Automated Backup Verification: The Key to Identity Management Compliance
“We have backups, but we’ve never actually tested them.”
This admission, which we hear with alarming frequency, represents one of the most significant risks in identity management today. Organizations invest in backup solutions for their critical identity systems like Okta, yet many have no idea whether those backups would actually work when needed.
This gap isn’t just an operational risk—it’s also a compliance failure that can have significant consequences during audits and security assessments.
In this post, we’ll explore why automated testing is essential for both recovery confidence and compliance, and how Acsense’s unique approach provides unprecedented assurance that your identity backups will work when you need them most.
The Regulatory Requirements for Backup Testing
Numerous regulatory frameworks explicitly require regular testing of backup and recovery capabilities:
- SOX compliance requires controls to ensure the integrity and availability of financial systems, with specific emphasis on internal controls for financial reporting
- HIPAA mandates contingency plans with testing procedures for critical systems that contain protected health information
- PCI-DSS requires testing of recovery procedures at least annually as part of maintaining a secure payment card environment
- ISO 27001 (section A.12.3.1) specifically requires “regular verification, testing, and assessment of the effectiveness of backup copies”
More recent regulatory frameworks have placed even greater emphasis on the requirement for backup testing.
The EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which will be fully applicable by January 2025, explicitly states that "testing of the backup procedures and restoration and recovery procedures and methods shall be undertaken periodically".
This requirement is no longer optional for financial entities operating in the EU and establishes a clear precedent for other industries and regions.
NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, released in February 2024, has also strengthened its focus on recovery testing. Under the Recovery (RC) function, it specifically requires organizations to "test recovery capabilities to validate effectiveness and to document results".
The framework recognizes that untested backups cannot be considered reliable in a crisis situation, regardless of how well they’re designed.
Despite these requirements, industry research suggests that only 37% of organizations regularly test their identity system backups, and fewer than 18% test complete recovery scenarios . The primary reasons cited include the complexity of testing, concerns about production impact, and lack of automated tools.
The Business Impact of Untested Backups
Beyond compliance requirements, untested backups represent a significant business risk.
According to Landontechnologies, "Risk Reduction: Testing helps identify vulnerabilities in data backup and recovery processes, allowing organizations to address these weaknesses proactively. Confidence in Data Recovery: Successful testing builds confidence that critical data can be restored accurately and promptly."
When recovery fails during a critical incident, the consequences can be severe:
- Extended authentication outages preventing access to all cloud services
- Inability to restore proper access controls and permissions
- Costly manual reconstruction of identity configurations
- Potential security vulnerabilities during recovery attempts
As Wingman Solutions points out, “Applications are essential to running a business, therefore it’s imperative to make sure they are adequately backed up and can be swiftly restored when needed.”
Acsense’s Automated Recoverability Testing
Acsense addresses this critical gap through automated recoverability testing—a process that systematically validates your identity backups to ensure they will work when needed.
Unlike manual testing, which typically samples a small subset of data, Acsense’s approach is comprehensive:
- Within 24 hours of your initial backup, our system attempts to recover your entire tenant to a test environment
- Every object, relationship, and configuration is validated
- Recovery time is measured and recorded
- Issues that could impact recovery are identified and reported
- This process repeats regularly to ensure continued recoverability
The result is a recoverability score and detailed report that provides unprecedented visibility into your actual recovery capabilities—not just theoretical estimates.
This automated approach solves the key challenges that prevent effective backup testing:
- Complexity: No need to design and maintain testing procedures
- Production impact: Testing occurs in isolated environments with no production risk
- Resource constraints: Automated processes require no ongoing staff time
- Comprehensive validation: Every object is tested, not just samples
As AWS explains in their documentation for restore testing, automated testing "provides automated and periodic evaluation of restore viability, as well as the ability to monitor restore job duration times... After the restore test plan completes its run, you can use the results to show compliance for organizational or governance requirements such as the successful completion of restore test scenarios or the restore job completion time."
Knowing Your True Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
One of the most valuable outcomes of automated testing is accurate knowledge of your actual recovery time.
Most organizations base their disaster recovery plans on theoretical RTOs that have never been validated—creating a dangerous gap between expectations and reality.
In our experience, the actual time required to recover a complex identity environment is typically 3-5 times longer than organizations estimate. Without testing, this discrepancy remains hidden until an actual incident occurs.
Acsense’s recoverability testing provides precise measurements of:
- How long a full tenant recovery would take
- Which objects or configurations might cause recovery delays
- How recovery time changes as your environment evolves
- Whether your actual RTO meets your business requirements
This information is invaluable both for operational planning and for compliance documentation.
