EvidenceSheet
CIS Controls v8.1 · CIS Control 11: Data Recovery

11.4 Establish and Maintain an Isolated Instance of Recovery Data

Maintain a copy of recovery data kept isolated from the main environment, for example version-controlled backup targets held offline, in the cloud or off site. Implementation Groups: IG1, IG2 and IG3 (part of the IG1 essential cyber hygiene baseline, so every enterprise applies it). Asset type: Data. Security function: Recover.

Source: CIS Controls v8.1, 11.4. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open CIS Controls v8.1 in the compliance library.

Scope: Implementation Groups: IG1, IG2, IG3. Security function: Recover; asset type: Data.

Each safeguard shows its Implementation Groups. IG1 is the essential baseline for every enterprise, IG2 adds to it, IG3 is all 153. Version 8.1 adds the Govern security function and asks for more processes to be documented; numbering is unchanged from v8.

3
artefacts
1
held by a system
2
at each review
moderate
to go live
Backup / DR tooling
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

  • Immutable, offline or air-gapped backup configuration · Backup / DR tooling

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Off-site or cloud copy evidence · Cloud console / configuration management
  • Test showing isolated copy cannot be altered from production · Document repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

none for this control

First move

Start with the 1 of 3 artefacts that already live in a system (Backup / DR tooling); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

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11.3 Protect Recovery Data · 11.5 Test Data Recovery