Recovery Readiness Check

IT / AUTOMATE.md

When a ransomware alert fires, pull the newest clean restore point, open the break-glass credentials in the vault, and post the recovery options to the incident lead.

This is the whole automation. Run it as it is, or change any word, including the tools it names.

  • Restore point age confirmed
  • Break-glass credentials opened once
  • Options agreed before isolation

How it runs

  1. 1. Starts

    When a ransomware alert is raised

  2. 2. Reads

    restore point

  3. 3. Delivers to

    Slack

  4. 4. You decide

    Approve each time, or let the steps you trust run. Your choice.

Why IT and security teams set this up

Backup jobs report success because the job finished, not because a file came back. The first real restore test happens during an outage, when the missing credential, the slow link, the wrong file selection and the undocumented dependency all surface at the same time.

See the whole job: Ransomware restore drills

Use it as is. Or make it yours.

Edit it the way you would edit a note to a colleague. It follows the new version from the next run.

  • Change when it runs

    Move it to another day or time, or start it when something arrives, like a new email.

  • Add your own rules

    Limits, exceptions and what good looks like go in the same file, in plain words.

  • Decide what waits for you

    Mark the steps that need your OK, and let the rest run.

You stay in charge.
At every step.

It triages and sweeps. People approve every change.

  • No change without approval

    Blocking, revoking and purging wait for an analyst's OK.

  • Every run on the record

    What it read, what it did and what it is waiting on, kept for review and audit.

  • Scoped per automation

    Each automation gets only the access you grant it, and a local model can keep processing on your machine.

Recovery Readiness Check

Approve before it posts in Slack?

ReviewApprove

Before you download.

Where does it run?
On your Mac or Windows computer, in the background. It keeps working after you close its window, and only reaches the folders and apps you connect for each automation.
How does it connect to our CRM and other tools?
Through each app's own connection where it offers one, signed in once by you, or by using the app in a browser the way you would. Each automation gets only the connections you give it, and the tools a page names are examples you can swap for your own.
Does it run when my computer is asleep?
It keeps your computer awake while a job runs and just before a scheduled one. While the computer is closed or off, nothing runs; when it wakes, it checks the inbox, calendar and other sources it watches for anything that arrived meanwhile.
How does my team use it?
Each person who runs automations installs the app. Keep a project in a shared folder, such as Google Drive or a network drive, and teammates can open it and follow every run, while one person owns it and runs it.
Do I need anyone technical to set it up?
No. Download the app, add an automation in plain words, and connect only what that job needs. Nothing runs until you switch it on.

Already have tools for this? Here is the difference.

Scripts and scheduled jobs

Precise, repeatable system tasks.

They break on the unexpected, and only their author can read or change them.

Security automation platforms

High-volume response playbooks in large teams.

They need a project to set up and an engineer to maintain each playbook.

AI chat assistants

Explaining an alert when you paste it in.

Nothing runs on schedule, and there is no scoped access or record of what was done.

AUTOMATE.md

Your routine, written in plain words. It runs on its own, follows your rules, handles the exceptions a flowchart can't, and asks you when it matters. The file stays yours, whichever AI model runs it.

Other setups for the same job.

File Restore Test

On the 15th, restore one file from the newest backup, check that it opens, and log the result against the recovery objective for that server.

On the 15th of each month

Quarterly Restore Drill

Every quarter, restore one representative server to an isolated network, time each step, and write the runbook with whatever turned out to be missing.

Every quarter, two weeks before the audit window

Restore Drill Report

When a drill is signed off, put the open gaps and the timings into a one-page report and attach it to the compliance evidence record for that quarter.

When a restore drill is signed off

Related workflows

Backup verification

Restores a real file and a real service on a schedule, so a green job status stops standing in for a proven recovery.

Write your own

Incident triage

Turns an incoming alert into one case with an owner, a severity and a first decision, so response starts while the detail is still arriving.

Write your own

Audit trails

Joins the scattered administrative change records into one timeline, so an auditor's question is a search rather than a fortnight of exports.

Write your own

Start with one job.
Make it your own.

macOS — coming soon
  1. 1

    Get the app

    It runs on your computer, next to your files.

  2. 2

    Add the automation

    Paste the instructions into the app, or save them as a file next to your work.

  3. 3

    Try it, then turn it on

    Run it once and check the result. It only runs on its own once you switch it on.

macOS — coming soon