Ransomware attacks surged dramatically throughout 2023 and 2024, with different studies showing that between 50-70% of organizations worldwide were hit, many facing multiple incidents. Both Fortinet and SOPHOS confirm that sectors across the board, from healthcare to finance, were targeted, often resulting in data encryption and steep ransom demands. Considering this rising threat, air-gapped backups have emerged as a robust defense. By isolating critical backups from network access, this method provides a crucial safeguard against malicious actors, ensuring vital data remains out of reach.
In this article, we’ll explore what air-gapped backups are, how they work, the different types of air-gaps, their benefits and limitations, how they offer protection against ransomware, and the 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy. We will also provide insights into how businesses can implement air-gapped backups and determine whether this approach suits their needs.
What is Air-Gapped Backup?
Air-gapping is a data protection technique where a storage medium or network is physically or logically separated from a public or private network. It’s a backup that lives off-grid, cut off from the wild west of the internet and even your own internal networks. The whole idea is to keep your backups totally separate, so hackers, malware, or ransomware can’t touch it. There’s no direct link, no Wi-Fi, no digital tether back to your main systems, making it nearly impossible for cyber adversaries to worm their way in.
How does Air Gapping Work?
Air gapping works by isolating a storage system – whether it’s a physical device or a separate cloud instance – from all other systems and networks. With physical air gaps, the storage device is disconnected from the network, often requiring manual intervention to access or update data.
Logical air gaps, on the other hand, involve a virtual separation where data can only be accessed under specific, controlled conditions, usually involving multi-factor authentication and strict access policies.
This separation reduces the risk of online threats since there is no direct pathway for malware or ransomware to reach the backup data.
Types of Air Gaps
There are two main types of air gaps:
Physical Air Gap
This is the traditional approach, where backup systems are physically separated from the network. Think of it as unplugging external hard drives or tapes once the backup is complete. It’s simple but effective — no connection means no access.
Logical Air Gap
This relies on software controls to keep backups isolated. Even if your data lives in the cloud or on a separate server, strict security measures like encryption and limited access ensure that the backup environment stays protected from the main network.
Some companies also opt for Air Gap Clouds, where cloud environments are configured with restricted access and advanced encryption, creating a virtual air gap for added security. 
Benefits and Limitations of Air Gapping
Air-gapped backups offer a solid defense against cyber threats, but they aren’t without their challenges. Let’s break down both the upsides and the downsides:
Pros.
- Against Cyberattacks:
By keeping backups completely isolated, air-gapped systems make it extremely difficult for hackers to get in and tamper with your data. No network connection means cyber threats can’t easily infiltrate. - Ransomware Protection:
Since there’s no direct connection between your backup and the production network, ransomware has nowhere to spread. This makes air-gapped backups a highly effective safeguard against ransomware attacks. - Data Integrity:
Even if your main system is compromised, your air-gapped backups stay untouched and intact, providing a reliable safety net in case of a breach or system failure.
Cons.
- Operational Complexity:
Managing air-gapped backups can be complicated. It requires careful planning and ongoing management to ensure that the backup remains truly isolated. - Recovery Times:
In the event of a disaster, getting your data back from an air-gapped backup can take more time due to the manual processes needed to reconnect and restore the data. - Higher Costs:
Setting up and maintaining an air-gapped system often means investing in additional infrastructure and processes. This can make it more expensive than other backup methods, especially for physical setups.
Air Gapped Backups as Ransomware Protection
One of the most significant benefits of air-gapped backups is their ability to protect against ransomware attacks. Ransomware typically spreads through networked systems, encrypting files and demanding a ransom for their release. Since air-gapped backups are isolated, ransomware cannot reach them, ensuring that organizations have a secure, untampered backup to restore from in case of an attack. That’s why so many companies swear by this strategy – it’s like their secret weapon for keeping business running smoothly and their data safe, even when facing the nastiest ransomware threats.
3-2-1-1-0 Air Gap Backup Strategy
The 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy is a widely recommended approach for ensuring robust data protection. It dictates that an organization should have:
- 3x copies of data
- Stored on 2x different media types
- 1x copy kept off-site
- 1x copy air-gapped or offline
- 0x errors after backup verification.
This strategy complements air-gapping and emphasizes the importance of diverse and well-verified backup methods, ensuring that the business can recover quickly from any form of data loss or attack.
How to Implement Air-Gapped Backups?
When implementing air-gapped backups, there are some factors to consider:
- Evaluate Your Data: Identify the most critical data that needs to be air-gapped.
- Choose the Right Air Gap Type: Decide whether a physical or logical air gap best suits your needs.
- Access Controls: Ensure that only authorized personnel can access the air-gapped backup, using multi-factor authentication and encryption.
- Test the Backup System: Regularly verify that the backup system works as intended and that data can be restored quickly in case of an emergency.
- Automate Where Possible: For logical air gaps, use automation tools to reduce the manual workload involved in backup and restoration processes.
Do You Need Air-Gapped Backups?
Whether or not your business needs air-gapped backups depend on the nature of your data and the risks you face. Air-gapped backups are particularly valuable for industries with highly sensitive or regulated data, such as finance, healthcare, and government sectors, where data breaches can result in catastrophic consequences. If your organization faces a high risk of cyberattacks, especially ransomware, air-gapped backups provide a critical layer of protection.
However, businesses with lower risk profiles or those with highly integrated, cloud-based operations might find air-gapping too costly or complex for their needs.
What StarWind has to offer?
StarWind Virtual Tape Library (VTL) is a modern solution that replaces traditional tape libraries with a software-defined approach. Designed to enhance backup and archive infrastructure, StarWind VTL combines proprietary tape emulation software with high-capacity spinning disks, flash storage, and cloud integration.
StarWind VTL seamlessly integrates with existing tape-centric backup environments, providing a powerful, immutable, air-gapped backup and archive target. By doing so, it delivers a robust defense against ransomware and other cyber threats, ensuring your critical data remains secure and accessible.
Conclusion
Air-gapped backups are a powerful defense against ransomware and cyber threats, and when combined with Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), they create an even stronger shield. HCI brings scalability, performance, and simplified management, allowing you to seamlessly grow your storage and compute power without disruptions. With robust data protection features like backup, disaster recovery, and encryption, HCI enhances security while keeping operations smooth and cost-effective.
