Name: Contingency Planning and Cyber Resilience Course (Self-Paced)
Price: 1049.0 USD
Availability: InStock

This course includes

10 hours of project-based training from experts
Answers from real instructors
Retake for free within 1 year
Verified digital certificate of completion
Learn at an accredited institution
Credits: 1 CPE and 1 CEU

This course is self-paced. For live online or in-person instruction, take Contingency Planning and Cyber Resilience Course.

What separates organizations that recover in hours from those that recover in weeks is a tested contingency plan. This course teaches contingency planning and cyber resilience using the seven-step process in NIST Special Publication 800-34, for federal and commercial professionals.

Learners conduct a business impact analysis, select recovery strategies, including ransomware recovery, and draft a contingency plan. The course closes with the testing, training, and maintenance that keep the plan useful.

This course has a prerequisite

Working familiarity with basic IT and security concepts, such as what a server or a security control is.

Tuition

Full Tuition

$1,049
Due before the class starts

This course includes

10 hours of project-based training from experts
Answers from real instructors
Retake for free within 1 year
Verified digital certificate of completion
Learn at an accredited institution
Credits: 1 CPE and 1 CEU

Learning Experience Highlights

Training from government‑experienced instructors

Receive instruction from subject‑matter experts who bring proven government experience.

Specialized for government & DoD

Courses that are regularly updated based on feedback and industry developments, ensuring versions are mapped to federal competencies.

The instructor was wonderful and so knowledgeable. The course materials were extremely relevant to what my job is. I feel like I can be better because of this class.
— 2025 student

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Real-world solutions

Directly addressing the day-to-day challenges of federal employees.

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24/7 access to our premium course videos and projects.
Industry experts are assigned as your course instructor. Message your instructor with any questions.
Participate in GSUSA online discussion forums — share ideas and receive additional support.
Hands-on quizzes and mini projects to test and reinforce concepts.

Earn a Certificate of Completion

Upon completion of this course, you’ll receive an official certificate testifying to your mastery of the curriculum. We’ll send you a link where you can download your certificate, share it online with your friends, post it to your professional network on LinkedIn, and view all your earned certificates. Congratulations on your achievement!

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Sample credential for completion of Contingency Planning and Cyber Resilience Course (Self-Paced)

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Contingency Planning and Cyber Resilience Course (Self-Paced) Curriculum

What You'll Learn at a Glance

Explain the seven-step NIST contingency planning process and what each step produces.
Distinguish business continuity, disaster recovery, and incident response plans and identify when each applies.
Conduct a business impact analysis to identify critical systems and set recovery objectives.
Set a recovery time objective and a recovery point objective for a given system.
Select preventive controls that reduce the likelihood or impact of a disruption.
Compare backup and alternate site strategies and choose one that fits a stated budget and risk tolerance.
Apply recovery strategy considerations specific to cyber incidents, including ransomware.
Draft the core sections of a contingency plan document, including activation and recovery procedures.
Write a recovery procedure clear enough for someone unfamiliar with the system to follow.
Distinguish tabletop, walkthrough, and functional exercises and select the right one for a given organization.
Identify events that should trigger a contingency plan update.
Explain how an individual contingency plan supports a broader organizational cyber resilience program.
Evaluate a contingency plan document for missing or vague sections.

Course Syllabus

Download Syllabus PDF

Module 1: Foundations: Contingency Planning and Cyber Resilience

Lessons:
- What Contingency Planning Is, and Why It Is Not Optional
- From Disaster Recovery to Cyber Resilience
- A Map of Plan Types: BCP, DRP, COOP, and More
Applied activity: Learners review a short description of an organization's disruption, a ransomware incident that takes core systems offline, and sort a list of response activities into the plan type, business continuity, disaster recovery, or incident response, each activity most naturally belongs to.

Module 2: Step 1: Contingency Planning Policy and Governance

Lessons:
- Why a Contingency Planning Policy Comes First
- What a Contingency Planning Policy Should Contain
- Roles and Responsibilities in Contingency Planning
Applied activity: Learners review a short, incomplete policy statement and identify which required elements are missing before it could guide a real contingency planning effort.

Module 3: Step 2: Business Impact Analysis

Lessons:
- What a Business Impact Analysis Measures
- Identifying Critical Systems and Processes
- Setting Recovery Time and Recovery Point Objectives
- Interdependencies and Resource Requirements
Applied activity: Learners are given a short description of three systems in a small organization, with brief impact statements, and rank them by criticality, then assign a reasonable recovery time objective to each.

Module 4: Step 3: Preventive Controls

Lessons:
- What a Preventive Control Is, and Why Prevention Comes Before Recovery
- Common Preventive Controls: Backups, Redundancy, and Power
- Matching Controls to Identified Risks
Applied activity: Learners review a short list of risks identified for a described system and select the most appropriate preventive control for each one.

Module 5: Step 4: Contingency and Recovery Strategies

Lessons:
- Backup Strategies and Data Recovery Options
- Alternate Site Strategies: Hot, Warm, and Cold
- Recovery Strategies for Cyber Incidents, Including Ransomware
- Choosing a Strategy That Fits the Budget and the Risk
Applied activity: Learners are given a short scenario describing an organization's budget and risk tolerance and select the most appropriate combination of backup and alternate site strategy, explaining the tradeoff of the option they did not choose.

Module 6: Step 5: Developing the Information System Contingency Plan

Lessons:
- What Belongs in a Contingency Plan Document
- Activation and Notification Procedures
- Recovery Procedures: Writing Steps Someone Else Can Follow
- Reconstitution: Returning to Normal Operations
Applied activity: Learners review a short, vague recovery procedure step and rewrite it as a clear, specific instruction that a different team member could execute without additional context.

Module 7: Step 6: Testing, Training, and Exercises

Lessons:
- Why an Untested Plan Is Not a Plan
- Types of Exercises: Tabletop, Walkthrough, and Functional
- Training the People Who Will Execute the Plan
Applied activity: Learners are given a short scenario describing an organization that has never tested its plan and recommend which type of exercise to start with and why.

Module 8: Step 7: Plan Maintenance and Building Lasting Cyber Resilience

Lessons:
- Keeping a Contingency Plan Current
- What Triggers a Plan Update
- From a Single Plan to an Organizational Resilience Program
Applied activity: Learners review a short list of organizational changes, a new critical system, a staff turnover in a key role, a completed exercise with findings, and identify which ones should trigger a plan update and why.

Group Training

Since 1921, Graduate School USA has partnered with over 125 federal agencies and trained more than one million federal employees. Led by instructors with deep, real-world knowledge of federal regulations, policies, and practices, our private group programs are practical, mission-driven, and tailored to your agency’s objectives. We offer expertise across key federal domains—including human resources, financial management, acquisition and contracting, leadership, and more—to deliver training where and how your team needs it.

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