Data has fast become one of the most important commodities that a company has, and ensuring that it is safe is a big priority for many companies. In basic terms it is the preparation required for an event where a firm's data is wiped but can be recovered by using various technologies. As part of the wider field of business continuity planning, disaster recovery might include the recovery of things such as applications, data, hardware and communications. While disaster recovery can relate to various aspects of protecting an organisation in the event of a disaster, this article looks at the term in relation to IT infrastructure.

The days of businesses carrying out heavy industry are to a large degree reserved for only a small percentage of companies in the UK, but even they now rely heavily on their Information Technology systems. Most businesses are service based, which means a great deal of their activity relies upon having complete access to their IT systems. Another reason why disaster recovery has become so important is that many businesses conduct their business around the clock, mainly because they do business with organisations that are based around the world.

By some estimations between 2 and 4 percent of the average businesses revenue is ploughed back into making preparations for the worst - namely that their data is wiped. Data is susceptible to a great deal of situations - they may include fire or flood - or even theft. There is also the risk of having one's data wiped by accident or on purpose by a human element.

There are considered to be three main control measures in a recovery plan, and we'll briefly look at them here:

The first of the three measures are Preventative Measures, these controls are aimed at preventing an event from happening in the first place. This is of course what the majority of businesses focus on, so they never have to deal with the other two measures. The second of these measures are Detective Measures - which, as the name suggests, is aimed at detecting or discovering unwanted events as soon as they occur, so they can be dealt with as soon as possible. The third of the three Corrective Measures - controls that aimed at correcting or restoring the system after a given disaster or event has taken place.

Disaster recovery looks set to become an even bigger preoccupation in the future as the secure storage and ability to recover data increases in importance.