Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)Incident ManagementMedium
During a disaster recovery exercise, an organization successfully restores its primary applications and data to an alternate site. However, several business units report that they cannot access critical functionalities due to misconfigured network settings at the recovery site. Which aspect of disaster recovery planning was MOST likely overlooked or inadequately tested?
- AResource provisioning at the alternate site
- BData backup integrity
- CDependency mapping accuracy
- DRecovery Time Objective (RTO) validation
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Dependency mapping accuracy
Misconfigured network settings at the recovery site, preventing access to critical functionalities despite applications being restored, indicates a failure to accurately map and account for the interdependencies between applications, infrastructure, and network services.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Resource provisioning relates to having enough compute/storage, but the issue is about configuration, implying a lack of understanding of how components interconnect.
- B. Data backup integrity ensures data is recoverable, but the issue described is about access, not data corruption.
- D. RTO validation measures the time taken to recover, not the functional correctness of the recovery.
Dependency Mapping
The process of identifying and documenting the interconnections and relationships between an organization's critical business processes, applications, data, infrastructure, and external services.
- Crucial for understanding impact of component failures.
- Essential for effective incident response and disaster recovery.
- Helps prioritize recovery efforts and identify single points of failure.
Memory trick: Map out your path, or you'll get lost in DR.