to know that the crisis is contained; they want to know it won’t happen again. This is your chance to show how you are helping the organization evolve to defend against future threats.
Here’s how you can turn this challenge into a long-term growth strategy:
- Adopt a Zero Trust architecture: Operate with the understanding that no user or system is trusted by default; every access request must be continuously validated.
- Implement ongoing employee training: Equip your workforce to recognize and report threats before they escalate into breaches.
- Realign budgets to match the modern threat landscape: According to Veeam Data Protection Trends Report, 94 percent of organizations increased recovery budgets and 95 percent boosted prevention spending following a ransomware incident.
- Apply the 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy, a proven method to eliminate single points of failure
- Keep three copies of your data (original + two backups)
- Store them across two different types of media
- Maintain one copy offsite
- Ensure one copy is offline or immutable
- Achieve zero backup errors by testing regularly
Cyber resilience is about bouncing back and pushing forward.
Build your defenses before the next attack.
The time to prepare isn’t after an incident. It’s now. With the right strategy, partner, and tools in place, your business can be prepared before threats emerge.
The 2025 Veeam Ransomware Trends and Proactive Strategies report helps ensure your organization doesn’t become part of that statistic. Drawing on insights from over 1,300 organizations worldwide, the report highlights proven, real-world strategies that empower businesses to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.
