Nowadays, it is not enough to have a strong Information Technology business continuity and disaster recovery plan that only looks good in documents or instructions, it should be effective in the real-world application as well.
The efforts that experts have given to create a successful plan will be put to waste if it is not properly tested, executed, and maintained. It would be a worst-case scenario if you find out that your recovery plan or BCP is not sufficient during an incident or an emergency.
One of your trusted solutions is to seek assistance from cybersecurity firms or professionals in the field of Disaster Recovery.
A disaster recovery professional is well trained and certified, this is to prove that they are capable of handling critical situations or a cyber attack. Part of their training is learning how to execute a successful recovery strategy.
In this article, we will be looking into the different techniques on how to test the effectiveness of your disaster recovery plan.
Contents of Your BCP
Your business continuity plan is created to ensure that your business operations can continue during a cyber-attack or incident. The main goal is that your business remains competitive in the economic market regardless of how small or big your enterprise.
The ideal BCP should have a security outline that covers all your business processes, assets, partnership, infrastructure, human resources, and other departments.
It should then be aligned to the business impact analysis, incident response plan, and risk assessment for identification and collection of detailed information.
This information is related to your critical business operations, vulnerability assessment, potential response, recovery plan, attack behaviors, and relative positioning.
Disaster Recovery Plan and Business Continuity Plan
The two terms have shared some similarities and have been used together on several occasions when cybersecurity incident recovery is being discussed. But, both differ in the scope of operations.
A disaster recovery plan is a method of restoring important data and applications following an incident. A business continuity plan is a method that allows a company to continue its production even if an incident occurs.
Techniques in Testing Your Disaster Recovery Plan
The use of different DRP testing methods
When it comes to your cybersecurity and recovery plan, no application can cover a large scope of functions that can accommodate all your needs.
To test the effectiveness and efficiency of your DRP you can create a checklist to identify crucial sequences, a run-through of scripted or automated technical components of your DRP, and simulation testing of the overall DRP.
Knowing when to test
It is known to have every business run a DRP testing once every year. Although there has been no standard requirement on how often it should be tested. It would be wise for a company to do it frequently or twice a year.
This is to ensure that all operations within the DRP are properly running.
Vendor Participation
Make sure that during the testing or simulation, it is important to include in your checklist that vendors should also participate.
This will allow your testing to cover a larger scope in terms of information, serviceability, and precision of the business plan.
Record the results
The results from your test are very important. Make sure that you keep a detailed record of every testing, findings, and results. The collected data must be evaluated and then integrated into plans of the security system to improve your security potential.
Career Opportunity
Cybersecurity is one of the most promising and progressive industries in the field of IT. it is expected to grow and sustain in the upcoming years.
With this, you can have the opportunity today to start up a career in this exciting work profession by enrolling in our cybersecurity program, course, and certification, at RCyberSolutions.
