A Backup You've Never Restored Is a Hope, Not a Plan
Every company I talk to says they have backups. Far fewer can tell me the last time they restored from one, end to end, and how long it took.
Three questions that decide how bad your week is
Do you have a copy that attackers can't reach from your main network? Ransomware operators look for backups first.
Have you actually restored from it, end to end, in the last six months?
Do you know how long a full restore takes, and what the business does in the meantime?
Make it real
Keep at least one copy offline or immutable.
Run a timed restore of a critical system and write down the result.
Share that number with leadership, so recovery expectations match reality.
Fix the gap, then test again.
It's the cheapest insurance in cybersecurity, and the one most often skipped.
Views are my own. Dave Trader is a CISO, U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and author of The Cybersecurity Endgame.
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