Page 1318 - (ISC)² CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide

between sites. However, proximity means that both organizations
may be vulnerable to the same threats. An MAA won’t do you any

good if an earthquake levels your city and destroys processing sites
for both participating organizations.

Confidentiality concerns often prevent businesses from placing
their data in the hands of others. These may be legal concerns
(such as in the handling of health-care or financial data) or
business concerns (such as trade secrets or other intellectual

property issues).
Despite these concerns, an MAA may be a good disaster recovery

solution for an organization, especially if cost is an overriding factor. If
you simply can’t afford to implement any other type of alternate
processing, an MAA might provide a degree of valuable protection in
the event a localized disaster strikes your business.

Database Recovery

Many organizations rely on databases to process and track operations,
sales, logistics, and other activities vital to their continued viability.
For this reason, it’s essential that you include database recovery
techniques in your disaster recovery plans. It’s a wise idea to have a
database specialist on the DRP team who can provide input as to the

technical feasibility of various ideas. After all, you shouldn’t allocate
several hours to restore a database backup when it’s impossible to
complete a restoration in less than half a day!

In the following sections, we’ll cover the three main techniques used to
create offsite copies of database content: electronic vaulting, remote
journaling, and remote mirroring. Each one has specific benefits and
drawbacks, so you’ll need to analyze your organization’s computing

requirements and available resources to select the option best suited
to your firm.

Electronic Vaulting

In an electronic vaulting scenario, database backups are moved to a
remote site using bulk transfers. The remote location may be a
dedicated alternative recovery site (such as a hot site) or simply an