A Triangle survey of IT and security professionals has highlighted a gap between having cyber recovery measures in place and being able to demonstrate recovery readiness.
The survey found that while 62% of respondents said their organisation has an isolated backup copy, only 36% could validate the integrity of that data when needed. That leaves 64% who could not confirm they can validate the data they would depend on for recovery.
Recovery readiness remains uneven
The survey looked at five capabilities associated with cyber recovery readiness. It found that:
- 62% have an isolated backup copy
- 51% have a clean recovery environment
- 62% have a co-ordinated recovery team
- 49% have tested or rehearsed recovery within the past 12 months
- 36% can validate the integrity of their backup data
For Michelle Harris, Director of Cyber Recovery at Triangle, the findings point to a distinction between investing in prevention and knowing the organisation can recover.
“Many organisations are investing heavily in AI for prevention of cyber attacks, but far fewer regularly test their ability to recover from a breach,” Michelle said.
“Recovery readiness is now a critical business issue, and this survey provides valuable insight into how prepared organisations really are when disruption occurs.”
An isolated backup is an important part of cyber recovery, but on its own it does not show that critical services can be restored. Organisations also need to know that the data they intend to recover is clean, that a recovery environment is ready, and that the people and processes involved have been rehearsed before an incident puts them under pressure.
“Organisations that have implemented mature cyber recovery capabilities know in advance of a breach what data they will recover, where they will be recovering to and how long it will take, so there is no guesswork involved when everyone is under pressure,” Michelle said.
In the news
The findings have been covered by Irish business and technology media:
- Recovery readiness is the 'missing link' in cyber resilience, finds report, Silicon Republic
- Most firms can't prove they'll recover from a cyberattack, ThinkBusiness
- Recovery readiness remains the missing link in cyber resilience, TechBuzz Ireland
More on cyber recovery
Find out more about cyber recovery at Triangle, or read why protected data is not the same as a business that recovers.
