What is the primary risk of not testing a new disaster recovery plan?

The primary risk of not testing a new disaster recovery plan is a catastrophic service interruption. A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is designed to restore critical operations and services after a disruption or disaster. If this plan is not tested, organizations cannot ascertain its effectiveness in a real-world scenario.

Testing the DRP helps identify potential flaws, gaps, or weaknesses in the procedures and technology involved in recovery efforts. If an organization relies on an untested plan, they face the possibility that the response may not work as intended during an actual disaster. This could lead to extended downtimes, significant loss of data, and a complete inability to maintain critical services, thereby exacerbating the impact of the disaster itself.

The other choices, while important considerations related to disaster recovery, do not capture the most critical outcome of failing to test a new DRP. High consumption of resources focuses more on operational efficiency than on operational capability. Minimization of recovery costs is a desirable outcome, but it doesn't address the immediate threat of service interruption. Lastly, severe difficulties for users and recovery teams are indeed a concern, but they are secondary to the more profound consequence of not being able to restore services, which can devastate the organization’s operations and reputation.