CompTIA SecurityX (CAS-005)Security ArchitectureEasy
A security architect is evaluating different architectural patterns for a new highly available web application that processes financial transactions. The application must remain operational even if an entire data center region experiences an outage. Which architectural principle is MOST critical to ensure this level of resilience?
- APrinciple of Least Privilege.
- BGeographic Redundancy.
- CImmutable Infrastructure.
- DDefense in Depth.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Geographic Redundancy.
Geographic redundancy involves deploying application components and data across multiple geographically separate regions or data centers. This ensures that if one entire region fails, the application can continue to operate from another region, providing the highest level of availability against regional outages.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Principle of Least Privilege is about minimizing access rights, which is important for security but not directly for resilience against data center outages.
- C. Immutable Infrastructure ensures servers are never modified after deployment, improving consistency and reducing configuration drift, but doesn't directly provide resilience against regional outages.
- D. Defense in Depth involves multiple layers of security controls, which enhances overall security but doesn't inherently guarantee operation through a regional outage without geographic distribution.
Geographic Redundancy
Geographic redundancy is an architectural principle that involves distributing critical components and data of a system across multiple geographically distinct locations or data centers.
- Protects against regional disasters or outages.
- Ensures high availability and disaster recovery.
- Often involves active-active or active-passive deployment models.
Memory trick: To survive a regional blackout, you need a 'twin' in another city.