Backup and Recovery Verification
Ask any business whether they have backups and the answer is yes. Ask when a restore was last tested and the room goes quiet. Backups that have never been restored are not a recovery capability. They are a hope with a monthly invoice.
The gap stays invisible until the exact moment it cannot: the ransomware note, the deleted mailbox, the dead server. And increasingly it is visible somewhere else first, because cyber insurance proposal forms now ask directly whether restores are tested, and that question has to be answered truthfully.
Verification is a one-off, witnessed restore test. We agree a sample that reflects what your business actually depends on, typically a file, a folder, a mailbox item, and where applicable a server or virtual machine, and I restore each one from your existing backups while you watch.
What you get
A timestamped evidence pack: what was restored, from which backup and which date, how long it took, and verification that what came back was intact. If something fails to restore, the pack says that too, plainly, because finding out in a test is the entire point of testing. The evidence is written to stand on its own, whether the reader is your insurer, your auditor, or you in two years.
What it costs
Fixed price, $950 plus GST, for the agreed sample. If your environment needs a broader test, that is scoped and quoted before anything starts.
What it is not
I do not sell, configure, or manage backup products, and this is not an audit of which backup software you should buy. It is a test of whether the arrangement you already pay for actually works. If it does not, the evidence pack gives whoever fixes it a precise starting point.
The work offered through robswain.au is one-off and self-contained by design. There is no retainer and no ongoing commitment: the engagement ends when the work is done, and you keep control of your own systems throughout.
How to start
Tell me what your backups cover today, as best you know, and I will propose the sample. rob@robswain.au
Common questions
- Is the test safe to run against production systems?
- Restores land in a separate location agreed beforehand. Nothing in production is overwritten during the test.
- What if a restore fails?
- Then the evidence pack says so, plainly, with what failed and where it stopped. Finding out in a test is the entire point of testing, and the pack gives whoever fixes it a precise starting point.
- Will this satisfy the cyber insurance question about tested restores?
- The pack is a timestamped record of what was restored, from which backup, and whether it came back intact, written to stand on its own in front of an insurer or auditor. Whether it satisfies a specific policy question is for your broker, but it is the evidence the question is asking about.
- Do you need access to our backup system?
- Yes, for the duration of the test, agreed and witnessed. You watch the restores happen, and access ends when the engagement does.
Let's talk.
If you want to work together, book a call below. If you would rather write first, email me and I will get back to you.