Is Air Gap on your Superhero IT Utility Belt?

Each day IT admins work diligently behind the scenes to keep their systems running, their workforce productive, and their customers happy. But they are also secretly Caped Crusaders ever vigilant for the next cyber threat to their IT infrastructure.

Here’s three reasons why Air Gap should be a part of your Superhero Utility Belt. Air gap is any IT system, digital device, or storage media such as tape or hard drive disk (HDD) that is disconnected from the network, making it automatically “air gap” protected from malware.

1. Air Gap is a Cloak of Invisibility - There are countless ways ransomware infiltrates and seeks out IT systems to paralyze, corrupt, and steal data. Air gaped systems or media can’t be remotely hacked, turned on/off, encrypted, or wiped - because the ransomware can’t see it.

2. Air Gap can be Immutable - Sadly companies often do pay ransoms, only to find that their data is irreversibly corrupted or deleted. Data storage that supports WORM software prevents ransomware from modifying, encrypting, or deleting data. AES-256 encryption further adds another layer of data protection.

3. Air Gap is the Deep Freeze of Cloud Storage - Most cloud vendors offer cold storage solutions (tape or disks) where inactive data is stored offline (air gaped) indefinitely for backup, disaster recovery or regulatory compliance. Offline cold storage systems are not only the most cost-effective solutions, they also add the benefit of isolating huge amounts of replicated business data from cyberattacks.