An essential element of proper disaster recovery planning is to provide what?

• A. A robust incident response plan
• B. A data retention policy
• C. Providing a reliable backup and recovery system
• D. A training program for staff

Answer: (C)

Disaster recovery hinges on having a reliable backup and recovery system because the most direct way to resume operations after a disruption is to restore data and systems from backups. A solid backup strategy defines what data gets copied, where it’s stored, how often (RPO), and how quickly you can recover (RTO), and must be regularly tested to ensure restores actually work. Other components like an incident response plan, data retention policy, or staff training support the overall readiness, but they don’t by themselves guarantee that critical data and systems can be restored after a disaster. Therefore, providing a reliable backup and recovery system is the essential element.