The UK government has issued a clear message to business leaders: be ready to operate without IT systems. In letters sent to company heads — including all FTSE 350 firms — ministers have urged every organisation to keep printed copies of cyber response plans and business continuity plans. It’s advice that might sound old-fashioned, but it’s rooted in a growing reality: cyber attacks are rising fast, and even the best digital defences can fail.
Why This Warning Matters
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) handled over 429 cyber incidents in the past year, with over half classed as “nationally significant” — double the previous year’s figure. Attacks have halted production lines, disrupted logistics, and crippled supply chains. The message from government is simple: cyber resilience is now a business survival issue, not just an IT concern.
What Businesses Are Being Asked To Do
The government’s letter highlights three main actions:
- Make cyber resilience a board-level priority — treat it as a governance issue, following the new Cyber Governance Code of Practice.
- Sign up to the NCSC’s Early Warning service, which alerts businesses to potential threats and vulnerabilities.
- Adopt Cyber Essentials, a government-backed scheme that sets out the basics of good cyber hygiene and can be extended to your suppliers.
And crucially, it says: keep hard copies of your plans, including communication procedures and key contacts, so you can act even if your digital systems are down.
Why Paper Backups of Cyber Response Plans Are Essential
When ransomware locks your network or malware wipes systems, even cloud backups might be inaccessible. That’s when an offline cyber response plan becomes invaluable. Printed contact lists, decision trees, and recovery checklists mean your team can still coordinate and respond — no passwords, no power, no Wi-Fi required.
The NCSC advises every organisation to plan for operating without IT and to have a clear process for rebuilding systems quickly after an attack. Offline plans make sure you’re not paralysed by technology failure.
From Defence to Resilience
This guidance reflects a shift in mindset: from preventing attacks to surviving them. No defence is perfect, so every business needs to plan for recovery. The NCSC calls this approach “resilience engineering” — anticipating, absorbing, and adapting to cyber disruption.
Key steps include:
- Keeping immutable (unchangeable) backups offline.
- Segmenting networks to stop malware spreading.
- Testing recovery procedures regularly.
- Running tabletop exercises to simulate total system loss.
Practical Benefits For Small Businesses
Small firms often think resilience planning is only for big companies, but that’s no longer the case. The NCSC offers free tools — such as the Cyber Action Toolkit — to help smaller organisations strengthen security and response capabilities. Applying for Cyber Essentials certification will give you good basic security standards and reduce your overall risk. Using these resources reduces your exposure and can even lower insurance risk. This is just the start though. Cyber response planning and business continuity planning should be addressed on an on-going basis.
Offline plans also make day-to-day sense, not just in the event of a disaster. If systems go down, even for a short time, your team can still contact customers, suppliers, and emergency support. In critical sectors such as healthcare or logistics, this kind of planning can make the difference between a short delay and total shutdown.
What To Put In Your Offline Cyber Response Plan
A good contingency plan, printed and securely stored, should cover:
- Who is in charge during a cyber emergency.
- How staff communicate without email or messaging apps.
- Essential contacts — internal, suppliers, IT support, insurance, regulators.
- Manual workarounds for key operations.
- Steps for restoring IT safely.
Keep copies of your cyber response plan in several secure locations, review and update them regularly, and train staff so they know where to find them!
Challenges and Responsibilities
Maintaining printed plans does take discipline — they need regular updates and careful storage to prevent loss or unauthorised access. But the alternative is far riskier. The government’s stance is clear: preparedness is no longer optional. Directors are expected to treat cyber resilience like health and safety — a fundamental duty of care, not an optional add-on.
A New Standard for Business Continuity
This government intervention signals a cultural change. Cyber threats are no longer just a technical issue; they’re an operational and economic risk that can halt a business overnight. By having plans on paper as well as online, businesses can respond faster, limit damage, and protect jobs and reputation.
Start small, but start now. Print your essential contacts and response steps, talk your team through what to do if systems go offline, and use the free guidance from the NCSC to strengthen your defences. A few hours of planning today could save days — or even weeks — of disruption tomorrow.
And if you’re not sure where to begin or want to check that your business has the right protections in place, contact us! Our team can help you assess your current setup, build practical recovery plans, and put the right security measures in place to keep your business running — whatever happens.
