Driver FixRecommendedSound, Wi-Fi or graphics acting up? Check drivers firstFind missing or outdated drivers fast.Check DriversHalloween DealsAmazon USHalloween week deals: useful picks before month-endAmazon US: current deals, useful picks and tech finds.Check DealsWindows FixRecommendedWindows errors stealing your time? Find the fix fastScan stability, cleanup and performance issues.Fix Now×
FREEDOM251

Freedom251 › Blog › Business Continuity

Cyber Recovery Often Takes Nearly Twice as Long as Planned, Survey Finds

By Freedom251 Team · · 3 min read

Free tools Windows power users keep installed

One-click scans. No signup required.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

A 2026 survey commissioned by Cohesity found that 76% of organizations reporting a material cyberattack said recovery took longer than their own recovery-time objective (RTO). Across affected respondents, reported recovery time averaged almost twice as long as planned. The result highlights a practical distinction: bringing systems back online is not the same as restoring safe, critical business operations.

What “nearly twice as long” means

The comparison is between respondents’ reported recovery times and their organizations’ own RTOs—the target durations set for restoring services after disruption. It is an average reported for the surveyed organizations affected by material cyberattacks, not a claim that every organization took twice its target. The 76% figure applies to organizations that had experienced a material attack, not to all organizations surveyed.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The finding comes from the Cohesity Global Cyber Resilience Report 2026, whose recovery-overrun results were also reported by TechInformed.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Who was surveyed—and what the result can establish

Vanson Bourne surveyed 3,200 IT and security decision-makers at organizations with at least 1,000 employees. Fieldwork took place in July 2026 across Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, according to Cohesity’s September 16, 2026 release.

#1 Best Overall
Seagate 2TB Portable Hard Drive | USB 3.0 (STGX2000400) | Everyday HDD storage. Plug-and-play backup. Windows & macOS. Adobe CC trial included. 1-Year Warranty
  • Easily store and access 2TB to content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a USB external hard drive
  • Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop
  • To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required
  • This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
  • The available storage capacity may vary.

For the recovery finding, the relevant group was respondents whose organizations had experienced a material cyberattack in the previous 12 months. The release defines a material attack as one with measurable financial, reputational, operational, and/or customer-churn impact.

This is respondent-reported data from a study Cohesity commissioned; Cohesity also sells enterprise data-protection and cyber-recovery services. The published material does not establish that incident durations were independently audited. The figures therefore describe surveyed decision-makers’ reports, not a universal measurement of every incident or a comparison of recovery products.

Rank #2
Seagate Portable 5TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PS4, & Xbox - 1-Year Rescue Service (STGX5000400), Black
  • Easily store and access 5TB of content on the go with the Seagate portable drive, a USB external hard Drive
  • Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop
  • To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition software required
  • This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
  • The available storage capacity may vary.

Why an RTO can miss the real recovery finish line

A system can be technically restored while the business still cannot safely perform its essential work. The survey coverage points to several ways that gap can develop:

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.
  • The incident’s reach becomes clearer over time. Respondents described attacks affecting more systems than initially understood, expanding the recovery scope.
  • Dependencies are overlooked. Plans may not fully account for identity services, third-party integrations, or other components needed for restored systems to function together.
  • Clean recovery needs verification. Teams may need to establish that restored systems are safe to use rather than simply available.
  • Business activity lags behind infrastructure. Core systems may return before normal customer-facing or internal operations can resume.

These are issues described in survey coverage, not independently measured causes with assigned shares of recovery delay. Cohesity’s release reports that 78% focus recovery efforts on restoring systems rather than maintaining business operations. That emphasis can make a technical recovery milestone look like completion when critical workflows remain unavailable.

Rank #3
Seagate Portable 1TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PlayStation, & Xbox, 1-Year Rescue Service (STGX1000400) , Black
  • Easily store and access 1TB to content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a USB external hard drive.Specific uses: Personal
  • Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop. Reformatting may be required for Mac
  • To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required
  • This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
  • The available storage capacity may vary.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

What a useful recovery plan should measure

An RTO is only one part of recovery readiness. A practical review should test whether the organization can meet its target while also restoring data, dependencies, security, and business functions:

  • Time to restore: Measure actual recovery against the stated RTO in exercises, including the systems and services needed for critical work.
  • Data loss: Track the recovery-point objective (RPO), the maximum acceptable period of data loss, separately from the time required to resume service.
  • Dependency coverage: Map identity, integrations, and other prerequisites so recovery order reflects how services actually depend on one another.
  • Recovery verification: Include checks that restored environments are clean and safe before relying on them for production work.
  • Operational continuity: Define which customer and employee workflows must continue during recovery, and how their return will be confirmed.

