Why Your Small or Midsize Business Needs Air-Gapped, Offline Backups
If your business isn’t doing air-gapped, offline backups, you might be playing with fire. Cyber threats aren’t just targeting big enterprises—small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are prime targets because they often lack the robust security of larger organizations.
What Is an Air-Gapped or Offline Backup?
An air-gapped backup is a copy of your data that is physically disconnected from your network—meaning it can’t be accessed remotely by hackers, ransomware, or malicious insiders. These backups can be stored on external drives, tape storage, or offline cloud solutions that are only connected when performing scheduled backups.
So why should your business invest in offline backups? Let’s break it down.
1. Ransomware Protection
Ransomware is getting nastier. Attackers don’t just encrypt your files anymore—they go after your backups too. If your backups are connected to your network, they’re just as vulnerable as your primary data. An air-gapped backup ensures you have a clean, untouched copy of your data when you need it most.
2. Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks Can Wipe Your Backups
A man-in-the-middle attack happens when a hacker secretly intercepts and manipulates your data without you knowing. If they gain access to your backup system, they can:
– Delete pre-existing backups so you have nothing to restore from.
– Disable new backups from being created, making it look like everything is fine.
– Eliminate notifications so you don’t even realize backups are failing.
By the time you notice, it’s too late. The only thing that saves you in this scenario? An offline backup they can’t reach.
3. Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery
Whether it’s a cyberattack, hardware failure, or natural disaster, losing data can cripple your business. Having regular offline backups means you can recover quickly and minimize downtime. Think of it as an insurance policy for your business operations.
4. Protection from Rogue Employees & Internal Threats
Not all threats come from the outside. Disgruntled employees with access to your systems can intentionally delete or corrupt data, including backups. If your only backups are online and accessible, they can erase everything. An offline, air-gapped backup ensures there’s always a last-resort copy they can’t touch.
The Bottom Line
If your only backups are online, you’re vulnerable. Air-gapped, offline backups provide a safety net against ransomware, MitM attacks, rogue employees, and disasters. SMBs can’t afford to take these risks lightly.
Your disaster recovery plan is only effective if you can swiftly make recovered data and applications available to users and clients after a breach or security event.
What’s your backup strategy? If it doesn’t include an offline component, it might be time for a rethink.
Transition Paradigm can help determine the best disaster recovery and planning strategy for your team. Info@transitionparadigm.com.