CIS Controls v8 11.4 — Establish and Maintain an Isolated Instance of Recovery Data

What this control requires

Establish and maintain an isolated instance of recovery data. Example implementations include, version controlling backup destinations through offline, cloud, or off-site systems or services.

In plain English

Establish and maintain an isolated instance of recovery data. In practice, this means you can prove you establish and maintain network-level controls on a defined cadence.

Why it matters

The CIS Controls are an industry-vetted, prioritised defence: skipping a safeguard widens the attack surface that the safeguards above and below it assume is closed. Audit frameworks (FedRAMP, PCI DSS, HIPAA) all cite CIS as evidence of due care.

This control is rated critical in the source catalogue. Treat gaps here as production incidents in the risk register, not housekeeping.

What an auditor looks for

A CIS-aligned reviewer wants to see (a) which Implementation Group you are targeting, (b) a documented owner for the safeguard, and (c) a tooling or process artefact (config, scan output, ticket) that proves the safeguard runs on the cadence the control demands.

Within Recover, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control 11.4) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

Cloud Posture

CSPM. Run Wiz / Prisma / Defender for Cloud / Security Command Center over every account; auto-ticket findings above your accepted-risk threshold.

Policy Management

Docs. Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

Operational checklist

• Establish And Maintain. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: network, version, data, recovery data.

Evidence to collect

• Policy Document. A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.
• Infra Scan. Continuous infrastructure-posture telemetry — AWS Config, Azure Policy compliance, GCP Organisation Policy, Wiz / Prisma findings.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Establish and Maintain an Isolated Instance of Recovery Data.

Common pitfalls

• Treating CSPM findings as a backlog instead of a hot queue: findings older than the policy SLA accumulate until the auditor asks why.
• Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.

How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

• GDPR Article 82 — Right to compensation and liability
• BSI C5:2020 HR-02 — Employment terms and conditions
• SOC 2 (2017 TSC) A1.3 — Testing of System Recovery Procedures

Related controls in CIS Controls v8

• Control 11.1 — Establish and Maintain a Data Recovery Process
• Control 3.12 — Segment Data Processing and Storage Based on Sensitivity
• Control 11.3 — Protect Recovery Data
• Control 11.5 — Test Data Recovery
• Control 3.9 — Encrypt Data on Removable Media
• Control 16.14 — Conduct Threat Modeling

References

• Center for Internet Security — CIS Controls v8
• Catalogue identifier: Control 11.4

Topics: governance riskbackup recoverycloud posturenetwork segmentationpolicy management