Example of Backup Policy

1 Policy Statement

To meet the enterprise business objectives and ensure continuity of its operations, XXX shall adopt and follow well-defined and time-tested plans and procedures, to ensure timely and reliable backup of its IT assets. The Backup Policy reiterates the commitment of XXX towards delivering the fastest transition and highest quality of services through the backup arrangement ensuring that its customers, business activities, and services do not suffer in any way. The policy shall be available to the CISO and BCP (Business Continuity Plan) team members of XXX.

2 Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide means to:
i. restore the integrity of the computer systems in the event of a hardware/software failure or physical disaster; and
ii. provide a measure of protection against human error or the inadvertent deletion of important files.

3 Scope

3.1 Employees

This policy applies to all  Employees, Contractors, and Third Party Employees, who have access to IT assets of XXX and may be bound by contractual agreements.

3.2 IT Assets

This policy applies to the entire IT infrastructure of XXX.

3.3 Documentation

The Policy documentation shall consist of Backup Policy and related procedures and guidelines.

3.4 Document Control

The Backup Policy document and all other referenced documents shall be controlled. Version control shall be used to preserve the latest release and the previous version of any document. However, the previous version of the documents shall be retained only for a period of two years for legal and knowledge preservation purposes.

3.5 Records

Records being generated as part of the Backup Policy shall be retained for a period of two years. Records shall be in hard copy or electronic media. The records shall be owned by the respective system administrators and shall be audited once a year.

3.6 Distribution and Maintenance

The Backup Policy document shall be made available to all the employees covered in the scope. All the changes and new releases of this document shall be made available to the persons concerned. The maintenance responsibility of the document shall be with the CISO and system administrators

4 Privacy

The Backup Policy document shall be considered as “confidential” and shall be made available to the concerned persons with proper access control. Subsequent changes and versions of this document shall be controlled.

5 Responsibility

The CISO / designated personnel is responsible for proper implementation of the Policy.

6 Policy

1. All user-level and system-level information maintained by XXX shall be backed up periodically. The backup media shall be stored with sufficient protection and proper environmental conditions.
2. The frequency and extent of backups must be in accordance with the importance of the information and the acceptable risk as determined by the data owner.
3. The Information Resources backup and recovery process for each system must be documented and periodically reviewed.
4. Any vendor(s) providing offsite backup storage must be cleared to handle the highest level of information stored.
5. Physical access controls implemented at offsite backup storage locations must meet or exceed the physical access controls of the source systems. Additionally, backup media must be protected in accordance with the highest sensitivity level of information stored.
6. A process must be implemented to verify the success of the KDCC electronic information backup.
7. Backup copies of operating systems and other critical information system software shall not be stored in the same location as the operational software.
8. The system backup information shall be provided with protection from unauthorized modification and environmental conditions.
9. Backups must be periodically tested to ensure that they are recoverable. To confirm media reliability and information integrity, the back-up information shall be tested at some specified frequency.
10. Signature cards held by the offsite backup storage vendor(s) for access to backup media must be reviewed annually or when an authorized individual leaves XXX.
11. Backup information shall be selectively used to restore information system functions as a part of the business continuity process.
12. Procedures between KDCC and the offsite backup storage vendor(s) must be reviewed at least annually.
13. Backup tapes must have at a minimum the following identifying criteria that can be readily identified by labels and/or a bar-coding system:
    a. System name
    b. Creation Date
    c. Sensitivity Classification [Based on applicable electronic record retention regulations.]
    d. Contact Information

7. Enforcement

Any employee found to have violated this policy may be subjected to disciplinary action in line with the HR Policy.

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