What is a cyber vault

This episode of Techsplainers explores cyber vaults, ultra-secure backup environments designed to keep critical data isolated from production systems during severe cyber incidents. It explains how cyber vaults fit into a broader cyber resilience strategy, where the goal is not only to stop attacks but also to recover from them with minimal business disruption. The episode walks through the two main vault models: physical cyber vaults, which rely on true or intermittent air gaps, and logical cyber vaults, which create a virtual air gap through tightly controlled cloud-based environments. It also examines the tradeoffs between these approaches, including cost, convenience, and security. Along the way, listeners learn how cyber vaults use immutable storage, quorum authorization, and intelligent monitoring to protect backup data from ransomware, insider threats, and administrative misuse. Real-world examples and analogies help clarify how one-way backup flows, restricted recovery, and anomaly detection work in practice. The result is a clear explanation of why cyber vaults are becoming an important part of modern recovery planning. Find more information at https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/cyber-vault Find more episodes: https://www.ibm.biz/techsplainers-podcast Narrated by Anna Gutowska