Technology · Security · Component
Backup and recovery plan
What is backed up, how quickly each critical system must return, and dated evidence that restoring actually works.
The deliverable
What it is
Recovery is the function that decides how bad an incident becomes. Ransomware in particular goes after backups first, so the arrangements need at least one copy that cannot be altered or deleted from the main environment.
Recovery objectives are business decisions expressed in technical terms: how much data can be lost and how long a system can be down. Customer and regulatory handling of the same incident, including notification, sits with Compliance under incident response.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
Recovery objectives
For each critical system, the maximum tolerable data loss and downtime, agreed with its business owner.
4 attributes: System · Recovery point objective · Recovery time objective · Agreed by
LearnBackup arrangement
What is copied, how often, where it is held, and whether at least one copy is isolated from the main environment.
3 attributes: Frequency · Held at · Isolated copy
LearnRestore test
The dated evidence that a system was restored from backup, how long it took, and what was learned in doing it.
4 attributes: Tested · Actual restore time · Met objective · Findings
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A backup that has never been restored is a hypothesis. Test the restore, and time it.
The other components in security
Threat model
What is worth protecting, who might want it, and the plausible routes by which harm could arrive.
LearnSecurity control baseline
The recognised set of security controls the organisation has adopted, tailored to its threats, with the honest status of each.
LearnIdentity and access arrangements
How people and systems prove who they are, what privileged accounts exist, and how access follows people as they join, move and leave.
Learn