In this lesson,
we will learn about Availability Risk Considerations.
Availability Risk Considerations
ensure that critical systems and data remain accessible
during and after disruptive events.
Availability risk considerations include
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning,
Connected Backups, Disconnected Backups,
and Business and Continuity and Disaster Recovery Testing.
To better understand these concepts
and the relationships to one another,
let's think about a fictional
global financial services company
called EverTrust Financial.
EverTrust Financial processes billions of dollars
in daily transactions,
and relies on robust availability risk considerations
to ensure continuous business operation.
To maintain availability during disruption,
the company has developed a detailed Business Continuity
and Disaster Recovery, or BC/DR plans.
EverTrust Financial's business continuity
and disaster Recovery plans include
alternate operation sites,
recovery workflows for critical services,
and the restoration of data during crises,
such as natural disasters or system failures.
Day to day, EverTrust Financial utilizes connected backups
that mirror real-time transaction data
to multiple data centers.
These connected backups ensure
that in the event of an outage at one location,
transactions can seamlessly continue at another.
But, since connected backups are potentially within reach
of a ransomware attack, EverTrust Financial also maintains
disconnected backups stored offline.
These disconnected backups are vital
to restoring clean, unaltered data
if their production systems are compromised.
Finally, EverTrust Financial conducts
regular business continuity and disaster recovery testing
by simulating real-world disruptions
to identify vulnerabilities
and ensure that recovery procedures
are effective and efficient.
After all, if they don't practice it,
it's not going to work.
These real-world disaster simulations
minimize real-world downtime
to safeguard the company's reputation and customer trust.
Now, let's explore
each of these availability risk considerations
in more detail.
First, we have Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery,
or BC/DR Planning.
Business continuity and disaster recovery planning
begins with a Business Impact Analysis, or BIA.
Business Impact Analysis is a process that identifies
and evaluates the effects of an organization
not being able to maintain
their Mission-Essential Functions, or MEFs.
Mission-Essential Functions
are the business' core activities,
which are necessary to fulfill its strategic mission.
Each Mission-Essential Function relies
on specific critical assets for support.
Critical assets include systems, data,
and processes that must remain operational
during a disruption.
Once critical assets are defined,
organizations develop strategies
to protect and maintain their critical assets
in support of their Mission-Essential Functions.
Disasters that are typically planned for
include natural disasters, cyberattacks,
power outages, and pandemics.
For example, EverTrust Financial's
detailed business continuity and disaster recovery plans
will save them time and energy
in the immediate aftermath of a disaster
and help them return to normalcy more quickly.
A key aspect of business continuity
and disaster recovery planning is identifying backup sites
where systems can be restored to
in the event a primary location is not functional.
Backup site types include hot sites, warm sites,
cold sites, and cloud sites.
A Hot Site is a fully operational real-time backup location
where critical systems and production data
are continuously mirrored.
Hot Sites allow for immediate failover
if the primary site fails.
Some military organizations provide critical support
to the national infrastructure,
and there is no tolerance for downtime.
Because of this, several hot sites may be staffed
and ready to take over that primary mission at any time.
Next, a Warm Site has technical infrastructure in place,
but requires data restoration to become fully operational.
So, a Hot Site and a Warm Site might look exactly the same,
but a Warm Site does not have an up-to-date copy
of production data.
A Cold Site, on the other hand,
may offer only basic infrastructure like power and cooling.
In the end, a Cold Site is a designated location to rebuild
and may be nothing more than a lease for a site
where an organization can rebuild following a disaster.
Last, a Cloud Site uses cloud-based services
to store data and applications,
providing flexibility and scalability in disaster recovery.
Cloud Sites often combine elements
of hot and warm sites, due to the high availability
and accessibility of the cloud.
For example, EverTrust Financial's connected backups
that mirrored real-time transaction data
would allow them to get back into business very quickly.
Second, we have connected backups.
Connected backups are connected to the production network.
Connected backups can be configured in two ways,
synchronous and asynchronous.
Synchronous backups copy data in real time,
ensuring that every change made on the primary system
is instantly mirrored to the backup.
Real-time mirroring makes connected backups ideal
for supporting hot sites,
however, synchronous backups require
high-speed network connections and can be very costly.
So, asynchronous backups may be employed
to transmit backup data with a slight delay,
allowing changes to accumulate
before being sent to the backup system.
Asynchronous backups are useful for supporting warm sites,
where real-time updates are not required,
but timely recovery is still important.
For example, EverTrust Financial's mirrored backups
supported their hot sites and minimized the amount of data
that they would lose in the event of a disaster,
helping them get back to serving their customers
as quickly as possible.
Third, we have Disconnected Backups.
Disconnected Backups are not continuously connected
to the production network.
Disconnected Backups remain unaffected by attacks
that target the production network.
A common backup strategy
that includes a disconnected backup
is the 3-2-1 Rule for backups.
The 3-2-1 Rule advises organizations to keep three copies
of their data over two different storage media types
with one copy being stored off-site.
This off-site disconnected backup
ensures that even if local systems fail or are compromised,
a clean and untouched copy of the data remains accessible.
For example, while EverTrust Financial's mirrored backups
could allow them to quickly recover their data,
their Disconnected Backup plans
provided assurance that the data hadn't been altered
and that they were restoring clean data.
Fourth and last,
we have Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Testing.
Testing is essential to ensure
that recovery strategies can be effectively implemented
during a real disaster.
Testing involves conducting simulations
to verify whether critical operations
can continue seamlessly in the event of a disruption.
For example, an organization may test its ability
to shift operations to a backup data center
or alternate office location
if the primary site becomes unavailable.
These tests help identify any gaps in their plan,
such as communication breakdowns,
equipment issues, or resource shortages.
Testing also ensures that employees know their roles
during a crisis, thereby minimizing downtime,
and maintaining the availability
of mission-essential functions.
By testing their systems,
EverTrust was able to have the confidence
that they would be able to provide near-continuous service
to their customers even if a disaster were to occur.
So, remember, Availability Risk Considerations
ensure that critical systems and data remain accessible
during and after disruptive events.
Considerations include Business Continuity
and Disaster Recovery Planning, Connected Backups,
Disconnected Backups, and Business Continuity
and Disaster Recovery Testing.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning
identifies critical systems,
data and processes that support mission-essential functions
so that strategies to protect those assets can be developed.
Connected Backups, which may be synchronous or asynchronous,
are connected to the enterprise network.
Disconnected Backups, such as off-site storage
provide an additional layer of protection
against cyber threats,
and are not connected to the enterprise network.
Finally, regular business continuity
and disaster recovery testing
verifies that recovery plans work effectively,
ensuring systems can continue to operate smoothly
during a disruption.