As an industry that does not generate revenue, disaster recovery is often ignored in favor of IT initiatives with a higher profit margin. A robust disaster recovery plan is essential for business continuity. DR is a wise investment, paying for itself by preventing potential financial catastrophes.
This article presents key disaster recovery statistics that demonstrate the value of DR initiatives and general readiness for disruptive incidents.
Disaster Recovery Stats
Here are 30 must-know disaster recovery statistics for 2023:
1. Around Half of Companies Have Disaster Recovery Plans
A recent survey found that only 54% of organizations have an established, company-wide disaster recovery plan.
However, 57% of surveyed companies have a second on-prem data center dedicated to disaster recovery.
2. Security Breaches are the Top Cause of Downtime
Around 78% of corporations cite security breaches as the top cause of downtime, according to ITIC’s latest Global Server Hardware Security survey.
Additionally, over 80% of respondents see security breaches as the most significant potential threat to the uptime of their on-prem, cloud computing, and network infrastructure.
These figures stand in substantial contrast to ITIC’s 2013 survey, where only 22% cited security issues as a top cause of outages.
3. Small Businesses Are the Main Target of Cybercriminals
Small businesses suffer 43% of all data breaches. However, 57% of small business owners believe they are “unlikely” to be a target of a cyber-attack.
4. More Than Half of Small Businesses Close Within Six Months of a Cyber Attack
A recent report from National Cyber Security Alliance reveals that a staggering 60% of small businesses close within six months of experiencing a cyber-attack.
5. Most small businesses do not have cyber insurance
Only 9% of them have purchased cyber liability insurance as a hedge against cybercrime. Cyber criminals use small businesses as entry points
According to a
, 59% of companies have experienced a data breach attributable to a third-party entity or vendor with whom they shared sensitive information. Cyber Criminals Exploit Small Businesses as Entry Pointsstudy by the Ponemon InstituteAccording to a
, 59% of companies have experienced a data breach attributable to a third-party entity or vendor with whom they shared sensitive info.
Cybercriminals often exploit security flaws in larger companies’ external partners, giving them unauthorized access to shared data. This trend highlights the importance of being vigilant when choosing external partners. In 2022
, 73% Of Organizations Experienced a Ransomware Virus Attack. 38% of these organizations experienced two or more ransomware attacks. Only 31% of organizations that were hit with a single ransomware attack in 2022 paid up. Nearly All Ransomware Attacks Try to Infect Backup Systemsstudy by Barracuda NetworksBackup servers are generally an adequate safeguard against ransomware attacks. However,
tried to infect both primary systems and backup repositories.
In 2022, approximately 493 million ransomware attacks were reported globally, affecting 71% of all businesses. Ransomware Statistics will give you an insight into the impact and patterns of attacks. Businesses Lack Off-Site Backups
Around 42% of medium-sized companies and 30% of large businesses don’t have off-site backups, a 97% of ransomware attacks in 2022 revealed.
Alarmingly, nearly half of the surveyed businesses stored their backups on separate systems within the same office. This localization exposes backups to the same risks and threats that could affect the primary system, making data recovery more problematic.
10. The Majority of Backups Are Incomplete
According to UK survey, 60% of data backups are incomplete, and backup restores have a 50% failure rate. Data backup and disaster recovery are separate components of any data protection strategy. Read our backup vs. disaster recovery article to learn more about their differences.
11. Ransomware causes an average of 136 business hours of downtime
The costliest aspect of a malware attack is the downtime. Recovery expenses are typically ten times as large as the ransom.
After the attack, the time to recovery was research by Avast which is equivalent to taking seven round-trip flight from New York Beijing.
12. Downtime Costs $9,000 Per Minute
Ponemon Institute estimates the average cost of downtime at
(approx. The average cost of service downtime is $500,000 per hour. More than half of outages exceed $100,000 in costs. In 2022, more than half of all service interruptions will cost at least $100,000. This is a substantial increase compared to 39% of outages in 2019. According to the Uptime Institute, the percentage of outages that caused damages over $1 million rose from 11% in the past three years to 15%. Almost All Organizations Have Had an Outage in the Last 3 Years
According to a 3.4 weeks, 96% of IT organizations worldwide encountered at least one outage between 2019 and 2022.
15. Twenty percent of organizations suffered a serious outage in the last three years
An outage that is severe can result in financial losses, reputational damages, compliance breaches or even death. According to Uptime $9,000 per minute one out of five organizations experienced a severe failure within the last three years. Frequent Outages Result in Higher Costs
According to Logic Monitor’s IT Outage Impact Study, organizations that experience frequent outages incur costs that are 16 times higher compared to companies with fewer instances of downtime.
More than 60%17. Three Out of Four Organizations Suffer Severe Data Loss
According to a
by Arcserve, 76% of respondents experienced severe loss of critical data in their organization, with 45% facing permanent data loss.report by Logic Monitor18. Data Center Hard Disks have a Life expectancy of Less Than 3 Years
Data centres face a major challenge maintaining the longevity and reliability of their hard disks. The average life expectancy is around
.2022 Data Center Resiliency SurveyThe constant data intensive processes, high temperatures, and constant read/write operations put significant stress on hard drive, affecting their reliability and lifespan. Cloud Backup Adoption
% of businesses are using cloud backups. This number increases to 93% in small and medium-sized businesses. Cloud providers maintain redundant copies of data in multiple data centers, enhancing availability and protection against disasters.
