Disaster recovery policies
A disaster recovery plan is a document that suggests policies and procedures that would deal with issues that can of how different types of disasters can affect the organization and its infrastructure and what should be done to save the basic requirements of an organization. Disaster recovery is a kind of risk management, it is important for all the organizations to have such policies that can keep their information safe and protect the sound functioning of work.
Purpose of having a policy
The purpose of having a disaster recovery policy is to make sure that organizations are protected against service interruptions, including large scale disasters, by the development, implementation, and testing of disaster recovery/business resumption (DR/BR) plans.
The three main aims of a disaster recovery policy are to:
- Save data.
- Save hardware, software, and facilities.
- Resume critical processes and restore data.
How does the policy help?
The policy helps organizations to:
- Identify IT resources that are at risk.
- Implement tested emergency procedures when a service outage occurs.
- Implement useful plans to protect against identified threats and mitigate risk.
- Develop a plan that will enable full recovery and the resumption of normal operations.
- Implement and test procedures that enable short-term recovery of IT services following a service outage.
What are organizations supposed to do?
Companies that are dependent on voice telecommunications, data telecommunications, video telecommunications, or computer services for carrying out their missions must develop disaster recovery policies.
Every organization should maintain and update the disaster recovery policy on an annual basis based on the changes made in the working of the organization.
Whatever policy has been made should also be tested annually. If there is any deficiency in the policy then it should be corrected and made according to the requirements.
The employees should be trained as to how to execute the disaster recovery plans. All the employees should be made aware of the policies and how should they act in case of a disaster.
The disaster recovery plan should be certified annually for its update and testing. The head of the organization is responsible for the oversight of the management of the policy.An annual disaster recovery plan confirmation letter must be included in the portfolio of the organization and submitted to the Board by August 31 every year.
Technology keeps advancing every day and hence it becomes important for all organizations to have their disaster policy updated and certified so that they have plans to save their important information in case of a disaster.
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