Disaster Recovery (DR)

What is Disaster Recovery (DR)?

Disaster Recovery (DR) is a set of policies, tools, and procedures that enable the recovery or continuation of vital technology infrastructure and systems following a disaster. The goal of a DR plan is to minimise the impact of a significant event on business operations, ensuring that the organisation can resume its functions and restore its data and services in a timely manner.

Key Components

Recovery Time Objective (RTO): The maximum tolerable length of time that a computer system, application, or service can be down after a failure or disaster.

• Recovery Point Objective (RPO): The maximum amount of data (measured in time) that an organisation can afford to lose following an event.
• DR Plan: A formal, documented plan that outlines the steps to take before, during, and after a disaster.

ISO 27001 Context

While Business Continuity (BC) focuses on keeping the entire organisation running during and after a disaster, Disaster Recovery (DR) is a critical subset of BC that specifically deals with the IT and technology infrastructure. ISO 27001 Annex A 5.29 Information Security During Disruption requires organisations to have a documented procedure to restore information and services following a disaster, demonstrating the importance of DR within the broader ISMS.

About the author

🎓 MSc Security 🛡️ Lead Auditor ⚡ 30+ Years Exp 🏢 Ex-GE Leader

Stuart Barker

ISO 27001 Ninja

Stuart Barker is a veteran practitioner with over 30 years of experience in systems security and risk management. Holding an MSc in Software and Systems Security, he combines academic rigor with extensive operational experience, including a decade leading Data Governance for General Electric (GE).

As a qualified ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, Stuart possesses distinct insight into the specific evidence standards required by certification bodies. His toolkits represent an auditor-verified methodology designed to minimise operational friction while guaranteeing compliance.