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💾 '''Backup and restore''' encompasses the processes, technologies, and policies that [[Definition:Insurance carrier | insurance organizations]] use to create copies of critical data and systems so they can be recovered in the event of hardware failure, cyberattack, human error, or natural disaster. In an industry that manages vast repositories of [[Definition:Policy administration system (PAS) | policy records]], [[Definition:Claims management | claims]] files, [[Definition:Actuarial science | actuarial]] models, financial ledgers, and sensitive [[Definition:Policyholder | policyholder]] information, the ability to restore data accurately and quickly is not merely a best practice — it is a regulatory expectation. Supervisory bodies across jurisdictions, from the [[Definition:National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) | NAIC]]'s model cybersecurity law in the United States to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority's guidelines under [[Definition:Solvency II | Solvency II]], require insurers to maintain robust backup strategies as part of broader [[Definition:Operational resilience | operational resilience]] and [[Definition:Business continuity planning (BCP) | business continuity]] frameworks.

⚙️ A well-designed backup and restore strategy in an insurance context typically operates across multiple tiers. Transaction-critical systems — such as the core [[Definition:Policy administration system (PAS) | policy administration]], [[Definition:Billing and payments engine | billing]], and [[Definition:Claims management | claims]] platforms — receive frequent incremental or continuous backups, often replicated to geographically separated data centers or cloud environments to guard against site-level failures. Less frequently changing data, such as archived [[Definition:Bordereau | bordereaux]], historical [[Definition:Loss ratio (L/R) | loss]] triangles, or long-tail [[Definition:Reserves | reserve]] documentation, may follow daily or weekly full-backup schedules. Modern carriers increasingly leverage cloud-native backup services offered by providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud, which can automate snapshots, encrypt data at rest and in transit, and enable point-in-time recovery. Recovery objectives are defined through two key metrics: the recovery point objective (RPO), which specifies the maximum acceptable data loss measured in time, and the recovery time objective (RTO), which sets the target duration for restoring service. For a real-time [[Definition:Underwriting | underwriting]] portal, an RPO of minutes and an RTO measured in hours may be required, while batch reporting systems may tolerate longer windows.

🛡️ Beyond technical execution, backup and restore capability underpins regulatory trust and market confidence in an insurer's operational soundness. Regulators conducting examinations or [[Definition:Solvency | solvency]] reviews increasingly scrutinize whether an organization regularly tests its restore procedures — not just whether backups exist, but whether they actually work under realistic failure scenarios. The rise of [[Definition:Ransomware | ransomware]] attacks targeting insurers and [[Definition:Insurance broker | brokers]] has elevated this capability from routine IT housekeeping to a board-level concern: organizations that can restore systems from clean, immutable backups can avoid paying ransoms and minimize operational downtime. For [[Definition:Insurtech | insurtechs]] and [[Definition:Managing general agent (MGA) | MGAs]] operating on lean technology teams, demonstrating mature backup and restore practices is often a prerequisite for earning [[Definition:Delegated underwriting authority (DUA) | delegated authority]] from capacity providers and passing third-party security audits.

'''Related concepts:'''
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Definition:Business continuity planning (BCP)]]
* [[Definition:Disaster recovery (DR)]]
* [[Definition:Operational resilience]]
* [[Definition:Data replication]]
* [[Definition:Cyber insurance]]
* [[Definition:Data loss prevention (DLP)]]
{{Div col end}}

Definition:Backup and restore - Revision history

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