An account is compromised.
A single credential exposes the full customer database because everything is reachable from one place.
Credential riskOffline Secure Storage® (#OSS) for customer data
Offline Secure Storage for customer data. Held where attackers cannot reach it.
Customer records, identity documents, contracts, payment evidence and support histories. Keep the working copies where your teams need them and move the archive that does not need to stay online into physically disconnected storage.
Offline Secure StorageDedicated hardwareControlled sharingGDPR evidence
What businesses protect
The records customers trust you with.
IdentityCustomer identity files
ContractsSigned agreements
PaymentsPayment evidence
SupportCase histories
ArchiveClosed accounts
EvidenceConsent records
StorageDedicated hardware
AccessControlled by you
When closedNo standing network path
A simple governance question
If your systems were breached tonight, how much customer data would be reachable?
Most organisations keep every customer record permanently connected. Very little of it needs to be.
Ransomware reaches the archive.
Historic customer records are encrypted alongside the live systems that depend on them.
RansomwareA supplier is breached.
Data shared for processing is exposed through somebody else's environment and your customers still bear the loss.
Supply chainThe regulator asks a question.
You have to prove where customer data lives, who reached it and what protected it.
AccountabilityThe Firevault principle
The problem is not only attackers. It is how much customer data is reachable at all times.
Most organisations keep every customer record permanently connected because that is how systems are built, not because the business needs it. Changing the connection state of retained records changes what any breach can expose.
If retained customer data sits physically outside the connected estate, a compromised credential cannot reach it.
Select → Secure → Disconnect → Access when requiredA path that does not exist cannot be used
When the vault is disconnected there is no share, no console and no credential for an intruder to abuse.
Encryption does not reduce reach
Encrypted records that remain online are still discoverable, still copyable and still governed by keys held in the same estate.
Minimisation is a physical act
Data protection law asks you to limit exposure. Moving retained records offline does that in practice rather than on paper.
Evidence comes from state, not policy
A regulator can be shown where the data lives, when it was reachable and who retrieved it.
The customer data checklist
Decide what has to stay reachable.
The aim is not to take the business offline. It is to identify the customer data that is most damaging to expose and least often used, then change its state.
Your data inventory
Six areas most organisations already hold.
Use this as a first-pass inventory before you decide which Firevault product fits.
Identity → Contracts → Payments → Support → Archive → EvidenceIdentity
- ✓Verification documents
- ✓Onboarding evidence
- ✓Address records
- ✓Contact history
- ✓Special category data
Contracts
- ✓Signed agreements
- ✓Terms accepted
- ✓Variations
- ✓Commercial correspondence
- ✓Termination records
Payments
- ✓Transaction history
- ✓Billing records
- ✓Refunds and disputes
- ✓Reconciliation evidence
- ✓Financial audit trail
Support
- ✓Case histories
- ✓Complaint records
- ✓Call notes
- ✓Escalation evidence
- ✓Resolution outcomes
Archive
- ✓Closed accounts
- ✓Legacy systems data
- ✓Migrated records
- ✓Retention-bound files
- ✓Backup gold copies
Evidence
- ✓Consent records
- ✓Lawful basis notes
- ✓Retention schedules
- ✓Access logs
- ✓Breach preparedness evidence
The Firevault difference
Not every customer record needs to live online.
Keep the live records your teams work with in your CRM and business systems. Firevault is for the retained data you must keep, rarely touch and cannot afford to lose or leak.
Keep convenience where it helps.
Connected systems are right for records your teams use every day.
- •Active customer accounts
- •Live support cases
- •Current billing and orders
- •Working documents in progress
- •Everyday collaboration
Give consequence a different state.
Selected customer data can be available when required without remaining permanently reachable.
- ✓Closed and dormant accounts
- ✓Identity and verification archives
- ✓Retained payment evidence
- ✓Historic case records
- ✓Clean recovery copies
Other services encrypt customer data that remains online. Firevault gives the retained data somewhere else to live.Online when you need it. Offline when you do not.
Ownership, sharing and audit
Make sure only the right person can reach customer data.
Protecting customer data has to survive staff changes, supplier relationships and regulatory review. Ownership, controlled sharing and recorded access are separate things.
