The Certified Disaster Recovery Specialist (CDRS) is an advanced, vendor-neutral certification for the professionals who make sure IT can come back after a disruption. It validates that you can run a business impact analysis and set defensible RTOs and RPOs, design backup and data-protection strategies that survive site loss and ransomware, choose DR sites and replication to match objectives and cost, write runbooks and assign roles, test the plan for real, and recover from a cyberattack from a clean point in an isolated environment. The exam is computer adaptive and performance-based, and the credential is kept current through continuing education.
| Level | Advanced. A specialist credential: it goes deep on planning, testing and executing recovery and assumes working infrastructure or operations experience. |
|---|---|
| Delivery model | Computer adaptive, three stages. Your score on each stage selects the difficulty of the next, so no two candidates sit the same paper. |
| Format | 120 questions. A performance-based exam that includes performance-based questions and multiple-choice questions. Concepts transfer across every platform and cloud. |
| Time | 180 minutes for the whole exam, timed. Autosaves every answer. |
| Scoring | You need a score of 700 out of 900 to pass. Results are reported on a scale of 100 to 900, and 700 corresponds to answering 72% of the exam correctly. Harder questions carry more weight, so a score means the same thing on any route. Multiple-response items and PBQs are all or nothing. |
| Retakes | No waiting period after a failed first attempt. Every attempt is paid for at the exam price. See the CertLabz Certification Retake Policy. |
| Voucher validity | 12 months from purchase, for one sitting. |
| Certification validity | 3 years. Renew with 75 CEUs per cycle and the $55 annual CE fee, or pass the current exam. Renewal details. |
| Language | English. |
| Credential | PDF certificate with QR code, public verification page, LinkedIn-ready credential ID. Issuer: CertLabz Certification Board. |
| Free resources | The exam objectives PDF and the ten sample questions PDF. |
| Workforce mapping | NICE Framework work roles: Infrastructure Support (PD-WRL-004), Systems Security Management (OG-WRL-014). O*NET occupations: Network and Computer Systems Administrators (15-1244.00), Information Security Analysts (15-1212.00). Self-declared by CertLabz, not reviewed by NIST or CISA. See the full mapping. |
A signed, verifiable:
The CDRS is a performance-based exam: it includes performance-based questions alongside multiple-choice questions. Instead of only picking A, B, C or D, you match objectives to design decisions, choose the backup approach for an RPO, order the recovery flow, and sequence a ransomware recovery. It is computer adaptive, is proctored and timed, needs no mandatory course, and tests running a real recovery rather than reciting definitions.
Business impact analysis, RTO, RPO and MTD, dependency mapping and proportionate, defensible objectives.
The 3-2-1 rule, immutable and air-gapped copies, synchronous and asynchronous replication, and restore testing.
Hot, warm, cold and cloud DR patterns, runbooks, roles, declaration authority and communication.
Tabletop to full failover testing, and ransomware recovery from a clean point in an isolated environment.
Disaster recovery and resilience are boardroom concerns after every major outage and ransomware headline, and skilled recovery specialists are in demand. Every route is shown here at once, so nothing is hidden behind a control you have to find.
United States pay reported by Glassdoor, checked September 2026. Pay varies by location, employer and experience. No certification guarantees a salary or a job.
| CertLabz CDRS | DRI CBCP | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Certification exam | Certification with experience requirement |
| Computer adaptive | Yes | No |
| Hands-on PBQs | Yes | No |
| Focus | IT disaster recovery and cyber recovery | Business continuity management |
| Vendor neutral | Yes | Yes |
| Proctored | Yes | Yes |
| Questions | 120 | Not published |
| Time | 180 min | Not published |
| Pass mark | 700 of 900 | Not published |
| Experience required | No | Yes, for full status |
| Exam voucher | $199 | $750 |
Compiled September 2026 from the DRI International CBCP certification pages. CBCP centers on business continuity management and requires qualifying experience; the CDRS focuses on IT disaster recovery and cyber recovery. Product names and trademarks belong to their owners; CertLabz is not affiliated with any of them. Confirm current details with each provider.
Six reasons this credential is worth your time, and worth an employer's attention.
One price for the exam, set by its level. Bundles add the study guide and hands-on practice at a saving.
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Every form is drawn from a bank of more than 130 items to these exact weights, whichever adaptive route you take. Filter by the area you want to study.
The exam runs in three stages. Your score on each stage selects the difficulty of the next, so a strong candidate is stretched and a struggling one is measured fairly rather than swamped. No two candidates sit the same paper. Harder questions carry more weight, so a scaled score means the same thing whichever route you took.
Each exam can have up to 5 to 12 performance-based questions, drawn fresh on every attempt, alongside the multiple-choice questions. A PBQ is a task rather than a list: you match objectives to designs, choose a backup approach, or sequence a recovery. They are scored all or nothing, so partial guesses do not pass.
Yes. Backups, replication, DR sites and cyber recovery are described generically and apply across on-premises, cloud and hybrid. Where a question involves a feature, it is described by what it does, not by one vendor's brand name.
Business continuity is the broader discipline of keeping the whole organization running. The CDRS focuses on the IT disaster recovery and cyber recovery within it: backups, replication, DR sites, runbooks, testing and recovering from ransomware.
700 out of 900. Results are reported on a scale of 100 to 900, and 700 corresponds to answering 72% of the exam correctly.
There is no waiting period between a failed first attempt and a second attempt. Buy another voucher and sit the exam again when you are ready, and it will draw a fresh adaptive form from the bank. See the CertLabz Certification Retake Policy.
Yes, after three years. Keep it current by logging 75 CEUs during the cycle and paying the $55 annual CE fee before expiry, or by passing the current exam again.
The exam objectives PDF and the ten sample questions PDF. The CDRS Official Study Guide is a $50 ebook, included in two of the bundles. Hands-on practice comes with the All Access plan, included in the Complete bundle.
A laptop or desktop with a webcam and microphone, Chrome, Edge or Firefox, a stable connection, and a quiet private room for three hours. Phones and tablets are not supported.
CDRS is a continuing-education certification, like the CE credentials from CompTIA and ISC2. It is valid for three years from the day you pass. To keep it, log 75 continuing-education units during the cycle and pay the $55 annual CE fee before your expiry date. Or pass the current version of the exam again.
CEUs are logged from your CertLabz dashboard with supporting evidence. A certification that lapses can be reinstated only by passing the current exam.
Buy a voucher, study the objectives, sit the exam when you are ready. Your credential is issued the moment you pass.