Answer guide · Business continuity and DR

RTO and RPO: how to answer it in a security questionnaire

Usually asked as: “What is your RTO (Recovery Time Objective)?”

Updated

What are RTO and RPO?

RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is the maximum acceptable time to restore a service after a disruption. RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is the maximum acceptable amount of data loss, measured as time since the last good copy. An RPO of one hour means losing up to an hour of data is acceptable.

What the buyer is really asking

The buyer wants two numbers: how long until you are back up (RTO) and how much data could be lost (RPO). Give numbers you have actually achieved in a test. These often end up in the contract.

Other ways buyers ask it

Every one of these wants the same answer:

  • “What is your Recovery Time Objective (RTO)?”
  • “What is your Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?”
  • “How quickly can you restore service after a disaster?”

Evidence to have ready

  • The RTO and RPO stated in your DR plan
  • Results from the last DR or restore test

How Tyrvar answers this

Tyrvar treats every wording above as one question. You write the answer once, attach the evidence, and revisit it when your setup changes. Each buyer gets that approved answer no matter how their questionnaire words it. If you have not answered it yet, Tyrvar flags the question for you and does not make something up. Try it on your own questionnaire.

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