1. Security Essentials:
- Directory Services: Have a secure, off-site backup of your Active Directory or LDAP servers to ensure that user accounts and policies are quickly restorable.
- DNS Records: Maintain a current export of DNS records. In the face of an attack, this enables the quick restoration of domain name resolution.
- Certificates: Keep a secure copy of SSL/TLS and other certificates to re-establish trusted connections and encrypted communications post-incident.
2. Infrastructure Inventory:
- DevOps Artifacts: Store pipeline configurations, build scripts, and automation tools in a secure, immutable storage location.
- Cloud and On-Premises Resources: Keep a detailed record of your environments, including snapshots and images of critical VMs, server configurations, and IP address allocations.
- Network Topologies: Ensure access to diagrams and documentation detailing your network infrastructure and configurations to aid in the reconstruction process.
3. Documentation Repository:
- Asset Data: Regularly update a repository containing information on all hardware and software assets, their configurations, and dependencies.
- Runbooks: Develop comprehensive runbooks for system recovery procedures, ensuring they are accessible even if the primary data center is compromised.
- HR Resources & Contact Lists: Maintain an off-site list of essential personnel, roles, responsibilities, and contact information for rapid response coordination.
4. Data Management:
- Source Code: Use a robust version control system and regularly mirror repositories to allow for the recovery of all application code.
- Intellectual Property: Protect designs, patents, and critical documents through encrypted backups stored in multiple physical locations.
- Databases and Datalakes: Implement database backups with point-in-time restore capabilities and snapshot features for datalakes.
5. Serverless and Services Continuity:
- Configuration as Code: Store infrastructure as code configurations for serverless environments securely, ensuring quick redeployment capabilities.
- Service Dependencies: Document all third-party services and APIs, with recovery strategies for each to handle outages and loss of data.
Every item on this checklist should be stored with redundancy, in a manner that is both secure and separate from the primary data center, ensuring availability even if your main site is entirely offline. The key to a rapid recovery lies not only in the backups themselves but in the ability to access and deploy them effectively when all seems lost. Remember, resilience in cybersecurity isn’t just about defending against attacks—it’s about being prepared to rebuild and recover when defenses falter.
