How does ransomware exfiltrate data?

Before encrypting, modern ransomware actors typically steal data to enable double extortion. Exfiltration is staged through methods such as compressing and uploading data to attacker-controlled cloud storage, tunneling it over protocols like DNS or HTTPS to blend with normal traffic, or using legitimate file-transfer tools.

This activity often precedes encryption during the attacker’s dwell time. Elastio’s persistence and insider-threat detection models surface staging and exfiltration indicators across recovery points, helping identify attacker presence before the encryption payload fires.

Last updated May 27, 2026