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Rover Production and IT systems disru... ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2gx8p3rzeo)[2026 Peter Green Chilled Order and logistics data ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0k7yy8n3g5o)[2026 Adidas UK Customer contact details ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78jkev1el2o)[2026 PowerSchool 62.4M records ](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com)[2026 DISA Global Solutions 3.3M records ](https://techcrunch.com)[2026 Globe Life 850K records ](https://www.securityweek.com)[2026 Lidl GB Customer contact data ](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/11/lidl-gb-third-party-data-breach)[2026 Asahi Group Production systems disrupted ](https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/asahi-says-cyberattack-disrupted-operations-japan-2025-09-29/)[2026 Kido International 8K records ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c623d7v0e5xo)[2026 Collins Aerospace (RTX) Check-in and boarding disruptio... ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c789e7l1z7po)[2026 Jaguar Land Rover Production and IT systems disru... ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2gx8p3rzeo)[2026 Peter Green Chilled Order and logistics data ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0k7yy8n3g5o)[2026 Adidas UK Customer contact details ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78jkev1el2o) [View All →](/learn/breaches) [![Firevault - offline secure storage, physically disconnected from the internet](/assets/logo-color-DBVl0KCg.png)](/) Products Solutions [Why OSS](/why-oss) More [Help](/help)[Get started](/get-started) Overview Who this guide is forWhat infrastructure leadership i…Immutable, air-gapped and offlin…The recovery sequence people get…Restore testing that means somet…The questions to askThe evidence to expectWhat happens when preventative c…Deciding what you actually needThe Control Blueprints most rele…Where to go nextSources and further readingAbout this guideMore [Guides](/learn/knowledge?filter=guides) Guides · 28 August 2026 # IT Director's Guide to Ransomware Recovery, Backups and Infrastructure Resilience The practical recovery guide: immutable versus offline, Active Directory rebuild, management plane compromise, clean recovery environments, restore testing and realistic RTO and RPO. ![Mark Fermor](/assets/mark-fermor-aWtKNSv7.jpg) Mark Fermor Director & Co-Founder, Firevault 6 min read Share 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![IT Director's Guide to Ransomware Recovery, Backups and Infrastructure Resilience](https://zomvctmqpgirvjnvawlz.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/article-images/guides%2Fit-director-guide-ransomware-recovery.jpg) Guides Why it matters ## What this means for organisations holding critical data The practical recovery guide: immutable versus offline, Active Directory rebuild, management plane compromise, clean recovery environments, restore testing and realistic RTO and RPO. **On this page**[Who this guide is for](#section-0)[What infrastructure leadership i…](#section-1)[Immutable, air-gapped and offlin…](#section-2)[The recovery sequence people get…](#section-3)[Restore testing that means somet…](#section-4)[The questions to ask](#section-5)[The evidence to expect](#section-6)[What happens when preventative c…](#section-7)[Deciding what you actually need](#section-8)[The Control Blueprints most rele…](#section-9)[Where to go next](#section-10)[Sources and further reading](#section-11)[About this guide](#section-12) On this page 1. [Who this guide is for](#section-0) 2. [What infrastructure leadership is actually responsible for](#section-1) 3. [Immutable, air-gapped and offline are not the same thing](#section-2) 4. [The recovery sequence people get wrong](#section-3) 5. [Restore testing that means something](#section-4) 6. [The questions to ask](#section-5) 7. [The evidence to expect](#section-6) 8. [What happens when preventative controls fail](#section-7) 9. [Deciding what you actually need](#section-8) 10. [The Control Blueprints most relevant to this role](#section-9) 11. [Where to go next](#section-10) 12. [Sources and further reading](#section-11) 13. [About this guide](#section-12) ## Who this guide is for This guide is written for IT directors, heads of infrastructure and the people who would actually run the rebuild. It concentrates on recovery mechanics rather than strategy. ## What infrastructure leadership is actually responsible for - Backups that exist, verify and restore, in that order. - A rebuild sequence that starts from nothing and reaches a trading business. - Protection of the management planes that recovery depends on. - Recovery credentials and configuration held outside the estate. - Restore testing that is measured, dated and honest about failures. ## Immutable, air-gapped and offline are not the same thing - **Immutable** means the data cannot be altered for a retention window. It usually still sits inside the same account, tenancy or administrative boundary as the estate. - **Logically air-gapped** means the connection is controlled by software or configuration. Whoever controls that configuration controls the gap. - **Physically offline** means there is no electrical path to reach the data at all. It is slower to restore from, which is why it suits a defined critical set rather than everything. Our comparison of [air gap versus immutable backup](/learn/air-gap-vs-immutable-backup) sets out the trade-offs in more detail. ## The recovery sequence people get wrong 1. Establish a clean environment that is not administered from the compromised one. 2. Rebuild identity first. Test an authoritative Active Directory or directory restore end to end, including the recovery of tier-zero credentials. 