OT resilience demands rapid recovery: Rethinking traditional backup

Industrial organizations face a stark reality: Downtime is costly, disruptive and cannot be entirely prevented. Whether it’s a cyberattack, hardware failure or simple data corruption, operational technology (OT) environments must be ready to recover quickly. In a recent podcast, Stephen Nichols, Country Manager for Canada at Acronis, shared his perspective on why rapid recovery is now a fundamental pillar of industrial resilience and how modern backup strategies are evolving to meet the challenge.

For manufacturers, utilities and other critical infrastructure operators, even a brief outage can ripple through supply chains and production schedules. “Downtime is incredibly expensive and disruptive, especially in supply chain issues where you’re talking about just-in-time delivery,” Nichols explained. The stakes are high: A single system failure can halt operations, and traditional recovery methods. Take, for example, flying in replacement hardware from another region. It’s a consideration that’s no longer practical. 

Nichols described a real-world example: “If they have a problem with one of their systems, the only solution that they had prior to working with us was that somebody from Germany had to get on a plane and bring a new device and get that installed. So that’s a huge amount of downtime.” The need for a faster, more reliable approach is clear. 

Many industrial sites still rely on network-attached storage or local backup servers. While better than nothing, these solutions are vulnerable to ransomware and physical disasters. Nichols emphasized that “the modern best practice is to have that copy actually in an immutable storage in the cloud.” This approach not only protects against cyber threats but also meets compliance requirements for off-site, tamper-proof backups. 

Acronis’s architecture respects the Purdue model, with a lightweight agent installed on the control system, a management server in the DMZ and secure cloud storage. This design ensures that backup data moves securely without interfering with real-time operations. “It’s about being able to backup and restore that data without a lot of overhead or complication,” Nichols said. 

The true test of any backup solution is recovery. Industrial environments often run on legacy systems and unique hardware, making restoration complex. Acronis addresses this with universal restore technology, allowing recovery to dissimilar hardware — even if the replacement isn’t identical. “As long as we can load three drivers, we can make it bootable,” Nichols explained. 

Ease of use is also critical. With Acronis, recovery can be initiated with just a few clicks, even by non-IT staff. Whether restoring from local or cloud backups, the process is designed to minimize downtime and complexity. 

Some organizations worry about cloud connectivity introducing new risks. Nichols acknowledged these concerns but pointed out that most industrial sites are already cloud-connected in some way. “Here’s a cloud that increases your resiliency rather than simply increasing your efficiency,” he said. Cloud-based backup is not just about convenience. It’s about ensuring that recovery is possible when it matters most. 

Backup and rapid recovery are essential components of a complete OT security strategy. As Nichols concluded, “Backups are wonderful, but it’s really recovery. It’s the ability to get things back up that matter.” In today’s industrial landscape, resilience starts with a backup plan that’s ready for anything.