Testing Ransomware Recovery ProceduresSAFE

817 structured cybersecurity skills for AI agents · Mapped to 6 frameworks: MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF 2.0, MITRE ATLAS, D3FEND, NIST AI RMF & MITRE F3 (Fight Fraud) · agentskills.io standard · Works with Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex CLI, Cursor, Gemini CLI & 20+ platforms · 29 security domains ·

The instruction file, verbatim from the audited commit — this is the text the model reads, and the surface the audit's instruction layer examines. Quoted here so you can judge it without cloning anything.

---
name: testing-ransomware-recovery-procedures
description: Tests and validates ransomware recovery procedures - backup restore operations
  (e.g. with Restic), RTO/RPO target verification, recovery sequencing, and clean-restore
  validation - to confirm organizational resilience against destructive ransomware attacks.
  Use when validating that recovery plans work under realistic conditions, measuring
  RTO/RPO against business requirements, or testing restore integrity after simulated encryption.
domain: cybersecurity
subdomain: incident-response
tags:
- incident-response
- ransomware
- disaster-recovery
- backup
- rto
- rpo
- resilience
version: '1.0'
author: mahipal
license: Apache-2.0
nist_csf:
- RS.MA-01
- RS.MA-02
- RS.AN-03
- RC.RP-01
mitre_attack:
- T1486
- T1490
- T1070
- T1078
- T1489
mitre_f3:
  version: '1.1'
  tactics:
  - positioning
  - monetization
  techniques:
  - id: T1531
    name: Account Access Removal
    tactic: positioning
    source: attack
  - id: F1018
    name: Convert to Cryptocurrency
    tactic: monetization
    source: f3
  - id: F1047
    name: Transfer of funds
    tactic: monetization
    source: f3
  - id: F1017.001
    name: 'Conversion to Physical Monetary Instruments: Cash'
    tactic: monetization
    source: f3
---
# Testing Ransomware Recovery Procedures

## When to Use

Use this skill when:
- Validating that ransomware recovery plans actually work under realistic conditions
- Measuring RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) against business requirements
- Testing backup restore operations to confirm data integrity and completeness after simulated encryption
- Conducting tabletop exercises or live recovery drills for ransomware scenarios
- Auditing disaster recovery readiness as part of compliance or cyber insurance requirements

**Do not use** for active incident response during a live ransomware attack. Use dedicated IR playbooks instead.

## Prerequisites

- Isolated recovery test environment (air-gapped or network-segmented lab)
- Access to backup infrastructure (Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, AWS Backup, Azure Backup)
- Documented RTO/RPO targets per application tier from business impact analysis
- Backup copies available for restore testing (production replicas or test snapshots)
- Recovery runbooks with step-by-step procedures for each critical system

## Workflow

### Step 1: Define Recovery Test Scope

Identify critical systems and their tiered recovery targets:

| Tier | System Type | RTO Target | RPO Target | Example |
|------|------------|------------|------------|---------|
| Tier 1 | Mission-critical | < 1 hour | < 15 min | Active Directory, core database |
| Tier 2 | Business-critical | < 4 hours | < 1 hour | ERP, email, CRM |
| Tier 3 | Business-operational | < 24 hours | < 4 hours | File shares, internal apps |
| Tier 4 | Non-critical | < 72 hours | < 24 hours | Dev/test, analytics |

### Step 2: Prepare Test Environment

```bash
# Verify isolated recovery network is segmented
# No routes to production should exist
ip route show | grep -v "192.168.100.0/24"  # recovery VLAN only

# Verify backup catalog is accessible
restic snapshots --repo s3:s3.amazonaws.com/backup-bucket --password-file /etc/restic/pw
# Or for Veeam:
# Get-VBRBackup | Where-Object {$_.JobType -eq "Backup"} | Select Name, LastPointCreationTime
```

### Step 3: Execute Restore and Measure RTO

For each tiered system, measure the full recovery timeline:

1. **Detection to Decision** - Time from simulated alert to restore decision
2. **Backup Locate** - Time to identify and select the correct clean restore point
3. **Restore Execution** - Time to restore data/VM/application from backup
4. **Validation** - Time to verify data integrity and application functionality
5. **Service Restoration** - Time until the system is fully operational

```
Recovery Timeline Measurement:
  T0: Incident declared (simulated ransomware detection)
  T1: Recovery team assembled and backup identified
  T2: Restore initiated from clean backup
  T3: Restore completed, integrity checks passed
  T4: Application validated and service restored

  Actual RTO = T4 - T0
  Actual RPO = T0 - backup_timestamp
```

### Step 4: Validate Data Integrity Post-Restore

```bash
# Compare file counts between backup manifest and restored data
find /restored/data -type f | wc -l
# Compare against pre-backup manifest

# Verify database consistency after restore
pg_isready -h localhost -p 5432
psql -c "SELECT count(*) FROM critical_table;" -d restored_db

# Hash verification of critical files
sha256sum /restored/data/critical_config.xml
# Compare against known-good hash from backup manifest
```

### Step 5: Test Credential Rotation and Security Hardening

After restore, validate that security controls are re-established:

1. Rotate all service account passwords and API keys
2. Verify MFA is enabled on all administrative accounts
3. Confirm EDR/AV agents are running and reporting to management console
4. Validate firewall rules block known C2 indicators
5. Check that restored systems have latest security patches

### Step 6: Document Results and Calculate Gap

```
Recovery Test Report:
  System: [Name]
  Tier: [1-4]
  RTO Target: [target]    Actual RTO: [measured]    Gap: [delta]
  RPO Target: [target]    Actual RPO: [measured]    Gap: [delta]
  Data Integrity: [PASS/FAIL]
  Application Validation: [PASS/FAIL]
  Security Controls Restored: [PASS/FAIL]

  Status: [MEETS TARGET / EXCEEDS TARGET / FAILS TARGET]
  Remediation Required: [description if FAILS]
```

## Key Concepts

| Term | Definition |
|------|-----------|
| **RTO** | Recovery Time Objective: maximum acceptable downtime for a system after a disaster |
| **RPO** | Recovery Point Objective: maximum acceptable data loss measured in time |
| **WRT** | Work Recovery Time: time to verify system integrity after restore completes |
| **MTD** | Maximum Tolerable Downtime: absolute limit before unacceptable business impact |
| **Clean 

SAFEgrade B · trust 89/100 Nothing in the source contradicts what it says it does. Grade A is reserved for packages that have also passed the behavioural sandbox.

What the source does

Filesystem

none-observed

Network

none-observed

Shell

none-observed

Dependencies

pinned

Secrets in source

none-found

Findings (0)

No findings outside the package's declared scope.

Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.