3. Restore the management planes: virtualisation, backup infrastructure and network administration. 4. Restore the minimum viable estate, verified against a known-good baseline before reconnection. 5. Stage reconnection, monitoring for reinfection at each step. Recovery credentials, the backup catalogue and the runbooks all need to exist outside the failure domain. This is the most common reason a technically sound backup estate still results in a multi-week outage. ## Restore testing that means something - Test a full rebuild, not a file restore. - Use the clock, and record where it went wrong. - Include the systems people forget: certificate authorities, DNS, DHCP, licence servers, MFA. - Test with the assumption that the primary administrator account is unavailable. - Publish the measured RTO and RPO back to the business and to finance. ## The questions to ask 1. Can a domain administrator delete or encrypt every copy of our data today? 2. Where do our recovery credentials live, and would we reach them during an incident? 3. How long did the last full identity restore take? 4. Which restores have we never actually performed? 5. What would we do if the backup console itself were compromised? ## The evidence to expect - A dated restore test report with durations and failures. - A rebuild runbook available offline. - An inventory of the critical set: the data that must survive at any cost. - Evidence of separation between production and recovery administration. - Reconnection and verification criteria agreed in advance. ## What happens when preventative controls fail Prevention buys time. It does not remove the need to answer a simple question: if an attacker holds your identity platform and your management console tonight, what still works tomorrow morning? Most organisations discover that their backup catalogue, their recovery credentials and their runbooks all depend on the systems that have just been taken. That is the dependency worth removing first. No control removes the possibility of a serious incident. The realistic goal is a smaller blast radius, a recovery path that does not depend on the compromised estate, and evidence that both were tested. ## Deciding what you actually need [Offline Secure Storage](/offline-secure-storage)® belongs around a defined critical and clean recovery set. It is not a replacement for your normal backup infrastructure, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling rather than advising. Firevault is the company. It provides three distinct things, and the honest answer is often that you need one of them rather than all of them. - **[Offline Secure Storage®](/offline-secure-storage)** holds a defined set of critical records and clean recovery data physically disconnected from the live estate. It is a protected set, not a replacement for your backup infrastructure. - **[Control Modules](/control)** are a suite of nine purpose-built tools and techniques that give you physical control over the paths into and across your estate. Introduce only the modules that map to the risk you are treating. - **[Control Blueprints](/control-blueprints)** are proven combinations of those modules assembled for a named outcome, such as containing a live breach or governing third-party access. If your existing controls already deliver a tested recovery path that survives the compromise of your identity and management planes, and you can evidence it, you may not need any of this. Test that assumption before you buy anything. If you are unsure which of the three applies, the [Firevault Concierge](/find-my-oss) walks through the question set without a sales conversation. ## The Control Blueprints most relevant to this role These are the patterns that touch infrastructure and recovery directly. Control by Firevault is a set of nine Control Modules, grouped into the FIRE layer (Firebreak, Isolate, Relay, Execute) and the VAULT layer (Validate, Archive, Unlink, Lock, Transfer). Seven Control Blueprints combine those modules for a specific outcome. You do not need all nine modules, and most organisations start with one blueprint. - **[CP-01 Stop Kill-Chain Ransomware](/control-blueprints/cp-01)** uses Firebreak, Isolate, Execute. Read the [stop kill-chain ransomware guide](/learn/guides/stopping-kill-chain-ransomware-control-blueprint). - **[CP-02 Contain Active Breaches](/control-blueprints/cp-02)** uses Firebreak, Isolate, Execute. Read the [contain active breaches guide](/learn/guides/containing-active-breaches-control-blueprint). - **[CP-03 Control Third-Party Access](/control-blueprints/cp-03)** uses Validate, Relay, Lock. Read the [control third-party access guide](/learn/guides/controlling-third-party-access-control-blueprint). - **[CP-04 Enforce Physical Segmentation](/control-blueprints/cp-04)** uses Firebreak, Isolate, Unlink. Read the [enforce physical segmentation guide](/learn/guides/enforcing-physical-segmentation-control-blueprint). - **[CP-05 Protect Critical Infrastructure](/control-blueprints/cp-05)** uses Firebreak, Isolate, Relay, Execute. Read the [protect critical infrastructure guide](/learn/guides/protecting-critical-infrastructure-control-blueprint). The full set is on the [Control overview](/control) and the [Control Blueprints index](/control-blueprints). ## Where to go next For the architecture behind these choices, read the [CIO and CTO guide](/learn/guides/cio-cto-guide-cyber-resilience). For threat framing, read the [CISO guide](/learn/guides/ciso-guide-cyber-resilience). Our [note on recovery independence](/learn/guides/recovery-independence) covers the credential problem specifically. ## Sources and further reading - [NCSC, Mitigating malware and ransomware attacks](https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/mitigating-malware-and-ransomware-attacks) - [NCSC, Business