In today’s increasingly technologically driven world, security for businesses is no longer just a matter of securing physical premises. Data privacy and cybersecurity are critical matters that can have profound and far-reaching impacts. As such, organizations of all kinds must ensure that their digital systems are up to the latest security standards to prevent unwanted access. They should also be able to mitigate the effects of breaches or cybersecurity incidents using thorough cybersecurity disaster recovery plans.
While creating secure systems is a critical undertaking, disaster recovery plans shouldn’t be ignored, because no system is ever 100% secure. That’s where robust cybersecurity risk management comes in.
To better understand, we’ll explore what it takes to create a cybersecurity disaster recovery plan and why it’s such a critical part of IT security. While this article will provide a practical introduction, professionals who are interested in cybersecurity careers may consider a graduate program that can provide expertise in this area, such as the Pace University MS in Cybersecurity.
To better understand, we’ll explore what it takes to create a cybersecurity disaster recovery plan and why it’s such a critical part of IT security. While this article will provide a practical introduction, professionals who are interested in cybersecurity careers may consider a graduate program that can provide expertise in this area, such as the Pace University MS in Cybersecurity.
In a Hurry? Here’s What We’ll Cover:
- What a Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery Plan Is
- What a Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery Plan Aims to Accomplish
- Who Uses Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery Plans
- How to Create a Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery Plan
- How Pace University’s MS in Cybersecurity Teaches You To Protect Your Organization?
What Is a Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery Plan?
A cybersecurity disaster recovery plan is the standard operating procedures that are established in advance of a cybersecurity incident. There may be slightly different plans depending on the incident, whether it is a major data breach, an attack leading to downtime such as a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service), or even unauthorized access to a secure system.Goals of Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery Plans
What can an organization really do if they’ve already been compromised? The truth is that even major cybersecurity incidents are not hopeless, and disaster recovery plans can dictate the ultimate severity of the incident and the consequences that impact the organization and its users. In a disaster recovery plan, cybersecurity professionals are tasked with mitigating or blunting the impacts of a cybersecurity incident—such as data loss prevention and minimizing downtime to critical systems. For business continuity, disaster recovery is critical. That’s why many businesses and organizations need personnel who are trained in the elements of robust cybersecurity. As such, programs like the Pace University online MS in Cybersecurity offer comprehensive coursework that is designed to help students attain critical skills and knowledge in this domain. Since each kind of incident has unique consequences, the ways in which a disaster recovery plan mitigates those impacts can vary. For example, if the organization is contending with a DDoS attack, the primary objective may become minimizing downtime. However, if the disaster in question is a major data breach, the objective is more likely securing databases from further access, notifying those whose data has been compromised, and working with regulatory agencies. Both are examples of tasks critical in business continuity, or an organization’s ability to maintain or quickly resume acceptable levels of service following a disruption or incident.Who Uses Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery Plans?
All kinds of organizations can apply cybersecurity disaster recovery plans. Businesses and organizations that have sensitive customer or member data must work to ensure that it is protected and secure. In the event of a breach or other IT security incident, companies are required to ensure that users are notified, impacts are minimized, and relevant regulatory bodies are notified of the incident. Cybersecurity specialists leverage their expertise and experience in these situations so that businesses and other organizations can act accordingly.Ultimately, any organization that transmits, stores, and collects data online should work diligently to safeguard it from cybersecurity threats and establish procedures for what the organization will do in the event of a security incident. This is especially relevant to organizations such as:
- Healthcare providers
- Consumer businesses
- Nonprofit organizations
- Banks and credit unions
- Institutions of learning
- Government organizations
How to Create a Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery Plan
A cybersecurity disaster recovery plan isn’t simply aimed at working reactively in the event of an incident. Rather, it should outline critical measures that organizations take both ahead of time and in the event of a breach, attack, or unauthorized access.
