Organisations turn to cloud modernisation to unlock flexibility, improve performance, and reduce operational overhead. The benefits are clear, and in many cases, tangible almost immediately. However, while much of the focus falls on cost savings, automation, and architectural gains, one critical question is often overlooked: What happens if you need to recover?
In the race to modernise, recovery planning is frequently treated as a post-project task—something to consider once systems are stable. But in today’s threat environment, where ransomware is designed to turn off recovery mechanisms first, that delay can be costly. If backup integrity hasn’t been confirmed, recovery becomes uncertain. And resilience, in practice, becomes an assumption.
The Evolving Threat to Backup Infrastructure
Cyberattacks are no longer just about stealing data or locking files – they are increasingly designed to disable a business’s ability to recover. One of the most significant evolutions in ransomware strategy is the targeting of backup infrastructure itself. Once seen as a reliable safety net, backups have become prime targets.
The numbers are stark. According to the 2025 Sophos State of Ransomware report, 94% of organisations hit by ransomware said their backups were targeted in the attack, and many were compromised.
This isn’t just playing out in security reports. In the past 12 months, ransomware events have disrupted prominent names across the UK and beyond. Marks & Spencer was caught in a MOVEit-linked data breach that exposed internal documents and supplier records. The Co-operative Group experienced a significant outage in June 2024, which disrupted internal operations after ransomware disabled its core systems. Transport for London (TfL) was also affected by a widespread cyber event in late 2023, prompting weeks of disruption to business systems. Internationally, attacks on global logistics firms, healthcare providers, and government bodies have made it clear: backups alone aren’t enough.
In each case, it wasn’t the absence of a backup strategy that caused the most damage – it was the absence of assurance that recovery would work when needed.
Common Gaps in Post-migration Environments
Cloud migration and optimisation projects typically focus on high-visibility wins, such as decommissioning legacy systems, rolling out infrastructure-as-code, and streamlining workloads. Backup systems are often included in scope but rarely revisited in detail. The assumption is that if they’re running, they’re sufficient.
This is where many environments fall short. At Cloud Elemental, we often encounter:
- Backup jobs that haven’t been tested since deployment
- Recovery points that are unverified and potentially compromised
- No mechanism to scan backups for ransomware or corruption
- A disconnect between backup infrastructure and business continuity expectations
These gaps may remain hidden for months. But once an incident occurs, the absence of validation leads to confusion, delays, and in some cases, failure to recover entirely.
The Role of Recovery Validation
Recovery validation addresses this gap directly. Rather than relying on assumptions, it introduces evidence: a way to continuously confirm that backups are intact, uncompromised, and safe to restore.
This is where Elastio plays a critical role. Its platform integrates with existing cloud storage and backup systems to inspect snapshot and backup data in near real time. It flags signs of ransomware encryption or data corruption and, crucially, identifies the restore points you can trust.
Elastio doesn’t require wholesale changes to your tooling. It enhances what you already have, and in doing so, it changes how recovery is approached.
Strategic Integration Through Partnership
To support this, Cloud Elemental and Elastio have partnered to make recovery validation a standard component of our modernisation and optimisation engagements.
Our work spans early-stage discovery, architecture, deployment, and disaster recovery redesign. Through this partnership, we now integrate Elastio’s validation platform into that process, not after the fact, but as part of the core design. The result is an environment where recovery is not only possible but demonstrably reliable.
This isn’t an additional step. It’s a shift in mindset: resilience isn’t something to verify later. It should be built into the transformation from the outset.
A Structured, Proven Process
Our joint approach follows a structured four-step model:
- Assessment – We evaluate your current recovery posture, compliance requirements, and risk exposure
- Design – We create a recovery-aware architecture that aligns with operational and business continuity goals
- Implementation – We modernise your backup tooling and deploy Elastio for continuous validation
- Ongoing Validation – Elastio scans backup data continuously, surfacing trusted restore points and providing audit-ready reporting
This process is designed to integrate seamlessly into existing cloud operations, without adding overhead, whilst still delivering significant resilience gains.
Why now?
The risks are growing. Attackers are more deliberate. Regulatory standards are tightening. And internal expectations around operational resilience are rising, particularly in regulated or customer-facing industries.
It’s no longer enough to say that a recovery plan exists. Boards, auditors, and executive teams want to see proof. They want to know that systems can be restored, that data is uncompromised, and that continuity plans are more than theory.
By validating recovery in advance, organisations gain:
- Faster, more confident incident response
- Reduced risk of reinfection through compromised restore points
- Clear visibility into which backups can be trusted
- Stronger compliance and audit outcomes
These aren’t just operational benefits. They support brand reputation, regulatory trust, and executive accountability.
Building Recovery into Modernisation by Default
Too many transformation programmes treat backup validation as a future consideration. But resilience delayed is resilience denied. Recovery should not be left to chance – or to a post-incident scramble.
The Cloud Elemental x Elastio partnership is designed to change that. Together, we provide not just the tools but the strategic approach to embed recovery validation into modern cloud environments from day one.
We’re helping organisations move from assumption to assurance – and proving that real resilience starts with visibility, not hindsight.
Ready to modernise with recovery in mind?
If you’re looking to strengthen resilience across your cloud estate, we can help. Get in touch with Cloud Elemental to explore how recovery validation can be built into your modernisation or optimisation strategy.
Want to understand more about our joint approach? Find out more about our partnership here or visit elastio.com to learn how their platform adds continuous validation to your existing tooling.
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