Recovery time objective (RTO)

Term

Recovery time objective (RTO)

Exam

CISA & CISM

Definition

The target time to restore a process or system after a disruption.

Explained

The RTO is the target time to restore a process or system after disruption. It is set by the business within the maximum tolerable downtime and drives the choice of recovery strategy: shorter RTOs require faster, more expensive options.

In practice

The billing system must be back within eight hours.

Often confused with

Recovery point objective

Exam angle

Must be shorter than or equal to the maximum tolerable downtime.

Related

Recovery point objective (RPO) · Maximum tolerable downtime (MTD)

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