Introducing Elastio’s Quarantine Workflow for AWS Logically Air-Gapped Vaults

3 Key Takeaways

1. Immutability != Integrity Locking unverified data creates a "restoration loop" where ransomware is preserved alongside your critical assets.
2. The "Verify-Then-Vault" Gatekeeper Elastio sits upstream of your AWS LAG Vault, inspecting every recovery point. Only verified clean data is allowed to enter your gold-standard archive, ensuring it remains uncompromised.
3. Automated Quarantine Infected snapshots are instantly routed to a secure Quarantine Vault for forensic analysis, isolating threats without contaminating your clean recovery environment or slowing down response teams.

The Immutability Blind Spot

AWS Logically Air-Gapped (LAG) Vaults are a massive leap forward for cloud recovery assurance. They provide the isolation and immutability enterprises need to survive catastrophic cyber events.

But immutability has a dangerous blind spot: it doesn’t distinguish between clean data and corrupted data.

If ransomware encrypts your production environment and those changes replicate to your backup snapshots before they are moved to the vault, you are simply locking the malware into your gold-standard recovery archive. You aren’t preserving your business; you’re preserving the attack.

Today, Elastio has closed that gap. We introduced a new integration with AWS LAG that ensures only provably clean recovery points enter your immutable vault. By combining our deep-file inspection with a new Automated Quarantine Workflow, we prevent infected data from polluting your recovery environment.

The Risk: "Immutable Garbage In, Immutable Garbage Out"

The core principle of modern resilience is simple: Immutable storage isn't enough—data integrity must be proven.

Ransomware attackers are evolving. They no longer just encrypt production data; they target backup catalogs and leverage "slow burn" encryption strategies to corrupt snapshots over weeks or months. Standard signature-based detection tools often miss these storage-layer attacks because they are looking for executable files, not the mathematical signs of entropy and corruption within the data blocks themselves.

If you copy an infected recovery point into an AWS LAG Vault and lock it with a compliance retention policy, you create a restoration loop: every time you attempt to recover, you re-infect the environment.

What’s New with AWS LAG?

AWS has recently enhanced the LAG architecture to include multi-party approval and the ability to copy recovery points directly to the vault. This creates a formidable defensive perimeter—a digital vault door that requires multiple keys to open.

This architecture is vital for compliance with frameworks like DORA and NIST. However, a vault is only as valuable as the assets inside it. To make AWS LAG truly effective for ransomware recovery, you need a gatekeeper that validates the integrity of the data before the vault door swings shut.

The Elastio Solution: Verify, Then Vault

Elastio has updated our recovery assurance platform to act as that gatekeeper. We utilize machine learning-powered ransomware encryption detection models designed specifically to catch advanced strains, including slow encryption, striped encryption, and obfuscated patterns.

Here is the new workflow for AWS LAG customers:

1. Ingest & Inspection: As backups or snapshots are generated, Elastio automatically inspects the data for signs of ransomware encryption and corruption.
2. The Decision Engine: Based on the inspection results, the workflow forks immediately:
3. • Path A: The Clean Path. If the data is verified as clean, it is routed to the customer’s Immutable LAG Vault. Once there, it undergoes automated recovery testing to prove recoverability.
   • Path B: The Infection Path. If the data is flagged as infected, it is blocked from the LAG vault. Instead, it is automatically routed to the Elastio Quarantine Vault.

Introducing the Elastio Quarantine Vault

The Quarantine Vault is a critical new component of our architecture. It serves as a containment zone that protects the integrity of your "clean" vault while preserving the evidence needed for incident response.

When a recovery point is quarantined:

• Protection is Preserved: The infected snapshot never enters your pristine LAG environment. Your "Last Known Good" state remains truly good.
• Forensics Workflow Triggered: The infected data is isolated for analysis. Security teams can run a forensics workflow to identify the strain, the entry point, and the blast radius without risking cross-contamination.
• Zero-Day Detection: Because our ML models are designed for low false positives and zero-day detection, you catch compromised data that traditional EDR tools might miss until it's too late.

Why This Matters for the Enterprise

For CISOs, Cloud Architects, and Governance teams, this workflow shifts the posture from "hopeful" to "provable."

• Audit-Ready Compliance: Whether you are dealing with NYDFS, HIPAA, or cyber insurance requirements, you can now prove that your immutable archives are free of compromise.
• Reduced Incident Response Time: By automatically segregating infected data, IR teams don't have to waste time shifting through thousands of snapshots to find a clean version. Elastio points you directly to the last clean copy and the first infected copy.
• Cost Control: You stop paying for premium, immutable storage on data that is useless for recovery.

Real-World Value

Elastio delivers outcome-driven security. With this update, we provide:

• Provable Recovery: You don’t just think your backups will work; you have a verified, clean report to prove it.
• Ransomware Impact Detection: Identify the exact moment of infection to minimize data loss (RPO).
• Integrity Assurance: Validate that no tampering has occurred within the data before it becomes immutable.

Take Control of Your Recovery

Don't let your backup vault become a ransomware repository. Ensure that every recovery point stored in AWS LAG is verified, validated, and clean.