What is a disaster recovery plan (DRP) and its main goal?

• A. A plan for disaster recovery testing cycles
• B. A plan to secure backups but not to recover operations
• C. A plan for external auditors
• D. Documented procedures to recover IT systems after a catastrophic event to resume critical operations

Answer: (C)

A disaster recovery plan is a documented set of procedures designed to restore IT systems, data, networks, and applications after a catastrophic event so critical operations can resume. Its main goal is to get essential services back online quickly and with minimal loss, by outlining who does what, in what sequence, and within what timeframes (often captured as recovery objectives like RTO and RPO). A DRP goes beyond just having backups; it specifies how those backups are used to restore systems, whether you recover at the primary site or an alternate location, and how you validate that everything is functioning again. The other options touch on related activities but do not describe the plan's core purpose of enabling the recovery and resumption of critical operations after a disaster.