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Perform a Business Impact Analysis for an IT Infrastructure
1. What
is the goal and purpose of a BIA?
a. The
purpose of a business impact analysis (BIA) report is to describe the potential
risks specific to the organization studied. One of the basic assumptions behind
BIA is that every component of the organization is reliant upon the continued
functioning of every other component, but that some are more crucial than
others and require a greater allocation of funds in the wake of a disaster. For
example, a business may be able to continue more or less normally if the
cafeteria has to close, but would come to a complete halt if the information
system crashes.
2. Why
is a business impact analysis (BIA) an important first step in defining a
business continuity plan (BCP)?
a. The
BIA is the first step because it is used to identify the impact that can result
from disruptions in the business. Without the BIA, the BCP would not identify
and prioritize which systems and processes must be sustained and provide the
necessary information for maintaining them.
3. How
does risk management and risk assessment relate to a business impact analysis
for an IT infrastructure?
a. Risk
assessment relates to a business impact analysis by showing the amount of risk
in making a business deal, by comparing the potential loss to the percent the
loss could occur.
b. Risk
management relates to a business impact analysis by identifying resources and
associated risks, determining their magnitude, identifying what safeguards are
needed, and maintain the proper techniques to mitigate the risks.
4. What
is the definition of Recovery Time Objective (RTO)? Why is this important to
define in an IT Security Policy Definition as part of the Business Impact
Analysis (BIA) or Business Continuity Plan (BCP)?
a. The
RTO is the time in which the system or function must be recovered. The RTO
would be equal to or less than the MAO. For example, if the MAO is one hour,
the RTO would be one hour or less.
5. True
or False - If the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) metric does not equal the
Recovery Time Objective (RTO), you may potentially lose data or not have data
backed-up to recover. This represents a gap in potential lost or unrecoverable
data.
a. True
6. If
you have an RPO of 0 hours – what does that mean?
a. It’s
common to measure acceptable data loss in minutes, such as 15 minutes. Every
minute of data loss represents lost sales revenue. So if you have an RPO of 0
hours, then that means there is no data lost.
7. What
must you explain to executive management when defining RTO and RPO objectives
for the BIA?
a. The
RPOs identify the maximum amount of data loss an organization can accept. This
is the acceptable data latency. For example, a database may record hundreds of
sales transactions a minute. The organization may need to recover this data up
to the moment of failure. This would be expensive. Another database may import
data once a week. You’d only need to restore the data since the last import to
ensure nothing is lost. This is less expensive.
8. What
questions do you have for executive management in order to finalize your BIA?
a. Is
there money in the budget for a separate backup site?
b. If
there is money in the budget for a separate backup site, how many of the backup
servers will be stored there?
c. How
often will we need to do a full back-up?
9. Why
do customer service business functions typically have a short RTO and RPO
maximum allowable time objective?
a. Customer
service business functions typically have a short RTO because the time frame
needs to be short because the longer they are down, the more sales they are
losing.
b. The
RPO has to be short as possible because when you’re dealing with customer
service, time is money. With some organizations, 30 minutes of down time equals
millions of dollars lost.
10. In
order to craft back-up and recovery procedures, you need to review the IT
systems, hardware, software and communications infrastructure needed to support
business operations, functions and define how to maximize availability. This
alignment of IT systems and components must be based on business operations,
functions, and prioritizations. This prioritization is usually the result of a
risk assessment and how those risks, threats, and vulnerabilities impact business
operations and functions. What is the proper sequence of development and
implementation for these following plans?
a. Business
Continuity Plan :___2____
b. Disaster
Recovery Plan :___3____
c. Risk
Management Plan :___ 4___
d. Business
Impact Analysis:___1____
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ReplyDeletehttps://ocmis.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-infrastructure-and-emerging.html
ReplyDeleteWhat a breath of fresh air! Your enthusiasm and positivity are contagious. Thank you for spreading such good vibes!
ReplyDeleteIT infrastructure refers to the integrated fluentbit set of hardware, software, networks, and services that support the management and delivery of IT services within an organization.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog provides a clear overview of how a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is essential for IT infrastructure services. It emphasizes the importance of identifying potential risks, defining Recovery Time Objectives (RTO), and understanding the relationship between risk management and IT infrastructure.
ReplyDelete