Credit: Post based on CISSP course presented by Dennis Lee, November 2018
Ok, you’ve (hopefully) backed up your data in the last post, so now let’s talk Disaster Planning and restoration.
Some unforeseen factors when planning that you should be aware of may include:
- Your backup site is also impacted by the disaster
- You cannot get to your backup site
- If you have a hot site, it may not be able to accommodate multiple customers all having an issue at the same time
- Your employee’s families may need care as well, reducing available support staff
So what’s the goal of restoration? The goal is to return to your original site with original capacity and data.
Restoration phases include:
- Is the incident ended?
- Is it safe to return?
- Document the losses
- Salvage the assets
- Repairs & replacement
- Return to site (Tier 5 first, all the way up to Tier 1 support employees)
- Closure – lessons learned, official end of disaster
Pro tip: When you’re documenting your plan put a 1-year expiration date on the plan to force updates and make it obvious which is most recent version.
Speaking of version control – obsolete plans should be:
- Archived
- Collected
- Confirm collection
- Issue new plan
- Destroy old plans
Oh… also you – need to be testing your plan. You can do so in multiple ways including:
| Testing Type | Method |
|---|---|
| Checklist or Desk Check | Give each business unit (BU) a copy of the plan and have them run through a checklist to ensure all relevant points are covered. |
| Structured Walk-through / Tabletop Exercise | Key players get together and review plan collectively. |
| Simulation Test | Practice drill mobilizing the personnel (e.g. Fire Drill) and rehearse going to assembly point. |
| Parallel Test | Operational test at alternate site running in parallel with main site (production). |
| Full Interruption Test | Shutdown production environment and run a live environment at alternate site. Need to have prior management written permission before parallel test conducted. |
Excellent Tips 