BCP/DR Security Assessment
Security-Focused Assessment of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Against Ransomware and Adversarial Threats
Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are designed for natural disasters, hardware failures, and infrastructure outages. They are not designed for adversaries who specifically target backup infrastructure, encrypt recovery systems, and compromise the credentials used for disaster recovery. Ransomware operators study BCP/DR plans because those plans define exactly what to attack to maximize impact.
This assessment evaluates BCP/DR from a security perspective: Can your backups survive a ransomware attack? Are backup credentials independent from production Active Directory? Do recovery procedures reintroduce the threat? Are break-glass accounts tested and secured? Do DR tests validate security controls or just functional recovery?
This is not a general BCP/DR planning engagement. We assess the security resilience of your existing continuity and recovery capabilities against adversarial threats.
Who This Is For
Ideal clients for this engagement.
The Problem
What this engagement addresses.
Backups on the Same Network
Backup infrastructure resides on the same network as production systems, uses the same Active Directory credentials, and is accessible from the same administrative workstations. A single compromise reaches backups in the same lateral movement path.
Recovery That Reintroduces Threats
Recovery procedures restore systems from backups without verifying that the backup predates the compromise. Malware persists in backup images, and recovery reintroduces the threat into a clean environment.
No Backup Immutability
Backups can be modified or deleted by anyone with administrative credentials. Ransomware operators target backup deletion as a standard tactic. Without immutability (WORM, air-gap, or cloud-native immutable storage), backups provide a false sense of security.
Break-Glass Failures
Emergency access accounts (break-glass) are either untested, documented in compromised systems, or dependent on infrastructure that may be unavailable during a disaster. Recovery teams cannot authenticate when they need access most.
DR Tests Without Security Validation
Disaster recovery tests validate that systems come back online but do not validate security controls. Network segmentation, access controls, monitoring, and detection capabilities are not tested in the DR environment.
Assessment Coverage
What we test — systematically.
Network isolation, credential independence, immutability configuration, encryption at rest and in transit, access controls, and administrative access audit.
Backup survivability against targeted ransomware scenarios. Immutability verification, offline/air-gapped copy validation, backup deletion protection, and encryption key management independence.
Recovery procedure review for threat reintroduction risk. Clean recovery validation, integrity verification before restore, and malware scanning of backup images.
Emergency access account inventory, independence from primary identity infrastructure, testing and validation procedures, secure documentation storage, and access audit trails.
Security control validation during DR tests. Network segmentation, access controls, monitoring, and detection in the DR environment.
Deliverables
What you receive.
BCP/DR Security Assessment Report
Comprehensive assessment of backup infrastructure, recovery procedures, and continuity plans from a security perspective. Risk-rated findings with specific remediation guidance for each gap.
Ransomware Resilience Scorecard
Scored evaluation of backup survivability against targeted ransomware attack scenarios. Covers immutability, isolation, credential independence, and recovery integrity.
Remediation Roadmap
Prioritized improvement plan for hardening BCP/DR against adversarial threats. Includes quick wins, medium-term projects, and strategic initiatives with effort estimates.
DR Security Test Plan
Recommendations for incorporating security validation into future DR tests. Defines security-specific test cases, success criteria, and validation procedures.
Methodology
How the engagement works.
Documentation Review & Architecture Analysis
Weeks 1 – 2
- Review existing BCP/DR plans, backup architecture, and recovery procedures
- Analyze backup infrastructure network topology and credential dependencies
- Assess immutability configuration and offline/air-gapped copy arrangements
- Review break-glass account inventory and management procedures
Security Assessment & Testing
Weeks 2 – 4
- Evaluate backup survivability against ransomware attack scenarios
- Assess recovery procedures for threat reintroduction risks
- Validate break-glass access independence and functionality
- Review DR test procedures for security control validation gaps
Reporting & Roadmap
Weeks 4 – 5
- Deliver BCP/DR security assessment report with risk-rated findings
- Present ransomware resilience scorecard
- Deliver prioritized remediation roadmap
- Provide DR security test plan for future exercises
Engagement Tiers
Scoped to your architecture.
Focused
Assessment of primary backup infrastructure and recovery procedures against ransomware scenarios. For organizations seeking a targeted evaluation of backup resilience.
- Backup infrastructure security assessment
- Ransomware resilience scorecard
- Recovery procedure review
- Break-glass access assessment
- Remediation roadmap
Comprehensive
Full BCP/DR security assessment across all backup tiers, DR sites, and cloud recovery capabilities. Includes DR security test design.
- Everything in Focused
- Multi-tier backup architecture assessment (on-premises, cloud, hybrid)
- DR site security evaluation
- Cloud-native backup and recovery security
- DR security test plan for future exercises
- Continuity plan alignment review
Prerequisites
- Existing BCP/DR plans and recovery procedures
- Backup architecture documentation and network diagrams
- Access to backup infrastructure configurations and administrative procedures
- Break-glass account documentation and management procedures
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions.
Is this a general BCP/DR planning engagement?
No. This is a security-focused assessment of your existing BCP/DR capabilities. We evaluate whether your backup infrastructure, recovery procedures, and continuity plans can withstand adversarial threats — specifically ransomware. We do not develop general business continuity plans, conduct business impact analyses, or design recovery strategies for non-adversarial scenarios.
What is the most common critical finding?
Backup infrastructure using the same Active Directory credentials as production. When ransomware operators compromise AD (which they almost always do), they have immediate access to backup systems. The remediation is credential independence — backup administration using separate identity infrastructure that is not reachable from production.
Related Offerings
Often paired with this engagement.
Incident Response Readiness
IR readiness and BCP/DR security are complementary — IR plans define how you respond while BCP/DR defines how you recover. Both must withstand adversarial scenarios.
Security Program Assessment
Include BCP/DR security gaps in an overall security program maturity baseline.
Enterprise Risk Management
BCP/DR security findings are critical risk register entries. Integrate findings into the enterprise risk management program.
Ready to discuss this engagement?
30-minute discovery call. We will discuss your application architecture, your specific concerns, and whether this assessment is the right fit.