What is wiper malware?

Wiper malware destroys or irreversibly corrupts data with no intention of providing recovery, even though it sometimes disguises itself as ransomware. Its goal is disruption or sabotage rather than extortion.

Because there is no decryption key to buy, recovery depends entirely on clean, intact backups — making verified recoverability, which Elastio provides, the only dependable defense against a wiper.

Last updated May 27, 2026