Disaster Recovery

Do we have a current disaster recovery plan?

Knowing how to react properly in an emergency is critical to making the right decisions to minimize damage and quickly restore operations. A disaster recovery plan provides concrete information and procedures to guide decisions and operations in times of crisis. A disaster recovery plan can be tailored to fit your department circumstances and exposure to risk.

These questions can help you assess your ability to survive and recover from a disaster:

• Have we recently completed a business impact analysis, risk assessment, and continuity plan?
• Do we know how long our department could function without department computers, servers, or network access?
• Do we have a current inventory of our computer equipment, software, and critical data files?
• In the event of partial damage or disruption, are our department computers standardized so that users could work from another department or University computer without difficulty?
• Do we have UPS systems protecting key department computers and servers?
• Do we know what to do and whom to contact if we have a computer security incident?

An answer of "no" to any of the above questions indicates a risk for which remedial steps should be considered.