What is Restore?
Restore is the process of putting data, software or system configurations back from a backup. In industrial environments, a restore is crucial to bring systems back to operational status quickly after an incident, fault or cyber attack.
Restore is the practical execution of a Backup strategy and plays a key role in Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity.
🧠 How does a restore work?
- Selecting a recovery point
- Decide which backup to use (full, incremental, differential)
- The time of the backup is critical (before or after an incident?)
- Performing the restore
- Restoring complete systems or only configurations/files
- Checking checksums and integrity after the restore
- Validation
- Testing the system for correct operation
- Verifying communication with other systems (PLC, SCADA, Historian)
A well-executed restore minimises downtime and production loss.
🏭 Use in industrial environments
- Restoring PLC programs, HMI configurations and SCADA projects
- Putting back firmware or configurations on a Switch, Firewall or Router
- Restoring Historian data after a crash
- Recovery of an entire Engineering Station or server
Typical scenarios:
- A faulty update or change
- A ransomware or malware attack
- A hardware defect or power loss
- An error caused by human action
🔍 Types of restore action
| Type of restore | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Full restore | Restoring the entire system to an earlier point |
| File restore | Restoring only specific files or configurations |
| Bare-metal restore | Restoring to bare hardware (including OS and drivers) |
| Live restore | Restoring without complete downtime (e.g. via redundancy) |
Testing restores regularly is just as important as making backups.
🔐 Security considerations
- The use of Immutable Backups prevents tampering with restore sets
- Encryption of backups is required for sensitive data
- A restore may only be carried out by authorised personnel (RBAC)
- Restoring to an infected system? → risk of reinfection
- An audit trail is required of who restored what and when
A restore without verification can lead to incomplete or corrupt systems.
📌 In summary
Restore is the process of recovering systems or data from backups, essential for business continuity and OT safety. Without reliable restore procedures, backups are worthless during an incident.