Ransomware attacks are a leading threat across 92% of industries, with businesses spending a record-breaking $1 billion in ransom payments in 2023. Protecting your data with a highly secure backup method, such as an air gapped system, is nonnegotiable.
Learn about the meaning of air gapping and the benefits and drawbacks of this method to maximize your security.
Definition of Air Gap Backups
Air gap backup is a data storage method that involves copying critical data and storing it offline. Companies with stringent security requirements, such as those in education, government, technology, and telecommunication industries, often use this approach.
With air gapping, the backup system is physically isolated from the primary network, creating a gap between the data and publicly accessible networks. This separation boosts your organization’s cyber resilience by shielding its backup data from cyber threats and ransomware attacks targeting connected systems.
Air gapped data copies also enable complete data recovery in the event of accidental deletion or malicious breaches. When used in disaster recovery strategies, these backups offer redundancy similar to immutable backups or cloud storage, providing another unalterable and undeletable data source.
Yet, unlike other methods, air gap backups are distinct in their lack of network connectivity. Storing backups offline in a secure location removes the risk of network-based attacks or unintentional corruption.
What Is an Air Gapped Network?
An air gapped network is generally considered a contradiction. An air gap implies no network connection, whereas a network necessitates connections. However, there are instances where air gapped systems may be temporarily connected to a network to transfer data between. In these instances, robust security measures are necessary to maintain isolation and mitigate vulnerabilities to cyber threats.
The Different Types of Air Gap Backups
There are three different types of air gap backup methods:
1. Physical Air Gaps
This is the traditional method for air gapping. It creates physical separation by disconnecting storage media, such as tape drives or external hard drives, from all networked devices after the backup is complete. This media is then stored in a secure location, often off-site.
The effectiveness of physical air gaps lies in their simplicity — no connection translates to no remote access. Data retrieval involves a physical trip to the storage site, which would have physical security measures in place. While offering maximum security, this approach comes at the cost of the most complex access and restoration procedures.
2. Logical Air Gaps
In contrast, logical air gaps keep backup data separate through network segmentation and software partitions. With data living online or on an isolated server, this method relies on strict security protocols like access controls and encryption to simulate an offline environment, protecting backups from the primary network. Even with unauthorized access to the digital asset, one couldn’t understand, steal, or modify it.
Though this method offers greater convenience and can achieve a similar level of security compared to its physical counterpart, logical air gapping involves more vulnerabilities.
3. Cloud Air Gaps
While physical and logical air gaps are the two main methods, some companies choose cloud air gaps — air gapped environments managed by backup service providers. With cloud-based backups, organizations transfer their data to the cloud. Then, providers store it in immutable storage on logically isolated volumes, achieved through restricted access and advanced encryption.
Cloud air gaps have the advantage of off-site storage, but you would be bound by the provider’s specific practices. Though many reputable providers offer various options, these may not align with your business’s unique requirements.
The Benefits of Air Gap Backups
Regardless of the method, air gaps are a crucial defense against data loss, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats. Data loss can be a crippling event for any business, especially when sensitive information is compromised.
Double- and triple-extortion ransomware attacks amplify this risk. Attackers demand ransom for data and threaten to leak it or target clients or partners unless additional payments are made. ALPHV-BlackCat, a ransomware group notorious for using triple extortion tactics, has compromised over 1,000 victims and collected almost $300 million in ransom.
To maximize your organization’s security, air gapping in cyber resilience and disaster recovery offers many benefits:
- Protection from ransomware: Air gapping safeguards critical data from ransomware by creating a backup that hackers can’t steal or delete. While it doesn’t prevent network breaches, it renders ransomware ineffective by providing a clean recovery point. By regularly implementing air gap practices, your organization will be a less desirable target, which can prevent attacks.
- Defense against cyber attacks: Other cyber attacks, like malware, phishing, and breaches, also threaten your data. Cyber intrusions increased by 125% in 2021, so air gapping provides a robust defense. Isolating backups makes unauthorized access difficult, as the absence of a network connection effectively deters infiltration.
- Preservation of data integrity: Data integrity is vital for reliable recovery, ensuring that contents haven’t been maliciously altered to maintain consistency and accuracy. Even if your company’s primary system is compromised, air gap backups remain secure and intact, offering a reliable recovery source after a system failure or breach.
- Compliance with regulatory requirements: Industries like healthcare must adhere to strict data regulations, including HIPAA’s mandates for physical and technical safeguards, as well as comprehensive data backup and disaster recovery plans. Air gapping can help companies meet these compliance standards by creating a secure, isolated storage environment for sensitive information.
The Drawbacks of Air Gap Backups
Like all cyber resilience and disaster recovery strategies, air gap backups have their drawbacks:
- Slow recovery times: In a disaster, recovering your organization’s data from air gapped backups can be time-consuming due to the manual processes necessary for reconnection and restoration. Restoring data to its last known state can take a few days or even weeks.
- Complex management processes: Managing air gapped backups can be complicated, requiring meticulous planning and ongoing oversight to maintain true isolation, resulting in increased operational involvement and a greater time commitment. Physical air gaps, for example, involve significant logistical considerations for tape maintenance and rotation.
- Higher upfront costs: Implementing and maintaining air gap backup systems often requires investment in additional infrastructure and processes. This can lead to higher costs than other backup methods, particularly for physical setups.
- Limited scalability: A major challenge with traditional backup and disaster recovery methods, such as physical air gapping, is limited scalability. Predicting your organization’s future data storage needs can be tough, leading to inadequate backup capacity and requiring further investment beyond initial setup costs.
Acknowledging the limitations of air gapping highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach, helping you truly maximize your security and business continuity strategy. Air gap backups should be seen as one component of a broader plan, with other measures in place to address drawbacks rather than as a singular solution.
Need a Comprehensive Data Backup Solution?
Air gaps prevent unauthorized access to backups, limit the effectiveness of ransomware attacks, and improve recovery chances in the event of a disaster. However, no solution is foolproof — your organization must implement complementary data resilience measures in addition to air gapping.
As an industry leader, Zmanda offers enterprises a comprehensive data backup solution. Zmanda Pro is here to help you ensure data continuity and increase cyber resilience through the advanced 3-2-1-1-0 backup rule.
In addition to implementing physical and logical air gapping for an extra layer of protection, our solution preserves your data in a secure and immutable vault, protecting it from unauthorized modifications, deletions, or malicious attacks. You’ll also improve business continuity with a Recovery Point Objective of less than one hour, enabling faster data recovery and minimizing downtime.
Start a free trial today to experience Zmanda Pro’s capabilities yourself.
