Wasabi adds automated incremental backups to invisible 'Covert Copy' storage

This update addresses the 'operational debt' of maintaining secure, air-gapped backups, which previously risked falling months out of sync due to manual update requirements. By automating the refresh within Wasabi's internal infrastructure, the company allows engineers to maintain a 'invisible' recovery tier that stays current with live workloads and CI/CD pipelines. For the broader industry, this moves beyond simple immutability toward an 'active' resilience model where backups are both current and undetectable. Watch for whether other cloud providers adopt similar 'bucket cloaking' to counter attackers who increasingly prioritize neutralizing secondary storage repositories before deploying ransomware.

The update to Covert Copy arrives as ransomware threats evolve to target recovery infrastructure directly. Per Veeam’s 2024 Data Protection Trends report, 75% of ransomware victims saw attackers attempt to destroy backup repositories; in cases where backups were successfully compromised, 93% of victims ultimately paid the ransom. This shift has pushed cloud storage providers to move beyond simple 'Object Lock' features toward more sophisticated architectural isolation. According to the Wasabi 2026 Global Cloud Storage Index, 41% of organizations now believe public cloud vendors provide insufficient tools to protect data, driving a demand for built-in resilience layers that can withstand stolen administrative credentials.

In the months leading to this release, market research from IDC (as of March 2025) projected enterprise security spending to grow 12.2% annually, specifically targeting cyber-resilient storage as AI-driven data growth increases the volume of sensitive datasets. While hyperscale providers like AWS and Google Cloud offer various forms of immutability, these often require complex configuration to prevent authorized users—or compromised admin accounts—from bypassing protections. Wasabi’s strategy centers on 'logical air-gapping,' which has gained traction as a cost-effective alternative to physical tape storage. Per Sophos (May 2025), the average global recovery cost excluding ransom is roughly $1.53 million, emphasizing the financial incentive for engineers to eliminate the gap between production data and isolated recovery copies.