What comes first, the incident response plan or the disaster recovery plan?

In practice, the incident response plan is activated first when a security incident occurs, since it deals with the immediate detection and containment of the threat. If the incident escalates to cause major outages or damage, the disaster recovery plan follows to restore systems and data. Think of it like this: stop the bleeding first (IRP), then start the recovery/healing (DRP).

Is an incident response plan the same as a disaster recovery plan?

No – an incident response plan is not the same as a disaster recovery plan. An IRP is focused on handling a security incident or cyberattack in real time, defining how to identify, contain, remove, and investigate the threat. A DRP is focused on restoring IT systems and business operations after a major disruption or disaster (which could be caused by an incident, or something else like a power outage).

How often should we test our incident response and disaster recovery plans?

Both plans should be tested regularly – at least once a year, and preferably more frequently for critical processes. Many organizations do annual full-scale tests (like a simulated cyber incident for IRP, and a disaster recovery drill for DRP), supplemented by more frequent tabletop exercises or partial tests.

How do you combine disaster recovery and cyber incident response?

Combine them by using the incident response plan to detect, contain, and remove the threat, then trigger the disaster recovery plan to restore clean systems, backups, data, and operations. Both plans should share roles, escalation paths, recovery targets, testing schedules, and post-incident review steps.

How do you align DORA with incident response and disaster recovery playbooks?

Align DORA by mapping playbooks to ICT risk management, incident classification/reporting, resilience testing, third-party risk, recovery timelines, and evidence collection. For financial entities, DORA requires structured digital operational resilience controls, including ICT incident management and reporting.

Author: Payal Wadhwa

Payal is your friendly neighborhood compliance whiz who is also ISC2 certified! She turns perplexing compliance lingo into actionable advice about keeping your digital business safe and savvy. When she isn’t saving virtual worlds, she’s penning down poetic musings or lighting up local open mics. Cyber savvy by day, poet by night!

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