Why Your Backup Strategy Won’t Save You From the Next Attack
A tactical breakdown of the disaster recovery myth and the cyber recovery reality
Cyber recovery refers to the set of technologies, processes, and strategies used to restore IT systems, data, and business operations after a cyberattack. It is not just about backups, it is about resilience. And most organisations are getting it dangerously wrong
n the post-ransomware epoch of cyber warfare, there’s a dangerously persistent myth threading through the boardrooms of SMEs and Enterprises: “Our backup strategy is our safety net.” Spoiler alert, it’s not.
If you’re a CIO or IT Director still sleeping soundly on last year’s DR plan, this article is your 4AM wake-up call. Because the next attack isn’t just a matter of “if” — it’s “when,” and more critically, how well you recover.
Disaster Recovery vs. Cyber Recovery: The Confusion is Costly
Let’s kill the misconception right out of the gate.
Disaster Recovery (DR) is designed for hurricanes, hardware failures, and accidental human errors like deleting a critical production instance. It assumes a benign universe where the cause of disruption is known, contained, and impersonal.
Cyber Recovery (CR), on the other hand, lives in a very different neighbourhood, one riddled with obfuscation, stealth, and adversaries who evolve faster than your patch schedule.
Think of Disaster Recovery as roadside assistance. Cyber Recovery is an armoured convoy out of a warzone. Yet, organisations continue to rely on DR systems as if they’re cyber-ready. They’re not. DR systems are often connected, accessible, and infectable. That means when ransomware hits, your backups may already be toast before you’ve even poured your crisis coffee.
The Mistakes SMEs Keep Making
- Backups are on the network
If your backups live on the same network as your production environment, congratulations — you’ve just handed attackers the keys to your get-out-of-jail-free card.
88% of ransomware victims report attackers specifically targeted backup repositories. — [Veeam Ransomware Trends Report, 2024]
- No immutability
Attackers today are sophisticated enough to delay detonation, quietly infecting backup snapshots before striking.
The average ransomware dwell time before detection is 21 days — meaning your backups are compromised long before you realise there’s a problem.
- Restore time is a fantasy
DR plans often ignore the actual speed and scope of restoration.
60% of SMEs say it would take them more than a week to fully restore systems after a cyberattack. — [Sophos State of Ransomware Report, 2024]
- Testing is non-existent
SMEs notoriously skip rigorous, scenario-based cyber recovery drills.
Only 19% of mid-size organisations test their recovery plans quarterly — or at all. — [IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, 2024]
- No isolation = no recovery
Without a physically or logically isolated environment (aka a Cyber Recovery Vault), your data is just another vulnerable asset in the blast radius.
70% of businesses hit by ransomware discovered their backups were inaccessible or encrypted by the attackers. — [CyberEdge Group 2024 Cyberthreat Report]
The Vault is the New Firewall
So what should cyber recovery look like?
- Air-gapped or logically isolated backups
- Immutable storage to prevent tampering
- AI/ML-powered threat detection within backup workflows (yes, your recovery data can — and should — be scanned for threats before restoring)
- Granular recovery points that let you surgically roll back only what’s needed
- Automated recovery runbooks and red team-tested playbooks
This is more than infrastructure. It’s architecture with a wartime footing.
Strategic Recommendations for CIOs and IT Leaders
Shift from Recovery Plans to Operability Playbooks
The most resilient organisations are reframing cyber recovery as Minimum Viable Company (MVC) readiness. Instead of obsessing over full restoration timelines, they are asking sharper questions:
– What core services must operate within the first 6–12 hours of a breach?
– Which systems can run in degraded, offline, or manual mode?
– Who is authorised to trigger fallback operations under pressure?
This approach requires more than backup infrastructure. It demands a triaged map of Tier-0 systems, pre-isolated recovery environments, and live-tested playbooks that prioritise operability over perfection.
One CIO put it bluntly: “We stopped planning for recovery. We started planning to run wounded.”
If your recovery strategy doesn’t already define your minimum viable business, and how to keep it running in hostile conditions, then it isn’t really a strategy. It’s a wish.
- Rethink the ownership model: Stop treating cyber recovery as an IT function. It’s a business continuity imperative, engage your board, your CFO, and legal.
- Prioritise cyber resilience over uptime: You’ll never have 100% prevention. Your differentiator is how quickly, cleanly, and confidently you can bounce back.
- Budget like it matters:
The global average cost of a ransomware attack in 2024 reached $4.54M, but for SMEs, the reputational hit and downtime often hurt more than the ransom. — [IBM, 2024]
- Treat recovery as a zero-trust discipline: Your recovery systems should assume compromise. If they don’t enforce least privilege and multi-factor access, they’re part of the attack surface.
Final Thought: Your Backup Isn’t Your Safety Net — It’s Your Liability
In today’s threat landscape, assuming your backup is safe is like assuming your emergency exit will work during a fire — without ever testing it. It’s false assurance at best, operational malpractice at worst.
The SMEs that survive the next wave of attacks won’t be the ones with backups, they’ll be the ones who’ve built cyber recovery into the core of their architecture, strategy, and culture.
So ask yourself: If the breach happens tomorrow, are you recovering, or rebuilding from digital rubble?
Build Recovery That Actually Recovers
Backups alone won’t protect you. SureLogik helps you design cyber recovery that is isolated, automated, and built to withstand modern threats.
Contact us to start building a recovery strategy you can trust.