1. Consider the Risks Ahead of Time
The first step of creating a comprehensive cybersecurity disaster recovery plan is to consider all the possible incidents an organization may face, including breaches, unwarranted access to secure or sensitive systems, and attacks that cause downtime. It also involves considering what kinds of threats are most likely for the organization. These plans should also outline how to ensure compliance with the organization’s ethical and legal responsibilities in the event of a security incident.Being prepared for the risks that can impact your organization can make a huge difference in the event of an actual cybersecurity incident. For example, Moneris, a Canadian financial tech company, was hit with an attempted ransomware attack in 2023, but their robust security protocols prevented the loss of any valuable data. This incident demonstrates not only the impact of robust security planning, but sets an example for how to proceed after the fact. In addition to preventing additional impact of the attack, Moneris’ security team performed an audit and analysis to help ensure that they could continue safeguarding customer data. This success would not have been possible without thorough preparation.
Assess Potential Threats
Organizations must begin by assessing the risks that their current and future systems will face. These can include improper internal access, breaches, attacks leading to downtime, and external access to secure systems. Since the threat of cyberattacks is constantly evolving, cybersecurity and IT professionals need to be vigilant to ensure that their organization’s preparation for potential threats is keeping pace with the cybersecurity landscape as a whole. That’s why it is so important for cybersecurity leaders to have strong IT knowledge and skills.
Assess Systems Holistically
Since each system that must be protected is unique, organizations must consider potential threats in the context of how their data systems are configured and managed. The most relevant threats can vary depending on what data is stored and transmitted by an organization, what services the organization supports, and how security is configured across these systems. Potential weak spots should be identified, and clear standard operating procedures should be established.
2. Establish Roles and Procedures
Roles should be clearly established so relevant personnel are aware of their role in the cybersecurity disaster recovery process and are prepared to execute their responsibilities at any time. Ensuring this might require meetings, training, and even drills to help align expectations and understanding.Procedures should be established based on the configuration and management of data and secure systems, and the plan should be tailored to various relevant threats. Below, we discuss four key factors of effective procedures.
Establish Priorities
The most critical systems should be identified so they can be prioritized in the event of a security incident. For example, if a business falls victim to a DDoS attack that leads to downtime in several systems, which systems are the most critical to users and customers? These systems should be prioritized in the event of an incident so that personnel can focus on recovering these essential systems first. For a business, these might be customer-facing systems, while a school or nonprofit organization might prioritize communications systems, for example.
Incident Response Planning
A cybersecurity disaster recovery plan should include a comprehensive incident response plan. This is a pre-determined protocol that dictates how the organization should proceed in the event of a cybersecurity incident. Response plans can include both broad-level procedures and more specific protocols tailored to specific scenarios, but each procedure should outline the steps to be taken in the event of specific incident type and who will be responsible for enacting them.
Process Documentation
Documentation is critical to a cybersecurity disaster recovery plan, and comprehensive protocols and guidelines should be established and disseminated among relevant personnel. This might involve creating audit logs and trails, as well as creating a standard operating procedure for recording important incident details. Clearly documented procedures enable organizations to better determine what caused an incident, ensure compliance with any laws or regulation, and make adjustments in future response plans.
Establish and Maintain Communication Protocols
During a cybersecurity incident, timely communication is critical. As such, these processes should be established and outlined in advance so that internal personnel can effectively check in as they mitigate the impacts of a cybersecurity incident. Communication protocols should specify the chain of command — who speaks to whom and what they should discuss — and the channels that should be used to communicate. This is why having clear roles is so critical; it helps the organization ensure a systematic means of handling the incident.
Additionally, plans should include provisions for collaborating with third party agents, such as vendors, IT solutions providers, and anyone else involved. Communication standards should also be established for customer and public correspondence. An example of the impact of communication can be found in Karmak’s response to a ransomware attack in February 2023. Karmak, a software company providing business management solutions to the transportation industry, had a comprehensive response plan ready to contain the scope of the attack, and the company updated customers daily in order to demonstrate transparency as they responded to the incident.
In many cases, a cybersecurity incident also necessitates working closely and effectively with regulatory agencies. Depending on an organization’s industry and the data that they deal with, the regulations and requirements will differ, so it’s important that organizations maintain an understanding of their ethical and legal obligations. For example, for personal health information (PHI) breaches in organizations in the United States, certain organizations are legally required to communicate with the United States Department of Health and Human Services regarding the incident.
