ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC)Business Continuity (BC), Disaster Recovery (DR) & Incident Response (IR) ConceptsMedium
A company's primary data center is located in an area prone to natural disasters. To ensure the availability of critical services, they decide to implement a recovery strategy where a fully equipped and configured duplicate facility, with real-time data synchronization, is maintained at a geographically distinct location. This strategy BEST describes the use of a:
- ACold site
- BMobile site
- CWarm site
- DHot site
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Hot site
A hot site is a fully equipped, configured, and operational duplicate facility that can take over operations with minimal downtime and data loss, often using real-time data synchronization. This matches the scenario's requirements.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. A cold site is an empty shell, requiring significant time and effort to become operational.
- B. A mobile site (e.g., trailer) offers portability but may not meet the 'fully equipped, configured, and real-time data synchronization' requirement for a large-scale data center.
- C. A warm site has some equipment but lacks full configuration and real-time data, leading to higher RTO/RPO than a hot site.
Hot Site
A fully equipped and configured offsite data center that can immediately take over operations from a primary site in the event of a disaster, with minimal downtime and data loss.
- Provides the lowest RTO and RPO.
- Most expensive type of alternate site.
- Requires continuous data synchronization.
Memory trick: Hot sites are Ready, Operational, and 'Hot' for action.