CIS · Control 11.5 · Priority: high · Component: Recover

What this control covers

Test backup recovery quarterly, or more frequently, for a sampling of in-scope enterprise assets.

Why it matters

Risk is the language an executive team understands; this control connects technical reality to board-level decisions and budget allocation.

How to implement

AWS

Codify the policy intent as SCPs, AWS Config conformance packs, and Security Hub standards so the cloud enforces what the document says.

Azure

Codify in Azure Policy initiatives (built-in regulatory compliance for CIS, ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA) and assign at management-group level.

GCP

Use Backup and DR Service for VM/DB and managed snapshot policies for disks; replicate critical GCS to a different region + project under separate IAM.

Google Workspace

Google Vault retention rules cover Gmail/Drive/Chat; combine with periodic third-party backups (e.g., Spanning, Backupify) for full restore-by-user.

GitHub

Subscribe to secret-scanning alerts and Dependabot security advisories; require triage SLAs by severity. For exposed secrets, rotate at the cloud provider FIRST then revoke at GitHub — order matters.

On-premises

Maintain a policy library with a documented review cadence (annual minimum); store in your GRC tool with attestation tracking. Map each policy to controls so an audit pull cites the exact policy clause.

Evidence to collect

  • ticketing_workflow — See the iCompaas Evidence library for the canonical source for this evidence type.
  • infra_scan — See the iCompaas Evidence library for the canonical source for this evidence type.

Workflow metrics (ServiceNow, Jira) show approvals and remediation. Focus: Test Data Recovery.

Quick checklist

  • Test — Data / Data Recovery

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