3. Backups and Recovery Phase Planning
Create and Secure Data Backups
For rapid recovery, data backups can be a critical part of your planning process. Critical systems should be backed up regularly so that systems can be restored quickly in the case of downtime. Backups must be secured separately and act as a failsafe, lest they become vulnerable to the same risks as primary systems. This requires secure encryption and may involve creating additional failsafes for resilience.
Recovery Phase Planning
Recovery phase planning is critical, but the first priority is securing the system against the threat. Once threats have been identified and isolated through quarantine, firewall configuration, or taking affected systems offline, the organization must then ensure that the threat truly has been removed. This may involve security updates, more controlled access, data verification, and patching.
Once security is reestablished, the recovery phase can begin in earnest. This typically involves restoring service through backups or even rebuilding systems if necessary. Often, a recovery phase will outline steps or stages that culminate eventually in full service restoration. The amount of time this takes can vary based on the complexity of systems and the scope of the incident.
4. Testing and Continual Improvement
As you establish and maintain incident response and recovery procedures, testing and drills can improve and maintain response readiness. Testing might involve simulating different kinds of incidents to ensure that relevant personnel are familiar with their roles. These simulations can also be a helpful means for gathering feedback and making continual process improvements.
Ongoing improvement can be a critical undertaking in cybersecurity. One example of how companies can continually improve their cybersecurity can be found in Microsoft’s recent Secure Future Initiative (SFI). The initiative, driven in part by the rising threat of cyberattacks, enacted recommendations made by the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), which improved critical systems and made them more resilient.
5. Post-Recovery Planning and Adjustment
Finally, organizations who have contended with a cybersecurity incident must find ways to move forward. This involves several key steps, including post-incident assessments to determine the root cause of the incident and making effective changes that ensure that your systems and data are more protected moving forward.
Post-Incident Assessment: Root Cause and Impacts
After a cybersecurity threat has been eliminated, it is critical to determine what caused it and if there are actionable insights to be gained from the incident. This might involve using audit logs, access logs, and other forms of documentation to pinpoint the reason for an incident. This is often referred to as root cause analysis. It also involves determining the exact extent of the incident in a process known as impact assessment.
Post-Incident Reports
Documentation is critical at this point, not only for organization and incident tracking, but also for transparency and accountability. The response should be well-documented for ethical and legal compliance, as well as for creating a clear record for future reference.
A great example of post-incident documentation can be found in Cisco’s response to a 2022 cyberattack. Though the company found that credentials had been compromised, they were able to mitigate the impact significantly and document the incident extensively. Cisco Talos quickly published a report of the incident, as well as important insights about the attack’s vector and their post-incident analysis.How Will Pace University’s MS in Cybersecurity Teach Me To Protect My Organization?
If you’re an aspiring cybersecurity professional or a current cybersecurity professional looking to enhance your skills and knowledge to take your career to the next level, you might be interested in a program like the Pace University online MS in Cybersecurity. This program is designed to equip you with the tools and knowledge you need to position yourself for success in a wide range of cybersecurity careers. Through a robust curriculum, featuring courses such as Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning, students will learn to create comprehensive cybersecurity disaster recovery plans and tackle a variety of complex IT challenges. MS in Cybersecurity students can also choose an optional concentration in Cyber Operations or Cybersecurity Leadership, critical domains for cybersecurity professionals. With a core curriculum that explores key domains including coding, operating systems, network security, penetration testing, information security management, and more, graduates of this program can be confident in their ability to protect their organizations from cyberattacks.About Pace University’s Online MS in Cybersecurity
The Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University offers an online Master of Science in Cybersecurity tailored for working professionals. Prepare to lead in the future of cyber defense by applying hands-on learning based on the latest industry practices. Our 30-credit-hour online program can be completed in only one year (full time) or two years (part time). We offer a general track or a choice of two concentrations: Cyber Operations or Cybersecurity Leadership. Our curriculum features virtual labs and project-based learning to help students develop effective problem-solving strategies. Designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE), we adhere to the NSA’s rigorous set of standards and equip professionals with in-demand skills to confront constantly evolving cyberthreats. Download a brochure to learn more about the program, or start your application today. Pace University also offers an on-campus option for the MS in Cybersecurity.Request
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