Identity Recovery: The Missing Link in Cyber Resilience Strategies

Cyber resilience strategies have evolved significantly over the last decade. Most organisations now invest heavily in data backup, disaster recovery, and ransomware protection.

But there is a growing gap in many recovery plans. Identity recovery.

As cyber attacks increasingly target identity systems rather than infrastructure, organisations are discovering that data recovery alone is no longer enough to restore operations.

Identity Is the Foundation of the Modern Enterprise

Every critical business system depends on identity. Email, cloud platforms, line-of-business applications, backups, and security tools are all accessed through user accounts and permissions.

When identity systems such as Active Directory or Entra ID are unavailable or compromised, users cannot log in, administrators lose control, and recovery efforts stall.

The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report consistently shows that stolen credentials are one of the most common ways attackers gain initial access:

Cyber Attacks Have Shifted to Identity

Modern cyber attacks rarely begin with malware alone. Attackers increasingly focus on identity first.

Once identity is compromised, attackers can:

• Disable security controls

• Lock out administrators

• Delete or manipulate user accounts and permissions

• Prevent recovery of data and systems

Microsoft’s own research highlights identity-based attacks as one of the biggest risks across cloud and hybrid environments, particularly involving Entra ID and privileged access:

The Business Impact of Identity Compromise

When identity systems are unavailable or untrusted:

• Employees cannot authenticate

• Applications and services fail

• Data restores cannot proceed safely

• Recovery timelines extend from hours to days or weeks

According to the ENISA Threat Landscape, ransomware attacks that include identity compromise significantly increase business disruption and recovery time:

This results in:

• Extended operational downtime

• Financial loss and regulatory exposure

• Reputational damage and loss of customer trust

Why Traditional Backup Does Not Solve Identity Recovery

Traditional backup solutions are designed to protect data, not identity.

While data may still exist, restoring identity incorrectly or too slowly can reintroduce attacker access, delay recovery, or cause further outages.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework makes it clear that identity and access management underpins effective recovery and resilience:

Without a tested identity recovery capability, organisations often struggle to:

• Cleanly restore Active Directory

• Recover Entra ID objects without tenant disruption

• Validate permissions and privileged access

• Regain administrative control securely

What Effective Identity Recovery Looks Like

Organisations with mature cyber resilience strategies can:

• Rapidly restore trusted identity systems

• Regain control of privileged accounts

• Enable safe recovery of data and applications

• Demonstrate resilience to regulators and cyber insurers

Identity recovery is no longer a technical afterthought. It is a business-critical capability.

Board-Level Takeaway

If identity cannot be recovered, the business cannot recover.

As attackers continue to target identity as the fastest route to disruption, identity recovery must be treated as a core pillar of cyber resilience.

At SysGroup, we help organisations protect and recover identity as part of a managed identity recovery service.

Download our eBook to learn why identity recovery matters and how to reduce recovery time after a cyber attack.