Disaster Recovery Plan

Without a solid disaster plan, system failures can plunge operations into the dark ages, leading to financial loss, data exposure, and damage to trust across all sectors. Unexpected disruptions can still be mitigated with good planning and smart failsafes. 

The most effective disaster recovery plans prepare for a wide variety of threats based on a tested and verified plan. Restoring normal operations quickly with minimal disruption or data loss builds customer, team, and stakeholder confidence in your operations.

Restoring IT infrastructure, applications, and data access after a disruption requires a comprehensive, strategic approach that prioritizes resilience and focuses on both business continuity and data security. 

Conduct A Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

An exhaustive risk assessment identifies and evaluates internal and external risks. This covers everything from cyber attacks and hardware failures to natural disasters and, most commonly, human error. 

Weigh each risk based on its likelihood and the extent to which it would impact operations. As you identify key functions and dependencies, you can begin to prioritize essential functions for operational continuity, restoration sequences, and define meaningful recovery metrics. 

Map each dependency to the systems, staff, vendors, and data that require it for essential functions. Play out the worst-case scenarios to assess the impact over time. Define the operational, financial, and trust costs associated with the disruption, tied to its timeline. 

Establish Meaningful Recovery Metrics

Recovery metrics are the quantifiable benchmarks that evaluate the speed, efficacy, and reliability of your recovery plan. Always align objectives with real business goals. How well it works is directly tied to how long it takes to recover and what is impacted during the disruption. 

A few metrics to establish and track:

  • Recovery Time Objective (RTO) – The maximum downtime for critical systems that maintain business continuity.
  • Recovery Point Objective (RPO) – The maximum acceptable data loss that can be sustained before a catastrophe is reached.
  • Recovery Time Actual (RTA) – The real-world time from disruption to restoration of critical function, not the goal but the real number, established by extensive testing. With great planning, the RTA and RTO times should be similar.
  • Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR) – This is the average recovery time for all failed or compromised systems to return to normal operations. (This reveals bottlenecks in recovery plans and where changes need to be made.)
  • Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD) –  Different from RTO, this is not the goal window, but the code-red amount of time a business can be down before the outcome is unacceptable or unsustainable.

Implement Backups and Redundancies

In collaboration with all affected teams, plan all proactive security measures in advance to protect against cyber threats. Backup systems are critical to minimize downtime during and after a disruption and minimize data loss. 

Implement automated backup solutions that fire when an active threat is detected to protect critical data. The 3-2-1 rule is an industry rule of thumb for all secure data. Keep 3 copies of all data across 2 different media types, with 1 copy stored off-site or in the cloud. 

Redundancies help preserve historical data and ensure business continuity, taking over in the event of a disruption. Failover and failback solutions move data and operations to a secondary system when the primary system fails or is under attack, thereby mitigating service disruption. 

If implemented correctly, end-users may not even notice a change, creating a seamless experience and increasing trust. 

Establish a Systematic Data Recovery (DR) Plan

This is where backups and restoration intersect. A detailed plan minimizes downtime and prevents data loss by establishing a systematic, step-by-step process for restoring the IT infrastructure. 

The previously established Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) will determine the maximum acceptable downtime (before catastrophe) and the maximum age of data you can tolerate losing. This is where you start reverse engineering your recovery plan.

What’s the sequence in which data and systems must be restored? Core network infrastructure should always go live before any non-critical data, like employee-facing applications. 

Also, prepare for any hardware replacements, alternate data centers, or hiring third-party Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) providers. What does that process look like to get those solutions on board? This should all be established as part of your DR plan.

Detailed Roles and Communication Protocol

Establish a dedicated DR team with stakeholders from across the organization, including IT and operations, leadership, and cybersecurity. Each team member should have a clear role with the scope of DR operations and know the approved communication protocols for engaging with the team, leaders, customers, vendors, and any external parties.  

Ensure key team members also have the right security certifications (HITRUST, CMMC, etc.) and designate at least these core roles at a minimum:

  • Disaster Recovery Plan Manager: This is the team member responsible for developing, testing, implementing, and maintaining the procedures that protect data in alignment with RTO and RPO. 
  • Recovery Team Leader: This role will manage the entire response, from initial disruption to restoration, coordinating teams and maintaining business continuity throughout the incident. 
  • Incident Reporter: This is the person responsible for communicating with and serving as the liaison to relevant authorities, stakeholders, other internal teams, and potentially the media.
  • Asset Manager: This role is responsible for the valuation, recovery, and replacement of assets, both physical and financial, to restore operations with minimal downtime. 

Test, Refine, Revise

Regular testing and continuous improvement are vital for successful disaster recovery planning. Conduct regular drills, SOC compliance audits if appropriate, and penetration testing. Review and update all plans based on your findings. 

Testing the strength and resilience of your recovery measures in real time is the most effective way to identify any gaps and spotlight areas for improvement. Ensure that all relevant stakeholders are involved in the testing and revision process and are familiar with their roles and responsibilities. 

Get Disaster Recovery Planning Right

Even a minimal outage can negatively impact operations, continuity, and reputational trust. Create detailed DR plans, test and audit security and backup measures regularly, and continually optimize your restoration.

Nazy Fouladirad

Author Bio: Nazy Fouladirad is President and COO of Tevora, a global leading cybersecurity consultancy. She has dedicated her career to creating a more secure business and online environment for organizations across the country and world. She is passionate about serving her community and acts as a board member for a local nonprofit organization.