Newly Released ISC SSCP Exam PDF

It is recommended that testing does not exceed established frequency limits. For a plan to be effective, all components of the BCP should be tested at least once a year. Also, if there is a major change in the operations of the organization, the plan should be revised and tested not more than three months after the change becomes operational.

Source: BARNES, James C. & ROTHSTEIN, Philip J., A Guide to Business Continuity Planning, John Wiley & Sons, 2001 (page 165).

The exposure factor is a measure of the magnitude of loss or impact on the value of an asset.

The probability is the chance or likelihood, in a finite sample, that an event will occur or that a specific loss value may be attained should the event occur.

A vulnerability is the absence or weakness of a risk-reducing safeguard.

A threat is event, the occurrence of which could have an undesired impact.

Source: ROTHKE, Ben, CISSP CBK Review presentation on domain 3, August 1999.

When seeking to determine the security position of an organization, the security professional will eventually turn to a vulnerability assessment to help identify specific areas of weakness that need to be addressed. A vulnerability assessment is the use of various tools and analysis methodologies to determine where a particular system or process may be susceptible to attack or misuse. Most vulnerability assessments concentrate on technical vulnerabilities in systems or applications, but the assessment process is equally as effective when examining physical or administrative business processes.

The vulnerability assessment is often part of a BIA. It is similar to a Risk Assessment in that there is a quantitative (financial) section and a qualitative (operational) section. It differs in that i t is smaller than a full risk assessment and is focused on providing information that is used solely for the business continuity plan or disaster recovery plan.

A function of a vulnerability assessment is to conduct a loss impact analysis. Because there will be two parts to the assessment, a financial assessment and an operational assessment, it will be necessary to define loss criteria both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Quantitative loss criteria may be defined as follows:

Incurring financial losses from loss of revenue, capital expenditure, or personal liability resolution

The additional operational expenses incurred due to the disruptive event

Incurring financial loss from resolution of violation of contract agreements

Incurring financial loss from resolution of violation of regulatory or compliance requirements

Qualitative loss criteria may consist of the following:

The loss of competitive advantage or market share

The loss of public confidence or credibility, or incurring public mbarrassment

During the vulnerability assessment, critical support areas must be defined in order to assess the impact of a disruptive event. A critical support area is defined as a business unit or function that must be present to sustain continuity of the business processes, maintain life safety, or avoid public relations embarrassment.

Critical support areas could include the following:

Telecommunications, data communications, or information technology areas

Physical infrastructure or plant facilities, transportation services

Accounting, payroll, transaction processing, customer service, purchasing

The granular elements of these critical support areas will also need to be identified. By granular elements we mean the personnel, resources, and services the critical support areas need to maintain business continuity

Reference(s) used for this question:

Hernandez CISSP, Steven (2012-12-21). Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition ((ISC)2 Press) (Kindle Locations 4628-4632). Auerbach Publications. Kindle Edition.

KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Page 277.

It's interesting to note that the steps to resume normal processing operations will be different than the steps in the recovery plan; that is, the least critical work should be brought back first to the primary site.

My explanation:

at the point where the primary site is ready to receive operations again, less critical systems should be brought back first because one has to make sure that everything will be running smoothly at the primary site before returning critical systems, which are already operating normally at the recovery site.

This will limit the possible interruption of processing to a minimum for most critical systems, thus making it the best option.

Source: KRUTZ, Ronald L. & VINES, Russel D., The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Chapter 8: Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning (page 291).