A major company found itself at a critical juncture: despite having formal business continuity and disaster recovery plans, they lacked confidence in their actual resilience capabilities.
Chaleit’s engagement with the client began as a standard tabletop exercise and evolved into a comprehensive transformation of their approach to resilience, particularly focusing on ransomware recovery scenarios.
The challenge
Despite having invested in standard security frameworks and documentation, the organisation faced significant constraints in time, resources, and practical execution capabilities.
Key issues included:
Business continuity plans to exist as "shelfware" without practical validation
No real-world rehearsal of recovery scenarios
Resource and time constraints limiting improvement
Uncertainty about actual recovery capabilities
Need to translate executive concerns into actionable plans
"Everyone thinks of a breach as a singular event, but not all breaches are equal — they can be shallow, wide, or deep. We needed to prepare for all scenarios," noted a Chaleit consultant.
The solution
Chaleit’s strategic advisory approach focused on pragmatism and real-world resilience. We implemented the solution in two phases:
1. Strategic assessment
Analysed tabletop exercise outputs
Identified executive-level concerns
Mapped critical business processes
Created targeted recovery scenarios
2. Practical implementation
Developed specific ransomware recovery playbooks
Implemented targeted recovery approaches
Created practical testing procedures
Built response capabilities based on threat modelling
“Rather than blanket approaches, we focused on precise, targeted recovery strategies that would minimise collateral impact while effectively addressing threats”, Chaleit’s VP of Technical Services explained.
The outcome and aftermath
The transformation yielded significant improvements for the organisation:
Operational resilience
Created actionable recovery playbooks
Identified previously unknown critical assets
Established practical testing procedures
Developed targeted response capabilities
Strategic benefits
Transformed theoretical plans into practical procedures
Uncovered and addressed critical gaps
Enhanced executive confidence in recovery capabilities
Created sustainable, testable resilience framework
This engagement was particularly successful because we focused on practical execution rather than theoretical documentation.
We created realistic, executable recovery strategies by challenging traditional approaches and focusing on targeted solutions.
Key takeaways
- Documentation without validation creates a false sense of security.
- Practical rehearsal reveals critical gaps in recovery plans.
- Targeted recovery strategies outperform blanket approaches.
- Executive concerns must translate into executable procedures.
- Real resilience requires continuous validation and testing.
The engagement demonstrates how organisations can transform theoretical security frameworks into practical resilience capabilities. Through systematic validation and focus on real-world execution, the client achieved genuine confidence in their recovery capabilities.
Looking to transform your recovery plans from documentation into practical capabilities? Let’s discuss how our strategic approach could enhance your organisational resilience.
