NIS2 Directive: How a Backup and Disaster Recovery Strategy Supports the Path to Compliance

The introduction of the NIS2 Directive has brought significant changes to cybersecurity across the European Union. Unlike its predecessor, the new version of NIS covers a broader range of organisations from various industries (including digital service providers, postal services, public administration, manufacturing, and more). NIS2 also tightens cybersecurity requirements and introduces legal accountability for corporate management teams. To make matters worse, organisations that fail to comply may face even stricter penalties up to €10 million or 2% of their global annual revenue.

There is no doubt that compliance with NIS2 regulations is essential for any entity operating fully or partially within the EU. On this journey, organisations face critical questions such as: How can risk be kept under control, and how can business continuity be ensured—even during unplanned incidents?

NIS2 and Business Continuity

The NIS2 Directive webpage outlines the requirements and obligations across four areas, and business continuity is one of them. According to the Directive, companies are required to develop a plan for maintaining uninterrupted operations in case of major cyber incidents. This plan should include system recovery procedures, emergency protocols, and the formation of a crisis response team. In addition to these requirements, NIS2 mandates that essential and important entities should implement security mechanisms that address specific cyber threats. One of these mechanisms is a business operations management plan, along with strategies to ensure access to IT systems and operational functions during and after a security incident.

NIS2 Compliance: The Role of Backup and Disaster Recovery Solutions

When it comes to business continuity, preparation is half the battle. This is where Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies and solutions come into play, serving to enable the rapid and reliable recovery of critical systems and data. With an effective Backup and DR strategy in place, organisations can:

• Minimise downtime: Fast failover to a secondary site helps reduce service disruption, ensuring the availability of business-critical systems.
• Protect data: Mechanisms such as advanced data encryption are essential for maintaining data security and meeting NIS2 compliance requirements.
• Ensure operational resilience: A comprehensive DR plan addresses a variety of scenarios from ransomware attacks and human error to natural disasters, enabling the organisation to continue operating under unforeseen circumstances.

Meeting the requirements of the NIS2 Directive goes beyond deploying isolated solutions, and requires thorough planning, control, and risk evaluation at the company level. This includes, among other things:

• Backup strategy: The 3-2-1 backup rule is recommended—three copies of data, stored on two different media, with one copy kept offsite.
• Full backup solution review: This should include regular testing and verification of backup integrity, detection of changes in backup configuration, and validation that backups are protected against unauthorised access.
• Strategic planning of recovery environments: Planning and using a separate, secure recovery environment is essential, especially since it is often not possible to rely on systems located at the site affected by the incident.

Where to Begin?

Every business requires a unique Disaster Recovery (DR) plan, tailored to its specific needs. To define the optimal approach for your organisation, it is essential to evaluate the criticality of systems, applications, and data in relation to potential risks. Since a DR plan involves proper development, regular updates, and testing, the best practice is to establish a dedicated Disaster Recovery team or to partner with an external provider offering specialised expertise in this area.

Another high-priority aspect is the resumption of operations after an attack. The latest version of the NIS Directive makes comprehensive preparation for rapid recovery a necessity. This means that recovery plans must not only be developed but also tested through role-play scenarios and cyberattack simulations. In this context, companies should also assess the recovery and security capabilities of third-party providers delivering critical services and carefully select their partners accordingly.

Focus on Risk Reduction

All prescribed measures are designed to strengthen cybersecurity and should, therefore, be approached strategically, as initiatives that help your organisation operate seamlessly in a world of increasingly complex and evolving threats. In this regard, while implementing advanced Backup and Disaster Recovery solutions is not a magic wand for achieving full NIS2 compliance, it is a crucial step on the journey toward reducing business risks.