Exercises that stop when a server or application is online can miss the delay between technical availability and usable operations. Plans are more informative when they define and time both milestones.

Quick Recap

Bestseller No. 1
Seagate 2TB Portable Hard Drive | USB 3.0 (STGX2000400) | Everyday HDD storage. Plug-and-play backup. Windows & macOS. Adobe CC trial included. 1-Year Warranty
Seagate 2TB Portable Hard Drive | USB 3.0 (STGX2000400) | Everyday HDD storage. Plug-and-play backup. Windows & macOS. Adobe CC trial included. 1-Year Warranty
This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable; The available storage capacity may vary.
$129.99
Bestseller No. 2
Seagate Portable 5TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PS4, & Xbox - 1-Year Rescue Service (STGX5000400), Black
Seagate Portable 5TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PS4, & Xbox - 1-Year Rescue Service (STGX5000400), Black
This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable; The available storage capacity may vary.
$219.99
Bestseller No. 3
Seagate Portable 1TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PlayStation, & Xbox, 1-Year Rescue Service (STGX1000400) , Black
Seagate Portable 1TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PlayStation, & Xbox, 1-Year Rescue Service (STGX1000400) , Black
This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable; The available storage capacity may vary.
$119.80
Bestseller No. 4
Seagate Portable 4TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0, 1-Year Rescue | Everyday HDD storage. Plug-and-play backup. Windows & macOS. Adobe CC trial included. 1-Year Warranty
Seagate Portable 4TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0, 1-Year Rescue | Everyday HDD storage. Plug-and-play backup. Windows & macOS. Adobe CC trial included. 1-Year Warranty
This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable; The available storage capacity may vary.
$189.99
Best Value
UnionSine 500GB Ultra Slim Portable External Hard Drive HDD-USB 3.0 | for PC, Mac, Laptop, PS4, Xbox one, Xbox 360-(Black)
  • [Upgraded Version] - This external hard drive features a mirrored logo stripe combined with a striped anti-slip design, and the rounded corners of the casing make it easier to grip. The stripes also have a heat dissipation function, ensuring stable and fast data transfer.
  • 【Ultra-thin and quiet】 - The motherboard adopts JMicron 578 noise-free solution, giving you a quiet working environment. Lightweight and portable size designed to fit in your pocket for easy portability.
  • 【Ultra-Fast Data Transfers】 - Pairing this external hard drive with JMicron 578 solution USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 interfaces enables blazing-fast data transfer. It boasts theoretical read speeds of up to 125MB/s and write speeds of up to 103MB/s.
  • 【Plug and Play】 - With no software to install, just plug it in and the drive is ready to use.The hard disk chip is wrapped with an aluminum anti-interference layer to increase heat dissipation and protect data.
  • 【What You Get】 - 1 x Portable Hard Drive, 1 x USB 3.0 Cable, 1 x User Manual, Gift-type shell packaging ,Three-year manufacturer's warranty and free technical support services.
Rank #4
Seagate Portable 4TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0, 1-Year Rescue | Everyday HDD storage. Plug-and-play backup. Windows & macOS. Adobe CC trial included. 1-Year Warranty
  • Easily store and access 4TB of content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a USB external hard drive.Specific uses: Personal
  • Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop
  • To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required
  • This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
  • The available storage capacity may vary.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Business Continuitycyber recoverycybersecurityDisaster RecoveryRTO

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Recommended PC Tool
Recommended PC Tool
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?Free scan - under a minute
Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You DownFree scan - exact matches

Two free Windows tools

One Free Minute Could Fix That PC

Before you go - each of these free tools takes about a minute and tackles what quietly slows a Windows PC down.

Special offer. View Outbyte info, uninstall instructions, EULA, and Privacy Policy.