Backup and recovery is the practice of preserving critical data, configuration, and system state so they can be restored after accidental deletion, corruption, misconfiguration, hardware failure, or compromise. In cyber security, this is not just about files: it often includes identity stores, policy objects, keys, and service settings that keep access systems working.
It matters because attackers frequently target backups to increase pressure during ransomware or to block restoration after destructive changes. Defenders use backups to rebuild trusted systems, roll back harmful modifications, and recover from outages without recreating everything by hand. Good backup and recovery plans separate copies from production, protect them from tampering, and regularly test restores. A backup that has never been restored is only a hope, not a control.