Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) Checklist
Disaster Recovery Planning is about restoring your technical systems and infrastructure—cloud services, databases, source code, and access controls—after events like data loss, ransomware, service outages, or accidental deletion. It complements Business Continuity Planning, which focuses on operations and communications.
DRP Strategy & Ownership
Task | Description |
|---|---|
Designate a DRP Owner | Assign responsibility to a technical team member or leader. |
Define Recovery Objectives | Establish Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for each system. |
Create a DRP Policy | Document roles, scope, and update procedures in a formal DRP policy. |
Review Annually | Reassess your DRP plan yearly or after significant infrastructure changes. |
Inventory of Critical Systems
Task | Description |
|---|---|
Document Key Infrastructure | List production servers, databases, S3 buckets, APIs, etc. |
Map Dependencies | Record how systems are interdependent (e.g., backend needs database, API needs auth service). |
Identify SaaS Tools | Track external tools like CI/CD pipelines, analytics, error tracking, and source code hosting. |
Assign Risk Scores | Classify systems by their criticality to your business. |
Data Backup & Storage
Task | Description |
|---|---|
Automate Backups | Ensure databases, file storage, and infrastructure are backed up daily. |
Store Backups Offsite | Use secure cloud or physical redundancy (e.g., AWS cross-region, GCP multi-location). |
Test Backup Restores | Regularly test your ability to restore from backups. |
Encrypt Backups | Ensure backup data is encrypted at rest and in transit. |
Recovery Procedures
Task | Description |
|---|---|
Create System Recovery Playbooks | Document step-by-step instructions to recover each critical system. |
Define Authentication Recovery | Plan how to restore IAM, MFA, or SSO if compromised. |
Set up Alternate Access Methods | Allow privileged access via break-glass accounts in case of SSO failure. |
Track Recovery Timelines | Know how long each system takes to recover under testing. |
Testing & Tabletop Exercises
Task | Description |
|---|---|
Conduct Disaster Recovery Drills | Simulate infrastructure outages or data loss events with engineering teams. |
Log Lessons Learned | Record what went wrong and what needs to improve after each drill. |
Update DRP Plan | Revise your plan based on test results, personnel changes, or new architecture. |
Share with Stakeholders | Inform your CTO, engineering leads, and relevant vendors of your DRP approach. |
Post-Recovery Follow-Up
Task | Description |
|---|---|
Conduct Root Cause Analysis | After real incidents, investigate what caused the failure. |
Perform Security Audits | Validate that no lingering security risks were introduced during the recovery. |
Notify Affected Parties | If customer data or service availability was affected, follow your incident communication plan. |
Review & Debrief | Share recovery details with the team to improve preparedness. |