What is Disaster Recovery (DR)?
Disaster Recovery (DR) is the IT-focused process and plan for restoring systems, applications, and data after a disruptive event such as hardware failure, cyberattack, or natural disaster. It is the technology subset of business continuity, and is measured by Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for speed and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for tolerable data loss.
Disaster recovery matters because modern operations depend on systems and data that can be lost in moments — to ransomware, a failed server, or a cloud-region outage. A DR plan defines how those systems are brought back, in what order, from what backups, and within what timeframes, so recovery is deliberate rather than chaotic.
For example, a company with a DR plan that specifies daily offsite backups and a four-hour RTO can restore its core application from clean backups after a ransomware attack instead of paying a ransom or losing weeks of data.
The plan itself — backup procedures, restoration runbooks, RTO and RPO targets, and recovery roles — is documentation that auditors and customers expect to see and that takes time to write well. A template gives you that structure, so you record your systems, backups, and targets, then test the restores. The document accelerates audit-readiness; regularly testing recoveries is what proves the data and systems will actually come back.
Related terms: Business Continuity Plan (BCP) · Incident Response · Risk Assessment · Security Control
Frequently asked questions
- Is disaster recovery the same as business continuity?
- No. Disaster recovery is the IT subset focused on restoring systems and data. Business continuity is broader and keeps all critical business functions — including people, processes, and facilities — running. DR supports the wider continuity plan.
- How often should we test a disaster recovery plan?
- At least annually, and after major changes to your systems or infrastructure. A backup is only proven when a restore is tested; untested DR plans frequently fail at the worst possible moment, and auditors look for evidence of testing.
- What is the difference between RTO and RPO?
- RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is how quickly a system must be restored after an outage. RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is how much data loss is acceptable, measured as the time between the last good backup and the disruption.
Toolkits that cover Disaster Recovery (DR)
ISO 27001 Complete Toolkit
All 24 policies and procedures plus the risk register, 93-control Statement of Applicability and audit evidence checklist — audit-ready from day one.
NIST CSF 2.0 Complete Toolkit
15 editable policies and plans covering all six CSF 2.0 functions, plus a Profile & Assessment workbook with every one of the 106 subcategories, a risk register, and an audit evidence checklist.
SOC 2 Complete Toolkit
22 policies plus the risk register, full Trust Services Criteria mapping and audit evidence checklist — built for startups facing their first SOC 2.
Learn more in our ISO/IEC 27001 guide, explore the editable policy templates, or browse the full compliance glossary.