Data Recovery: An Essential Pillar of Digital Resilience
In a business environment that is increasingly dependent on information, data loss or unavailability is no longer just a technical setback. Whether due to human error, infrastructure failure, or cyberattack, any interruption can compromise business continuity, affect customers and partners, and jeopardize the organization’s reputation.
That is why true digital resilience is not measured by the absence of incidents—something impossible to guarantee—but by the ability to face them, limit their impact, and recover quickly. And this is where data recovery plays a central role.
Data recovery is not a technical act: it is a strategy
Having backups is no longer enough. Effective data recovery is a strategic process that requires:
- Appropriate technology that ensures integrity, confidentiality, and availability;
- Well-defined operations with clear RPO and RTO objectives;
- Specialized teams capable of diagnosing the problem, restoring the information, and validating its consistency.
This alignment is precisely what is recommended in international frameworks such as NIST SP 800-34, which emphasizes the need for formal, tested processes integrated into the business continuity lifecycle.
An integral part of incident response
When an incident affecting systems or data occurs, recovery is a critical component of the response process. The steps are:
- Quickly detect the problem;
- Contain and isolate the impact;
- Assess the extent of the loss or corruption;
- Restore information from secure sources;
- Validate the integrity of the restored environment.
This approach is aligned with the guidelines of the QNRCS – National Reference Framework for Cybersecurity, which highlights the importance of response, recovery, and continuous learning capabilities to strengthen cyber resilience.
Preparation before the incident
Effective recovery begins long before the incident. It requires practices such as:
- Regular, automated, and validated backups;
- Data replication in secure and segregated environments;
- Periodic restoration tests;
- Security control audits;
- Business continuity and disaster recovery planning;
- Multi-team simulations and exercises.
Many of these principles are reflected in the ISO 27001 controls, which require formal backup policies, defined routines, copy protection, and regular testing to ensure that restoration is possible.
A single point of coordination, multiple skills
During an incident, it is essential to have a point of coordination capable of coordinating operations, security, infrastructure, and application teams, while maintaining focus on the same goal: restoring systems safely and quickly. This role facilitates critical decisions and reduces ambiguity in times of pressure.
Recovering data means recovering trust
Restoring files is only part of the process. The most important thing is to restore trust—both internally and externally—that the organization is prepared, knows how to respond, and can continue to operate even in the face of inevitable failures.
Companies such as Eurotux operate precisely in this area: they help organizations to (i) implement robust backup controls in line with ISO 27001, (ii) operationalize NIST recommended practices, (iii) comply with QNRCS guidelines, and (iv) ensure that continuity and recovery strategies are executable and effective. The goal is simple and essential: to ensure that technology continues to support the business, even in the most challenging times.
When an incident occurs, the difference between stopping and continuing depends on the quality of preparation and the effectiveness of recovery.
Ricardo Oliveira, CSO at Eurotux
