Business Continuity Plan

Ensuring operational resilience and security for the CIA Compliance Manager

Launch Application GitHub Repository

Executive Summary

This Business Continuity Plan (BCP) outlines strategies to ensure the CIA Compliance Manager application and its data remain available during disruptions while maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of security assessments. The plan aligns with the application's core focus on the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability).

Business Impact Analysis

Critical Functions

Function Description Maximum Tolerable Downtime Recovery Priority
Security Assessment Engine Core assessment calculations and algorithms 4 hours Very High
User Authentication Identity verification and access control 2 hours Critical
Security Dashboard Primary interface for security monitoring 8 hours High
Compliance Mapping Framework requirements mapping 24 hours Medium
Reporting & Export Report generation and data export 12 hours High
User Data & Settings User configurations and saved assessments 8 hours High

Impact Categories

Financial Impact

  • Minimal direct revenue impact as a free/open-source tool
  • Organizations may seek alternative solutions if unavailable for >24 hours
  • Extended outages require additional support and recovery resources

Operational Impact

  • Organizations depend on the tool for security planning
  • Disruptions may delay regulatory compliance activities
  • Technical teams rely on implementation guidance

Regulatory and Compliance Impact

  • Organizations need continuous access to maintain compliance posture
  • Historical assessment data serves as compliance evidence
  • Tool outputs are used during security audits

Recovery Strategies

Data Backup and Recovery

Data Type Backup Frequency Retention Period Storage Location
User Assessments Continuous 90 days Primary and redundant storage
User Settings On change 90 days Primary and redundant storage
Application Code On commit Indefinite GitHub + redundant repositories
Static Content On release Current + previous 3 versions CDN with fallback

Technical Recovery Procedures

Infrastructure Recovery

  • Deploy from infrastructure-as-code templates
  • Activate standby environment if primary is unavailable
  • Restore from latest verified backup snapshots

Application Recovery

  • Deploy latest stable release from redundant code repositories
  • Verify application health via automated test suite
  • Validate core functionality through predefined recovery checks

Data Recovery

  • Restore user data from most recent verified backup
  • Verify data integrity through validation procedures
  • Implement data reconciliation for any lost transactions

Communication Plan

Stakeholder Communication Method Timing Responsibility
End Users Status Page, GitHub Issues Within 30 minutes of incident Project Maintainer
Contributors Direct notification, Slack Within 15 minutes of incident Project Lead
Hosting Providers Support channels Immediately Infrastructure Lead
Regulatory Bodies Email (if applicable) Within 24 hours (if applicable) Compliance Lead

Security Considerations

Data Protection During Recovery

Encryption

All backup data remains encrypted at rest and in transit

Access Control

Recovery procedures require multi-factor authentication

Integrity Verification

Cryptographic verification of all restored data

Audit Logs

Comprehensive logging of all recovery actions

Security Controls Mapping

Recovery Activity Security Control Compliance Framework
Data Backup CP-9 System Backup NIST 800-53, ISO 27001 (A.12.3.1)
System Recovery CP-10 System Recovery and Reconstitution NIST 800-53, ISO 27001 (A.17.1.2)
Alternate Storage CP-6 Alternate Storage Site NIST 800-53, ISO 27001 (A.17.2.1)
Testing CP-4 Contingency Plan Testing NIST 800-53, ISO 27001 (A.17.1.3)

Recovery Objectives

Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)

Component Basic Level Standard Level Enhanced Level
Web Application < 24 hours < 8 hours < 2 hours
API Services < 12 hours < 4 hours < 1 hour
Authentication < 6 hours < 2 hours < 30 minutes
Database < 12 hours < 4 hours < 1 hour

Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs)

Component Basic Level Standard Level Enhanced Level
User Assessments < 24 hours < 4 hours < 15 minutes
Configuration Data < 24 hours < 4 hours < 15 minutes
User Settings < 24 hours < 4 hours < 15 minutes

Architectural Resilience Strategy

The CIA Compliance Manager employs a layered resilience approach that aligns with its core function of assessing CIA controls:

Confidentiality Layer

Principle: Maintain data confidentiality even during recovery scenarios

Implementation: Encryption at rest and in transit for all backup data

Verification: Access control validation before recovery processes

Integrity Layer

Principle: Ensure data accuracy and consistency through recovery

Implementation: Cryptographic verification of backup integrity

Verification: Post-recovery data validation procedures

Availability Layer

Principle: Minimize downtime through redundant systems

Implementation: Distributed deployment architecture

Verification: Regular failover testing and recovery drills

Testing and Exercises

Exercise Type Frequency Participants Success Criteria
Tabletop Exercise Quarterly Core maintainers Complete walkthrough of recovery steps
Technical Recovery Test Semi-annually DevOps team Successful restoration in test environment
Full Recovery Simulation Annually All key stakeholders Complete recovery within defined RTO

Business Continuity Maturity Roadmap

Current State

  • Basic backup and recovery procedures
  • Manual recovery processes
  • Limited redundancy

Near-Term Improvements (0-6 months)

  • Automate backup verification
  • Implement recovery readiness monitoring
  • Create detailed recovery runbooks

Mid-Term Strategy (6-12 months)

  • Deploy active/passive redundancy
  • Implement automated recovery testing
  • Establish recovery metrics dashboard

Long-Term Vision (12+ months)

  • Active/active deployment architecture
  • Self-healing infrastructure components
  • Real-time recovery capability monitoring

Plan Maintenance

This business continuity plan should be reviewed and updated: