Locked down by design: Air-gapped and threat-adaptive security are the next inflection points for private cloud

The changes have been steady but persistent: Across the globe, organizations are now facing some of the most stringent tech-focused regulations enacted to date – including DORA, STIG, CISA Secure by Design Pledge, CIS Critical Security Controls, and Digital Sovereignty. Collectively they are mandating the adoption of some of the heaviest security measures we’ve ever seen, many with a particular focus on hardening cloud environments. And more rules like these are on the way.

These rules are grounded in real risk. Despite years of investment in cybersecurity, organizations are still on high alert, and rightly so. Unauthorized access and cyberattacks haven’t slowed down. In fact, 72% of organizations say cyber risks have grown over the past year¹.

For organizations grappling with all of this, conventional approaches often fall short. The good news is that a new alternative is gaining traction: an architectural shift known as air-gapping which removes public access to critical data altogether.

To upgrade security, open a gap

The concept of an air-gapped cloud might sound like a contradiction. After all, isn’t the whole point of the cloud to enable easy access to data and services from anywhere? But that’s exactly where the nuance lies. Air-gapping doesn’t mean cutting off all access—it means cutting off access from the public internet. The distinction is who can reach the network and how. In an air-gapped cloud, access is tightly controlled, deliberate, and designed to meet the needs of the most secure and regulated environments.

Air-gapped clouds may be disconnected from the internet, but that doesn’t mean they disrupt the user experience. The environments typically start as private clouds deployed on-premises. While disconnected from external networks, they still deliver access to services through the same methods and interfaces users are already familiar with. It’s still a cloud-like experience, just with tighter security and control.

This approach provides organizations with a number of advantages, but chief among them is security: A network disconnected from the internet is inherently much less vulnerable to being compromised. At the same time, air-gapped private clouds retain all the benefits of traditional cloud environments: high performance, flexibility, scalability, and more predictable costs. For organizations that are especially security sensitive—whether it’s engineering, government or defense—this model addresses a wide range of technical and operational challenges with clarity and confidence.

A sovereign solution

Air-gapped private clouds are, by design, digitally sovereign, which means organizations retain ownership and oversight at every layer of their digital estate.

There are three key components of digital sovereignty:

• Data sovereignty: The ability to govern where data lives and travels, how it is shared, and who can access it, along with related privacy restrictions.
• Operational sovereignty: The ability to determine who operates the environment, where the data resides, whether remote access is allowed, how operations are audited, and similar concerns.
• Technical sovereignty: The ability to determine who owns the underlying technologies that make up the solution, and whether the organization has any dependencies on third parties that could compromise that sovereignty.

An effective digital sovereignty strategy gives organizations more than just control. It provides the compliance, risk management, and operational rigor needed to build long-term resilience in a cloud environment. It also better positions organizations to navigate the evolving geopolitical landscape with confidence, especially as regulations, and the consequences of non-compliance, continue to shift and tighten. This has become especially critical in regions like Europe, where cross-border data governance has become complex and unforgiving. And as AI workloads become more dominant and more data-intensive, ensuring sovereignty has become even more essential.

Introducing HPE Private Cloud with air-gapped management

Building an air-gapped cloud independently can quickly become a costly and resource-intensive undertaking. At HPE we’ve spoken with many organizations that set out to do this on their own, only to encounter persistent hurdles that stalled, and in many cases, ultimately halted their efforts. Air-gapping introduces a distinct set of architectural and operational challenges that go well beyond those of traditional on-prem or private cloud deployments. And the consequences of getting it wrong—whether in security posture or continuity—are simply too high. That’s why most organizations need strong partners to help them get it right.

HPE Private Cloud Enterprise with air-gapped management is an industry-first solution designed to enhance both security and digital sovereignty. It is a turnkey solution right-sized to each customer’s unique needs. We designed it to meet the performance requirements of on-premises private cloud environments, ensuring regulatory alignment and operational control. We’ve also bundled, connected, and pre-tuned compute, storage and networking, providing a complete toolkit for managing the ecosystem.

New sovereign cloud and AI-focused cybersecurity services from HPE support organizations as they transform their cybersecurity approach into a highly sophisticated security operation. With continuous compliance, threat mitigation, and resilience as core features, our air-gapped private cloud guards against evolving cyber threats and ensures long-term regulatory compliance.

Unlike public cloud and other private cloud offerings, HPE Private Cloud Enterprise with air-gapped management offers a truly disconnected private cloud experience that can operate indefinitely without external internet connectivity. While public cloud hyperscalers typically rely on periodic internet access for tasks like certification, updates, or license validation that model doesn’t fit the needs of fully disconnected environments. HPE’s solution eliminates this dependency. All maintenance activities for HPE Private Cloud Enterprise with air-gapped management are performed entirely offline, ensuring the air gap remains intact and uncompromised.

HPE Private Cloud Enterprise with air-gapped management is designed to be secure from day one, when the first private cloud workload is deployed. Implementation work is managed by badged, HPE personnel with the highest security clearances, so every step, from initial advisory through full operations and ongoing maintenance, is conducted with uncompromising trust and security. Our solutions conform with the principles of zero trust, and our technology meets all the requirements set forth by CIS, CISA, STIG, and DORA.

Introducing threat adaptive security for traditional private cloud customers

As part of today’s announcements, HPE is proud to introduce HPE Private Cloud Enterprise with threat-adaptive security, a groundbreaking feature that enables private cloud customers to sever external connectivity on an on-demand basis. In the event of a security incident or critical operational threat, the “digital circuit breaker” can immediately isolate the cloud environment from the internet, providing an essential layer of protection. This capability not only addresses emerging security challenges but also supports compliance with the stringent requirements of regulations like DORA. We anticipate that within the next few years, the majority of HPE Private Cloud Enterprise customers will adopt this game-changing functionality to safeguard their operations.

Note that digital circuit breaker and air-gapped management features serve different purposes. While digital circuit breaker is a temporary disconnection between on-premises HPE Private Cloud Enterprise and external cloud services, air-gapped management represents a full-time disconnection between the two environments.

Looking ahead means also looking back

Whether you’re protecting sensitive workloads or addressing complex regulatory environments, HPE Private Cloud Enterprise with air-gapped management and threat adaptive security represents the pinnacle of private cloud security—purpose built to meet the evolving needs of modern enterprises in an increasingly dynamic and unpredictable threat landscape.

Learn more at hpe.com/private-cloud-solutions