Nearly 50% of disaster recovery plans fail when tested, a new research report from security vendor Symantec has revealed.

In 22% of cases, disaster recovery plans fail due to problems with the technology, while in a further 18% of cases disaster recovery processes “turn out to be inappropriate”. Employees are also a major source of trouble, Symantec found, with 19% of plans faltering due to “employees not doing what they are supposed to”.

Guy Bunker, chief scientist at Symantec told Information Age that the findings are worrying. In some cases companies are willfully ignoring the problem, he added.

“The fact that 48% of organisations have had to implement their disaster recovery plans shows that disasters do happen on a regular basis. The fact that the plans are failing suggests that despite this, scenario testing and updating DR plans is still way down the list of priorities,” said Bunker.  

The research further reveals that nearly three quarters of CEOs fail to take an active role in determining their company’s disaster recovery processes. “I was surprised by the lack of CEO involvement -- especially after this summer’s floods, which were all over the news,” Banker told Information Age.

 “The CEO is ultimately responsible for disaster recovery,” he added.

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