20. Public Cloud’s Growing Role
A recent
by International Data Corporation highlights the growing role of the public cloud in backup and disaster recovery strategies.surveyOver 88% of respondents see the public cloud as a part of their backup plans, and 91% use it for
to recover.
22. Data Breach Costs soartwo years and ten monthsThe
shows that the cost of a breach has risen to a record-breaking $4.35 million by 2022. This is a 2.6% increase from last year and a 12.7% rise over 2020. This is a significant 12.7% increase over 2020 and a 2.6% rise on the previous year.
23. US Tops Global Data Breach costs
Around 84%The United States is still leading the world in terms of data breach costs. The average cost per breach is $9.44million, which $5.09million more than the average global breach. The Healthcare Sector Takes the Full Impact
For a 12th consecutive year the healthcare sector has maintained its position as having the highest average cost of a data breach (
). Over half of companies were unprepared for the pandemicsurveyIn early 2020, Mercer, a global consultancy firm, conducted a
to assess businesses’ readiness for business continuity during a global pandemic. Over Half of Companies Were Unprepared for the Pandemiccloud disaster recovery. Over half of the respondents plan to invest more funds in backup (23%) and disaster recovery (16%) improvements.
21. Nearly One in Three Businesses Are Unable to Recover Data for a Day or Longer
Almost 83% of organizations can tolerate a maximum of 12 hours of downtime before they experience a negative effect on the business.
However, just 52% are able to restore their critical systems within 12 hours after a severe data loss event, while 29% require a day or moreIn early 2020, Mercer, a global consultancy firm, conducted a
to assess companies’ readiness for business continuity during a global pandemic.
Their findings revealed that 51% of businesses lacked any plans or protocols to address a global emergency like COVID-19. In addition, 27% did not have any business continuity plans at the time.IBM report26. Pandemic Leads to Stronger Business Continuity Commitments
According to a
conducted by Infinite Blue, 81% of respondents reported continuously expanding and enhancing their pandemic plans as previously overlooked dependencies surfaced.
The experiences and insights gained from responding to the pandemic influenced 87% of respondents to “agree” or “strongly agree” that their organizations now hold a more substantial commitment to business continuity planning.
27. Billion-Dollar Disasters from Climate Change$10.1 millionThe increasing severity of extreme weather has made it a priority for data center operators. The number of billion dollar disasters for 2022 is tied with those in 2017 and 2011, and behind only the 22 disasters that occurred in 2020 and 20 in 2021. A Quarter of Businesses Permanently Close After a Disaster
According to a
by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 25% of businesses do not reopen after a disaster.worldwide study29. Global Cybercrime Costs Projected to Skyrocket
Cybersecurity Ventures project that the global costs of cybercrime will increase by 15% annually over the next five years. By 2025, experts predict that these costs will reach a staggering
, surpassing the $3 trillion recorded in 2015.
This unprecedented growth is the most significant wealth transfer in history and exceeds the yearly damages caused by natural disasters.survey30. The Disaster-Recovery-As-A-Service Market Projected to Reach $23 Billion by 2027
Polaris Market Research’s new study indicates that the global disaster-recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS) market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23.4% and reach
by 2027.
Disaster Recovery Best Practices
The following practices help create a well-rounded DR plan that ensures you deliver services with minimal disruptions during challenging times:18 distinct weather and climate disastersUse a
disaster recovery plan checklist
. Use a checklist to ensure consistency. It also helps cover critical aspects of DR plans (e.g. risk management, team roles, testing procedures). ), leaving no crucial element overlooked.studyIdentify your critical IT systems and data.
You must know which systems and data are essential for your organization to continue operating. Your critical systems could include your CRM system, email server and website. Your critical data might include customer PII, financial files, and intellectual property.
Develop a recovery plan for each critical system or data set$10.5 trillion per year. Your recovery plan must include the steps that you will follow to recover each system or set of data. It should also contain contact information for key personnel and vendors. It is surprising that
test their disaster recovery plans regularly. Testing the plan at least once a year helps ensure that everything is up-to-date and that the team knows how to execute its assignments.
Have a
backup strategy$23.3 billion for your critical data
. Store your backup in a safe location. Use a disaster recovery provider
. A DR service provider helps create and maintain your disaster recovery plan, as well as restore systems and data in the event of a disaster.
- If you prioritize digital resilience, consider our ready-made Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service solutions. Our servers are located in North America, South America Europe Asia and Australia. Should a local server failure or disaster occur in one region, our global network servers swiftly restore your services via backups from other locations.ConclusionOnly 54% of organizations have a company-wide and comprehensive disaster recovery plan
- . A comprehensive disaster recovery plan is essential given the risk of causing major disruptions. You are exposed to substantial financial loss in the event of an emergency without a DR strategy.
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To prevent becoming another cautionary story of poor planning implement a robust Disaster Recovery Strategy and improve your odds to successfully navigate through unexpected incidents.
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By omurix
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