Archival storage is a low-cost storage tier for data that an organization must retain but rarely needs to access. It may use magnetic tape, optical media, or lower-cost cloud services. Compared with active storage, archives generally prioritize capacity and cost over rapid retrieval.
In cybersecurity, archives can preserve training data, logs, backups, and compliance records while limiting the expense of keeping them online. Offline media such as tape may reduce exposure to network-based attacks, including some ransomware, but it is not automatically secure. Strong access controls, encryption and key management, accurate inventories, and regularly tested recovery procedures are still essential. Organizations should choose archive tiers based on how often data is needed and how quickly it must be restored.