Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)Incident ManagementMedium
An organization is conducting a disaster recovery (DR) exercise. The scenario involves the complete loss of its primary data center. During the exercise, it is discovered that while individual applications can be restored, the interdependencies between critical business applications are not correctly accounted for, leading to functional failures and extended recovery times. Which of the following actions should the CISO prioritize to address this deficiency?
- AConducting a comprehensive inter-application dependency mapping initiative.
- BIncreasing the frequency of DR exercises to identify more issues.
- CImplementing a more robust backup solution for individual applications.
- DInvesting in a geographically separate hot site for immediate failover.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Conducting a comprehensive inter-application dependency mapping initiative.
The core problem is the lack of understanding of inter-application dependencies. A comprehensive mapping initiative would identify these relationships, allowing for a more coordinated and effective recovery sequence, directly addressing the root cause of the functional failures.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Increasing exercise frequency might identify more issues, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem of unknown dependencies; it's like finding more symptoms without diagnosing the disease.
- C. More robust backups ensure individual application data is available but doesn't solve the problem of how applications interact and their correct recovery order.
- D. A geographically separate hot site provides infrastructure redundancy but does not inherently solve the logical problem of application interdependencies or their recovery order.
Inter-Application Dependency Mapping
The process of identifying and documenting the relationships and dependencies between different applications, systems, and services within an organization.
- Crucial for effective disaster recovery planning.
- Ensures applications are restored in the correct sequence.
- Helps prevent cascading failures during recovery.
Memory trick: Map the web of apps to avoid recovery gaps.