Cyberattacks have increased in the recent past. Statista reports that cyberattacks exposed 155.8 million records. Some of them have been so vicious that they have put businesses out of work. Only companies with effective cybersecurity measures and robust disaster recovery mechanisms have weathered cybersecurity breaches. Disaster recovery mechanisms can restart the business’s operations after a cyberattack or natural disaster. Your business can survive a hurricane, fire, flood, or any other natural hazard if it has suitable business resiliency structures. Consequently, most companies integrate their cybersecurity defenses with disaster recovery infrastructures to create an effective business resiliency platform.
When your business continuity team works with the cybersecurity department, you can confidently protect your investments. That is because the recovery process and identification of security breaches will dramatically improve.
According to Forbes, businesses that have tried this holistic approach have reduced downturns and prevented unauthorized access. Other benefits of a holistic approach include:
- More significant focus on security investment
- Prioritization of cyberattack detection
- Developing a clear response plan
Nevertheless, your integrated approach should undergo regular assessments to determine its viability and relevance as threats mutate.
A holistic approach
Security breaches and business recovery must focus on the operational environment, people, technology, and physical infrastructure. It should also include elements of information technology. In essence, you cannot have business resiliency without creating a robust cybersecurity framework. Similarly, your cybersecurity framework can’t work if there are no disaster recovery strategies.
The business resilience approach dictates that you must discard simplistic data storage practices. Instead, you can rely on the integration of contingencies, backups, and well-trained security teams. One of these systems is likely to survive a total business shutdown. At the same time, research has shown that you must use online and offline data backups. It is unlikely that a cyberattack or any other hazard will destroy both backups.
Planning and preparing for a cyberattack
Your business should always be ready to recover from any cyberattacks. Normal operations should be up and running within minutes or hours once your defenses have dealt with the threat. Either way, your business needs a well-crafted plan.
The plan starts with the documentation of core business operations. You need to identify and enumerate the functions that your business can’t do without. This is where the security team should focus its resources. There should be at least one team to manage the recovery of these core functions.
Disaster recovery and business resiliency
Disaster recovery’s main objective is reducing or minimizing the impact of a disruption or outage. When a company implements disaster recovery systems, it quickly resumes operations after a problem has occurred. Unauthorized access to information and brand damage are also prevented.
Every business has its disaster recovery requirements. Some organizations have diverse recovery mechanisms in several departments. This ensures that each unit can resume its functions even if other departments have been taken down completely. Other organizations prefer a disaster recovery system within the IT department. While such an approach is cost-effective, it overlooks several essential factors such as workers’ safety and crisis management effectiveness.
Therefore, disaster recovery systems must take a holistic approach. Since this is a multi-departmental project, you are encouraged to seek business resiliency and disaster recovery experts’ services. They will conduct a comprehensive security analysis of your organization and develop coherent cybersecurity and disaster recovery strategy.
One can’t work without the other
You can use the Venn diagram to understand better how cybersecurity and disaster recovery work together. One circle represents cybersecurity, while the other represents disaster recovery. The overlapping point is business resiliency. This means that both strategies must complement one another to achieve business resiliency.
Making sure that your business resiliency is well thought out and planned is no easy task. At KME, we have the expertise to ensure you have a plan that is suited to your business and needs. Let us help you create a strong business resiliency agenda to make sure you stay protected.
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