<b>Backup & Restore Drill SOP</b>

<b>Backup & Restore Drill SOP</b>
Run monthly — an untested backup is a guess, not a recovery plan.

— Step 1: Confirm 3-2-1: three copies, two media types, one off-site and offline.
— Step 2: Verify backups include the database AND <code>wp-content</code>, not just files or just the dump.
— Step 3: Restore to a staging environment from scratch. Time it. Document the runbook.
— Step 4: Confirm the restored site renders, logs in, and processes a transaction.
— Step 5: Test point-in-time recovery — can you restore yesterday, not just last week?
— Step 6: Keep backups off the production server. Ransomware encrypts local copies first.

Run this every time.