An air-gap backup is a backup copy isolated from the primary environment so attackers cannot easily reach it through ordinary network access. It matters because recovery options improve when at least some backups are outside the attacker’s immediate blast radius.
What is Air-Gap Backup?
Air gaps may be physical, logical, or operational, depending on the design. The core idea is to make backup compromise materially harder than compromising the live environment and its online storage paths.
What Air-Gap Backup Commonly Supports
Common uses include ransomware resilience, offline recovery strategy, high-assurance backup design, and separation of duties.
Air-Gap Backup vs. Always-Connected Backup Path
An air-gap backup reduces reachable attack surface from the primary environment. Always-connected backups are often easier to discover and destroy during an intrusion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use air-gapped backups?
Because attackers often spend real effort disabling recovery before announcing extortion or destruction.
Does air gap have to mean offline tape?
No. The key is meaningful isolation, not one specific medium.
