Cyber threat: Understand the difference between disaster recovery and cyber recovery

As ransomware attacks become increasingly common, businesses must understand the difference between traditional Disaster Recovery (DR) and Cyber Recovery strategies.

While DR centres on restoring IT operations following events like natural disasters, hardware failures or accidents, Cyber Recovery is specifically tailored to address intentional cyber threats such as ransomware and data breaches.  

Traditionally, DR included elements of cyber response to attacks. However, in recent years, cyberattacks have become so sophisticated and severe that they are now differentiated from DR for several reasons.

A significant factor is the changing nature of attack vectors. Today's cyberattacks employ various methods, resulting in greater complexity compared to traditional DR, which has now undergone significant classification changes in the past decade.

DR generally focuses on natural disasters, equipment malfunctions and accidental events, so when these situations arise, organisations need to activate their Disaster Recovery Plan to ensure business continuity is restored.

It is crucial to note that Disaster Recovery Plans are often considered a component of the system rather than part of broader Business Continuity Management (BCM).

Significant skills required 

It is essential to understand that the elements of cyber recovery have always existed in the IT world. However, they are now more defined and evolved, as the sophistication of modern cyberattacks requires significant skills to deal with. 

For instance, in a DR scenario, a major data loss might be due to a spilled cup of coffee or an accidental deletion, and the response would be to restore the data from backups without much hesitation. 

In contrast, Cyber Recovery involves more caution. Before restoring data, one must ensure that the data and the restore location are clean and secure. This is because cyberattacks can compromise both production and backup environments. Therefore, the recovery process involves verifying the integrity and security of the data and the environment to prevent re-infection.

Mitigation plan 

Another significant differentiator is the mitigation plan. In DR, mitigation involves having multiple copies of data easily accessible for quick restoration.

In Cyber Recovery, mitigation includes security hardening of the backup platform and implementing threat detection within the backup environment.

Thus, DR planning and mitigation plans must be complemented by cyber recovery mitigation plans, which are distinct components.

The evolution of cyberattacks also touches on the broader topic of data protection and management.

Traditional backup methods involved scheduled backups, often to tape, which were then stored off-site. Modern data protection, however, requires continuous data protection, where data is constantly being created and needs to be protected in real-time.

This shift moves away from snapshot-based backups to a more continuous and instantaneous recovery approach.

Hence, immutable backups have become essential because they ensure that once data is written, it cannot be altered or deleted.

This is crucial in a Cyber Recovery scenario because it guarantees that the backup data remains untainted and reliable, even if the production environment is compromised.

Immutable backups provide a secure foundation for recovery, allowing organisations to restore clean data and resume operations with confidence.

Regular testing 

The need for regular testing has also evolved. Traditional DR testing often involved tabletop exercises, which are no longer sufficient for cyber recovery. 

Cyber Recovery testing must be more comprehensive, involving the verification of accessibility, forensics and cleanliness strategies.

This requires more frequent and detailed testing to ensure that all elements of the Cyber Recovery plan are effective. Regular testing helps identify and close gaps that may not be detectable on paper, ensuring that the recovery process is robust and reliable.

Modern enterprises must transition from traditional backup methods to modern solutions that offer continuous data protection to ensure their data is consistently backed up and can be quickly restored in case of an incident.

At the same time, they must evolve their backup systems to include robust Cyber Recovery strategies.

This involves preparing for and mitigating the impact of cyberattacks, ensuring that their data can be recovered swiftly and securely.

Hemant Harie, Group Chief Technology Officer at DMP SA. 

BUSINESS REPORT