If your company experiences a data breach, you need a disaster recovery strategy to return your business to operation right away. A disaster recovery plan outlines what your organization will do to recover from a disaster or unforeseen incidents. This document details the following:

  • How to recover the data
  • How to rebuild IT infrastructure
  • Goals for recovery and bringing operations back online
  • Recovery timeline

The plan needs to be effective, strategic, and manageable. Everyone must know their role and what they’re working toward to recover quickly from a data loss.

Causes of a Data Breach

Data is a valuable resource for business operations. As data use and sharing increases, so does its appeal to hackers, making data a prime target for cyberattacks. Your data faces many threats, which you need to plan for in disaster recovery.

The causes of data loss include:

  • Malware and hacker attacks
  • Hardware and software failures
  • Power failures
  • Network failures
  • Natural events like earthquakes and flooding
  • Violent conflicts like war

In some cases, legislation can compromise data if it affects how data is transferred and owned.

How to Create a Disaster Recovery Plan

A disaster recovery plan outlines the strategy to get your business operational after an attack as well as sets up standby and backup systems to quicken recovery. While creating this plan requires time and resources, it’s worth the effort to help your business recover.

Follow these five steps to make your disaster recovery plan:

  1. Audit IT resources: Create an inventory of your IT resources to streamline data backup and retrieval. Identify and remove redundant or unimportant datasets to save storage space.
  2. Create a response team: Have a response team and assign duties to each member based on their skill set and knowledge. This step reduces human error during the recovery process.
  3. Set objectives and timelines: The objectives should be thoroughly defined, agreed upon, practical, and obtainable. Your timeline should consider the various steps of the recovery process.
  4. Identify serious threats: Understand which data loss threats apply the most to your business, such as cyberattacks or natural disasters, and prepare for them.
  5. Test the plan: Conduct disaster recovery tests regularly to ensure your plan works.
See also  If You’re Thinking “A Cyber Attack Won’t Happen to Me,” Think Again

Test Your Cybersecurity Plan with Agio Today

Your company can outlast a data disaster with effective cybersecurity measures in place. Our cybersecurity testing program uses penetration testers and risk assessors to help you identify and fix problems to prepare for real-world threats. Contact us today to learn more.