continuity and disaster recovery](https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/business-continuity-and-disaster-recovery) - [CISA StopRansomware](https://www.cisa.gov/stopransomware) - [NIST SP 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/34/r1/final) - [NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0](https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework) ## About this guide **Author** Mark Fermor, Firevault. **Reviewed by** Firevault engineering review. **Last reviewed** 28 August 2026. This guide draws on primary regulatory and technical sources together with Firevault's own field work on physical isolation and offline recovery. It is guidance, not legal advice. Where a legal or regulatory duty is in question, take advice on your own circumstances. Other guides in this series are listed on the [role guide hub](/learn/guides/by-role). About the author ![Mark Fermor](/assets/mark-fermor-aWtKNSv7.jpg) ### Mark Fermor [](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mfermor) Director & Co-Founder Co-founder of Firevault, focused on offline secure storage and protecting individuals and businesses from fraud, fines, loss and damage. Speaker, owner and advisor. The Firevault view**Offline Secure Storage® keeps a clean copy beyond the reach of an attacker.**[Why #OSS →](/why-oss) Control systems and access**Cut the physical paths attackers and third parties depend on.**[Explore Control →](/solutions/control) Get started**Get started, or talk to a member of the team.**[Get started →](/get-started) How Firevault would handle this ## A recovery copy an attacker cannot reach Offline Secure Storage® keeps a clean copy of your data on hardware that is physically disconnected, so backup and recovery do not depend on systems an intruder can touch. [Get started](/get-started)[Talk to the team](/demo) **Hardware**Your copy sits on dedicated encrypted hardware **Disconnect**Offline by default, connected only when you say so **Recovery**A known-clean copy to rebuild from, on your timetable **Location**Held in a secure Firevault Bunker ## Continue learning - [ ### Security Architecture Guide: Physical Isolation, Segmentation and Cyber Resilience The deepest guide in the series: trust boundaries, attack paths, failure domains, Layer 1 isolation versus logical segmentation, control and management planes, Zero Trust, the Purdue Model and IEC 62443. Read guide ](/learn/guides/security-architecture-guide) - [ ### Cyber Risk & Compliance Guide: Controls, Evidence and Resilience for GRC Leaders How risk and compliance leaders can move from control existence to control effectiveness: risk treatment, evidence, third-party assurance, exceptions and remediation that survive audit. Read guide ](/learn/guides/cyber-risk-and-compliance-guide) - [ ### CISO Guide to Cyber Resilience: Risk, Recovery and Physical Control Threat modelling, attack paths, blast radius and recovery from the CISO seat, and an honest read of where Offline Secure Storage, Control Modules and Control Blueprints do and do not help. Read guide ](/learn/guides/ciso-guide-cyber-resilience) - [ ### The CIO & CTO Guide to Cyber Resilience, Architecture and Recovery A technology leader's view of resilience: dependency mapping, recovery architecture, identity and cloud concentration, IT and OT convergence, and where physical controls earn their place. Read guide ](/learn/guides/cio-cto-guide-cyber-resilience) Related Reading ## You may also find these useful [ ![Protecting Students, Peers and Partners: A Practical Education Data Briefing](/__l5e/assets-v1/6ecf6bfc-3d28-40a7-8a6a-2d42fe36a21a/safeguarding-education-data-2026-v2-2x.jpg) Guides ### Protecting Students, Peers and Partners: A Practical Education Data Briefing A practical, forward-looking briefing to help schools, colleges and universities protect students, staff and partner data after the Department for Education breach. 29 Jul 2026 13 min ](/news/guide-safeguarding-education-data)[ ![Urgent Briefing and Advice: Protecting Personal Data for High-Profile Figures in the Public Eye](/__l5e/assets-v1/084c38b8-253b-4cc2-9056-c78a2fbd36c3/urgent-warning-triangle-20260714-2x.jpg) Guides ### Urgent Briefing and Advice: Protecting Personal Data for High-Profile Figures in the Public Eye Practical steps for serving and former politicians, councillors, campaigners, journalists, executives, broadcasters and anyone in the public eye, covering email security, device hygiene, threat handling and offline secure storage. 14 Jul 2026 22 min ](/news/urgent-guide-protecting-personal-data-high-profile-public-eye)[ ![500,000 Volunteers Breached Through Authorised Access: A Controlled Access Buyer's Guide](https://zomvctmqpgirvjnvawlz.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/article-images/news%2Fcontrolled-access-buyers-guide.jpg) Guides ### 500,000 Volunteers Breached Through Authorised Access: A Controlled Access Buyer's Guide In April 2026, approved researchers exfiltrated the health records, genetic data, and medical histories of 500,000 UK Biobank volunteers through authorised access channels, then listed the data for sale on Alibaba. The breach was not caused by a hack. It was caused by a model that assumes licence agreements can prevent data theft. This guide covers why that model fails and what physical controls replace it. 23 Apr 2026 18 min ](/news/controlled-access-buyers-guide-offline-secure-storage) ![Mark Fermor](/assets/mark-fermor-aWtKNSv7.jpg) ![David Bailey](/assets/david-bailey-Dgqj8eaE.jpg) ![Kenny Phipps](/assets/kenny-phipps-CVyooRsR.jpg) Online Now Concierge ## Put this guide into practice Ready to apply what you have learned? Explore how Firevault delivers the offline protection covered in this guide. Takes about 2 minutes. No account needed. Find Out Free 2 mins No sign-up