{"id":4584,"date":"2021-07-28T11:01:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T16:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/?p=4584"},"modified":"2021-07-28T11:01:35","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T16:01:35","slug":"its-time-to-review-your-disaster-recovery-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/its-time-to-review-your-disaster-recovery-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Time to Review Your Disaster Recovery Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AIf you couldn’t access your most critical applications and data for an hour, how much would it cost you? For a high-priority application, an hour of downtime costs approximately $67,651, according to the\u00a0Veeam 2020 Data Protection Trends Report<\/a>. Given that almost all (95 percent) of the organizations included in Veeam’s study experienced unplanned outages, that means having an up-to-date plan in place to minimize downtime in the event of a disaster is vital if you want to avoid significant financial fallout.<\/p>\n

Given how much has changed in the past year and a half or so, now is an excellent time to revisit your backup and disaster recovery strategy if you haven’t done so recently.<\/p>\n

Why You Should Revisit Your Disaster Recovery Plan<\/h2>\n

There are numerous reasons to re-examine your recovery road map at this point. First of all, it’s particularly important for companies that have shifted from completely on-site to fully remote work or hybrid set-ups to re-evaluate recovery plans. The way we fulfill our professional duties has changed: In March, for some white-collar occupations, 80 percent or more were still\u00a0working remotely<\/a>, according to\u00a0Gallup<\/a>. If your organization’s infrastructure and network configuration has changed due to the transition to working from home, your recovery plan also needs a revamp to ensure you’re able to get back on your feet ASAP when you suffer an outage.<\/p>\n

Another point of concern is the increased level of IT security risk created by remote work infrastructure and the looming threat of ransomware. Last year,\u00a0the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the United Kingdom\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)\u00a0issued a joint alert<\/a>\u00a0warning that the transition to remote work arrangements led to new weak points cybercriminals could exploit. If you implemented remote work infrastructure and haven’t updated your\u00a0cybersecurity<\/a>\u00a0or disaster recovery strategies in the meantime, you could be vulnerable to hacker-driven disaster.<\/p>\n

For instance, many companies have\u00a0gotten hit by ransomware lately<\/a>; some high-profile targets that have made headlines include Colonial Pipeline Co. and JBS, the world’s largest meat supplier, according to\u00a0The New York Times<\/a>. In an\u00a0open letter<\/a>\u00a0to U.S. business leaders, Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies on the National Security Council, cautioned, “All organizations must recognize that no company is safe from being targeted by ransomware, regardless of size or location.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2020 survey of 5,000 IT managers across 26 countries found 51 percent had experienced a ransomware attack during the previous year, according to\u00a0The State of Ransomware 2020 report from Sophos<\/a>. Overall, given the relentlessness of cybercriminals and the current ransomware epidemic, it’s imperative that all businesses prepare for a potential attack and the subsequent downtime.<\/p>\n

Aside from cybersecurity-related catastrophes, natural disasters like fires and floods are becoming more prevalent as well. The average number of billion-dollar disasters per year comes out to 7 if you look at the data from 1980 to 2020, but that figure goes up to 16.2 if you only factor in 2016 through 2020, according to the Climate.gov blog entry “2020 U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in historical context<\/a>.” As a result, it’s also prudent to prepare for these increasingly common adverse events.<\/p>\n

How to Ensure a Fast Rebound if Disaster Strikes<\/h2>\n

Fortunately, you can take precautions to minimize the amount of costly downtime your company experiences if a cyberattack, fire, flood or other crisis temporarily brings your business to a standstill. Here are just a few steps you can take to lower your odds of suffering extended outages.<\/p>\n