Partner Content: Why a recovery time reduction plan is a critical part of your cybersecurity strategy

For businesses today, the inability to access vital systems due to a ransomware attack or other security breach can have severe consequences for productivity, reputation, and regulatory compliance.

Prolonged disruptions may lead customers to turn to competitors, and in some cases, businesses may struggle to recover fully. MSPs/MSSPs are uniquely positioned to minimise downtime and data loss, ensuring their customers sustain operations and retain trust by leveraging best-in-class tools and recovery strategies.

And while data backups are an essential component of any cybersecurity strategy, relying on them alone is insufficient. Organisations must prioritise the ability to recover data swiftly and resume normal operations with minimal disruption.

How long does it take to recover from a cyber attack?

According to a recent report from Computing, 19 per cent of all businesses experienced a successful ransomware attack in the last 12 months.

Of this 19 per cent, half of these affected businesses took longer than three days to fully recover from the attack, and 4 per cent reported that they were never fully able to recover.

This extended downtime can have devastating consequences for organisations. Beyond the immediate financial losses, prolonged recovery periods can erode customer trust, damage brand reputation, and lead to missed business opportunities.

In highly regulated industries, delays in recovery may also result in non-compliance penalties, further compounding the cost of a cyberattack. For smaller businesses, the impact can be particularly severe and even has the potential to threaten a company’s survival.

MSPs/MSSPs aim to bridge this gap by delivering tailored recovery solutions that reduce downtime and safeguard business continuity.

Immutable backups

The cornerstone of effective recovery is a robust disaster recovery plan supported by immutable backups. Modern threat actors specifically target backups, making it imperative for MSPs/MSSPs to ensure that customer data is well-protected.

This goes further than conventional backup methods, however. Modern threat actors regularly target backups specifically, knowing they’re the first line of defence for mission-critical service restoration.

The same Computing report found that 63 per cent of IT teams said their backups are immutable. Unable to be accessed by anyone, either from within or outside an organisation, immutable backups can be seen as a key part of being cyber resilient.

“Attackers will always target your backups,” argues Damian Gelder, Head of Support at Q2Q. “It’s very important to have immutable backups, and then I’d even recommend having measures in place to protect your immutable backups.”

To ensure robust data protection, organisations should adopt the "3-2-1" backup rule: maintain three copies of data, use two different types of media, and store at least one copy offsite or in the cloud. Diversifying backup solutions and disconnecting backup devices from the network reduces exposure to threats.

Additional safeguards, such as out-of-place writes, restricted access to backup data, and strong authentication protocols, help protect data from tampering or deletion. These measures ensure backups remain secure and ready for recovery.

While data backups are essential for ransomware recovery, they are only part of the solution. Combining backups with a proactive, well-tested recovery plan ensures faster restoration and stronger business continuity.

Resilience is key

For MSPs/MSSPs, providing resilience solutions to customers goes beyond disaster recovery—it involves proactively mitigating risk. Automating recovery processes, conducting frequent disaster recovery drills, and implementing third-party audits are vital services offered by channel partners.

Companies should be conducting regular audits and involve a third party in the process, as well as staying up-to-date with evolving insurer expectations.

“We deal with a third party who audit our clients, and they send a direct report to each client,” continues Damian. “Without a third party, it’s almost like marking your own exam paper, and while you can be trusted to do that anyone worth their salt should be involving an external party for a separate opinion."

“I believe not enough companies look at third parties. They just believe what they know is best, and that isn’t always the case.”

Fostering a culture of proactive threat monitoring and rapid incident response, as well as a robust backup strategy, make for a successful recovery time reduction plan.

Find out more at N-able.

This article is sponsored by N-Able.