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Backup and Disaster Recovery Policy

Policy Status: Active

This policy is currently active.

Purpose

To ensure continuity of operations through regular data backups and an established plan for disaster recovery, minimizing data loss and downtime in the event of system failures, disasters, or security incidents.

Scope

This policy applies to all critical data, systems, and applications used by Acme Corp, including production databases, file servers, application servers, and configuration data.

Policy Statement

Data Backup

Backup Frequency: - Critical production data: Daily full backups with hourly incremental backups - Standard business data: Daily backups - System configurations: Weekly backups and after any significant changes - Database transaction logs: Continuous or every 15 minutes

Backup Storage: - Primary backups stored in secure cloud location (separate region from production) - Secondary backups stored in geographically diverse location - Encryption required for all backup data (AES-256 or equivalent) - Minimum 30-day retention for daily backups - Minimum 1-year retention for monthly backups

Disaster Recovery Plan

Recovery Objectives: - RTO (Recovery Time Objective): Critical systems restored within 4 hours - RPO (Recovery Point Objective): Maximum 1 hour data loss for critical systems - Define recovery strategies for all critical systems - Maintain prioritized list of systems and applications

Recovery Procedures: - Documented step-by-step recovery procedures for each critical system - Contact information for all key personnel and vendors - Hardware/software inventory and procurement procedures - Alternative site arrangements if primary facility unavailable

Testing

  • Conduct quarterly disaster recovery tests
  • Annual full-scale disaster recovery drill
  • Document test results and identified gaps
  • Update procedures based on test findings
  • Test restoration of random backup samples monthly

Documentation

Maintain and keep current: - Complete backup schedule and retention policy - Disaster recovery runbooks for each critical system - Emergency contact lists - Vendor contact information and support procedures - Network diagrams and system dependencies - Backup verification logs

Roles and Responsibilities

Role Responsibility
IT Operations Team Manage backup and disaster recovery operations, perform regular backups, maintain documentation
IT Security Team Ensure backup security, encryption, and secure storage
Application Owners Identify critical data and systems, define RTO/RPO requirements
Key Stakeholders Participate in disaster recovery testing, validate recovery procedures
CTO Approve disaster recovery plan, allocate resources, oversee testing program

Procedures

1. Backup Configuration

  1. Configure automated backup jobs for all systems
  2. Set appropriate retention policies
  3. Enable encryption for backup data
  4. Configure monitoring and alerting for backup failures

2. Backup Verification

  1. Automated verification of backup completion daily
  2. Monthly test restore of random data samples
  3. Document verification results
  4. Alert on backup failures within 1 hour

3. Disaster Declaration

  1. CTO or designated alternate declares disaster
  2. Activate disaster recovery team
  3. Assess scope and impact
  4. Determine recovery strategy

4. Recovery Execution

  1. Follow system-specific recovery runbooks
  2. Restore data from most recent clean backup
  3. Verify system integrity and data consistency
  4. Conduct parallel testing before switching to production

5. Post-Recovery

  1. Document recovery timeline and actions taken
  2. Conduct post-mortem review
  3. Update procedures based on lessons learned
  4. Resume normal backup operations

Exceptions

  • Non-critical systems may have reduced backup frequency (minimum weekly)
  • Test/development environments may have longer retention periods for specific use cases
  • All exceptions require documented justification and CTO approval
  • Exceptions reviewed annually

Compliance and Enforcement

  • Backup Success Rate: Target 99.9% backup success rate
  • Recovery Testing: 100% of critical systems tested annually
  • Documentation: Recovery procedures reviewed and updated quarterly
  • Audit: Annual third-party audit of backup and DR procedures
  • Compliance: HIPAA requires backup and disaster recovery capabilities
  • Reporting: Monthly backup metrics reported to leadership

References

  • NIST SP 800-34 Rev. 1: Contingency Planning Guide
  • HIPAA Security Rule - Contingency Plan (ยง164.308(a)(7))
  • SOC 2 Trust Service Criteria - Availability
  • ISO 22301: Business Continuity Management

Revision History

Version Date Author Changes
1.0 2025-11-08 IT Operations Team Initial version migrated from Notion

Document Control - Classification: Internal/Confidential - Distribution: IT team, management, key stakeholders - Storage: GitHub repository - policy-repository