Case Studies

Redesigning ransomware-resilient backups established a four-hour recovery objective

Following an incident elsewhere in the healthcare sector, we redesigned backup retention and recovery procedures. Recovery drills confirmed restoration within the target time.

Challenges

• Backups were being taken, but restoration had not been tested in practice for several years.
• Backup storage shared the production network, creating a risk that both would be encrypted in the same attack.
• Round-the-clock operations made it difficult to secure downtime for testing.

Our Approach

• We established immutable backup storage on a segregated network.
• Daily, weekly and monthly retention policies were redefined according to business impact.
• A permanent isolated recovery environment enabled testing without stopping production.
• Twice-yearly recovery drills became part of operations, keeping the process effective through practice rather than documentation alone.

Results

"Assuming backups existed was not enough. Having the drills included in the design gave us confidence." - Administrative Director

Figures are measured results from the client's environment and do not guarantee equivalent outcomes elsewhere. Information reflects the project at completion.