DRaaS

Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) refers to cloud-based backup and recovery services that allow organizations to recover and restore data, applications, and infrastructure in the event of a disaster like ransomware, natural disasters, or other crises. 

As cyber threats become more sophisticated, DRaaS has become an increasingly important part of an organization's data protection and business continuity strategy.

Key Concepts

Definition

DRaaS leverages cloud computing and virtualization technologies to provide automated disaster recovery capabilities without the requirement for organizations to set up or manage their own offsite infrastructure. DRaaS helps replicate key IT infrastructure like servers, storage, and networking so that it can be restored quickly in a public, private, or hybrid cloud should the primary location experience an outage.

Purpose

The purpose of DRaaS is to ensure business continuity and operational resilience in the case of catastrophic data loss or infrastructure damage. It allows rapid restoration of systems without reliance on backup systems housed at the primary site.

Relevance

As organizations become more dependent on IT systems and move infrastructure to the cloud, having a comprehensive recovery plan in place is crucial. DRaaS removes the burden of managing disaster recovery from in-house IT teams.

Also Known As

• Cloud disaster recovery
• Disaster recovery in the cloud
• Disaster recovery as a service
• DRaaS

Components/Types

There are several components and service types that make up DRaaS solutions:

Backup and Restore

Backups of key data, applications, files and systems are continuously replicated to cloud storage providers. In the event of a failover, organizations can restore from cloud backups.

Real-time Replication

Data is replicated to the cloud continuously with zero lag time using snapshot or journaling technologies that log and transmit changes as they occur. This allows recovery points to be as recent as a few seconds.

Cloud-based Recovery Infrastructure

Key compute, storage and networking resources are provisioned in the cloud so that organizations can failover to cloud-hosted infrastructure in the event of an outage.

Orchestration and Automation

Streamlined disaster declaration, failover testing and actual failover is facilitated through DRaaS dashboards, automation capabilities and orchestration engines.

Importance in Cybersecurity

Security Risks

While DRaaS enables resilience against disasters and infrastructure loss, providers face cyber threats like ransomware which could impact backup data. Organizations should ensure providers have robust security controls and that backups are isolated from production environments.

Mitigation Strategies

Selecting a DRaaS vendor with security certifications, encrypted data transit/storage, and air-gapped cloud backups can reduce risks of backup corruption. Conducting cyber resilience assessments of providers allows organizations to gauge controls rigor.

Best Practices

When architecting a DRaaS solution, best practices include:

Clearly Define Recovery Objectives

Organizations should clearly delineate resilience and recovery objectives when architecting a DRaaS solution. This includes clarifying metrics like the recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO). RTO refers to the target duration within which systems and applications must be restored, while RPO defines the maximum acceptable amount of data loss tolerable.

Conduct Regular Failover Testing

Rigorously and frequently testing failover processes through simulated disasters helps ensure DRaaS solutions work as expected. Identifying gaps and issues in failover testing reduces impairments to recovery capabilities over time.

Align with Compliance Mandates

If DRaaS solutions back up regulated data with compliance implications like healthcare records, appropriate controls need implementation to meet mandates. Organizations must ensure replicated data adheres to regulations controlling location, security posture, retention policies etc.

Create Invoke Plans

Dedicated invoke plans that document procedures to declare disasters and initiate failover are important for rapid and smooth DRaaS solution activation. Invoke plans give step-by-step guidance empowering disaster managers to make decisions quickly.

Integrate with Response Playbooks

DRaaS should have linkages to other resilience response procedures like cyber incident response plans. This integration enables coordinated disaster declaration and system recovery by various resilience stakeholders.

Related Terms

• High availability (HA): High availability (HA) refers to systems engineered to provide continuous uptime and avoid any disruption.
• Business continuity planning (BCP): Business continuity planning (BCP) involves advance logistical preparation for operational continuity during crises. 
• Backup as a Service (BaaS): Backup as a service (BaaS) refers to outsourcing an organization’s data backup responsibilities to a managed service provider. 

Key Takeaways

DRaaS enables organizations to implement robust, cloud-based disaster recovery plans cost-effectively. With disaster threats on the rise, modern cyber resilience strategies necessitate recovering from incidents rapidly. By providing automated recovery orchestration and cloud-based infrastructure, DRaaS solutions empower organizations to meet stringent resilience mandates in a complex risk landscape.