VERIFIED
OWNER
AUTHORISED
COLLEAGUE
AUDITOR OR
REGULATOR
SUCCESSION
ROUTE
The verified owner controls everyday access. Selected files can be shared without exposing the whole vault. Every retrieval is recorded.
No shared team password
Access is a decision, not a default.
Firevault separates ownership, sharing and evidence so security does not weaken every time somebody needs one file.
One vault per userEveryday access stays linked to a verified individual rather than a departmental login.
Share a file, not the vaultGive a colleague, auditor or adviser controlled access to selected records only.
Recorded retrievalAccess windows and retrievals are logged so you can evidence handling to a regulator.
This is not only about the worst day
Useful whenever the business is under scrutiny.
Offline Secure Storage earns its place during audits, migrations and incidents, not only during a breach.
Prove where customer data lives.
A defined home for retained records rather than a search across systems.
GovernanceRecover from copies attackers cannot reach.
Clean copies of customer records held physically disconnected from the estate.
ResilienceRetire legacy systems safely.
Move retained data out of an old platform without leaving it online.
TransitionReduce what a third party can hold.
Keep the archive with you instead of duplicating it into another environment.
Supply chainAnswer requests without exposure.
Retrieve the specific record for the specific request during a defined window.
ComplianceShow a control an insurer understands.
Physical disconnection is a demonstrable measure, not a policy statement.
AssuranceEvidence and guidance
Reducing what is reachable is the regulator's expectation, not a Firevault idea.
UK and European guidance both treat data minimisation and appropriate technical measures as outcomes you must be able to demonstrate.
ICO
The ICO expects appropriate technical and organisational measures under UK GDPR, judged by the risk posed by the processing and the state of the art.
Read the source UK GDPR Article 32Article 32 requires security appropriate to the risk, including measures that limit the impact of unauthorised access.
Read the source NCSCNCSC guidance on offline backups recommends keeping at least one copy separate from the network and out of an attacker's reach.
Read the sourceWho this applies to
Sectors where customer records carry the most consequence.
Concise routes into the industry and audience pages where this need appears most often.
The Firevault response
Offline Secure Storage®, then the product that fits the volume.
This page is about the exposure. Capacities, access models, specifications and pricing sit on the product pages so you can choose once the requirement is clear.
Offline Secure Storage®
Offline Secure Storage holds selected customer records on dedicated hardware that is physically disconnected until you ask for it.
Why Offline Secure StorageVault
On-demand access to a digital safe deposit box for customer archives, contracts and retained evidence.
LUV
A low use vault for identity archives, consent records and retention-bound essentials, reached on a nominated access day.
Storage
Scalable offline capacity from 20TB upwards, designed with the solutions team around your requirement.
Why Firevault
Policy on top. Physical protection underneath.
Your teams should not have to out-run every attacker. Firevault changes the state of the data itself.
Physical storage
Offline Secure Storage instances are held on dedicated physical hard drives, not in S3 cloud buckets, shared storage pools or multi-tenant infrastructure. Your selected data is assigned to real hardware, with dedicated RAID 1 drives providing resilience.
Physical ownership
Each Offline Secure Storage instance is allocated to a specific customer, with dedicated physical capacity and clearly defined ownership. Your data is not pooled, commingled or held within a shared storage estate.
Physical control
Access begins outside the normal network path. An authorised out-of-band command, such as SMS, controls the physical Layer 1 connection to your #OSS instance. When access is not required, that network path is physically disconnected.
Physical security
Your #OSS hardware is housed in carefully selected, professionally managed data centres with layered physical security, resilient power and environmental controls. Access is tightly controlled using three-factor authentication, including biometric identification, supported by 24/7 monitoring, restricted access zones and a complete audit trail. Firevault Bunkers provide jurisdictional physical resilience across our international infrastructure.
Questions organisations ask
Before you move customer data offline.
The goal is a clearer data posture, not simply buying storage.
No. Live customer operations stay where they are. Offline Secure Storage is for retained and high-consequence data that does not need to remain continuously reachable.
Reduce what a breach can reach
Start with the customer data that would be most damaging to expose and least often used.
Offline Secure Storage from Firevault. Online when you need it. Offline when you do not.