BackupAssist notes that "Consistent testing across all backups. It's beneficial to utilize testing tools that can automate the verification of your backups saving you time and effort. For businesses operating in regulated industries, compliance and auditing, for testing are vital."
From Testing to Improvement
Beyond validation, Acsense’s recoverability testing identifies specific issues that could impact your recovery capabilities:
- Configuration errors that could cause recovery failures
- Complex relationships that might not restore properly
- Permission conflicts that could emerge during recovery
- Performance bottlenecks that extend recovery time
The recoverability report provides actionable recommendations to address these issues, creating a continuous improvement cycle that strengthens your identity resilience over time.
This improvement cycle is essential for both operational excellence and compliance.
As Trilio explains, "Regularly analyzing how well your backups perform allows you to uncover any bottlenecks or inefficiencies that may exist and make improvements. Taking this approach ensures that your backups always operate at their best."
The Compliance Documentation Advantage
For compliance purposes, Acsense’s recoverability testing provides comprehensive documentation that satisfies auditor requirements:
- Timestamped evidence of regular testing
- Detailed records of what was tested
- Metrics showing recovery capabilities
- Documentation of identified issues
- Evidence of remediation actions
This documentation transforms compliance from a stressful scramble into a straightforward process.
Rather than rushing to conduct tests when auditors arrive, you can simply present your ongoing testing records and improvement activities.
Bacula Systems emphasizes that "When testing backups, companies should always be thinking about regulatory compliance. After all, compliance is one of the most important reasons for recovery and testing efforts in the first place."
Real-World Example: Recoverability Testing in Action
A global manufacturing company implemented Acsense’s platform primarily for operational purposes.
When their annual SOX audit approached, they were asked to provide evidence of backup testing for their identity systems.
Instead of conducting rushed, manual tests, they simply provided their Acsense recoverability reports from the previous twelve months.
These reports showed:
- Regular, automated testing of their entire identity environment
- Specific metrics on recovery capabilities
- Identified issues and remediation actions
- Continuous improvement in their recoverability score
The auditors not only accepted this evidence but specifically commended their approach as an example of best practice for identity resilience.
Evaluating Your Current Backup Testing
As you assess your organization’s backup testing practices, consider these key questions:
- Have you ever tested a complete recovery of your identity environment?
- Do you know how long it would actually take to recover your identity systems?
- Can you provide evidence of regular backup testing to auditors?
- Do you have a process for identifying and addressing issues that could impact recovery?
NIST advocates for this as it gives you insights into how long it would take to retrieve files and restore systems, exposing any gaps in your process.
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it may be time to reconsider your approach to identity resilience.
Beyond Testing: Comprehensive Identity Resilience
While automated testing is a critical component of identity resilience, it’s part of a broader approach that includes:
- Secure backup foundations (as discussed in our previous post)
- Point-in-time recovery capabilities
- Comprehensive tenant investigation tools
- Relationship-aware recovery
Together, these capabilities create a resilient identity foundation that satisfies both operational and compliance requirements.
References:
- TechTarget. “What is backup and recovery testing?” 2024. https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/backup-and-recovery-testing
- TestRigor. “Backup and Recovery Test Automation – How To Guide.” 2025. https://testrigor.com/blog/backup-and-recovery-test-automation/
- CyberSaint. “NIST SP 800-53 Control Families Explained.” 2024. https://www.cybersaint.io/blog/nist-800-53-control-families
- Landontechnologies. “Backup and Recovery Testing: Best Practices, Strategies & Tools.” 2025. https://www.landontechnologies.com/blog/importance-of-testing-backups/
- Wingman Solutions. “Backup Restore Test: How To Test Your Backups.” 2024. https://wingmansolutions.ca/backup-restore-test/
- AWS. “Restore testing – AWS Backup.” 2024. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-backup/latest/devguide/restore-testing.html
- BackupAssist. “Cyber-Security and Data Backup: A NIST Backup and Recovery Guide for MSPs.” 2023. https://www.backupassist.com/blog/cyber-security-and-data-backup-a-nist-backup-and-recovery-guide-for-msps
- Trilio. “Are You Testing Your Backups for Recoverability?” 2023. https://trilio.io/resources/testing-backups-recoverability
- Bacula Systems. “Backup and Recovery Testing. Backup Test Procedures.” 2025. https://www.baculasystems.com/blog/backup-recovery-testing/
- Own (Salesforce). “The Growing Importance of Backup and Recovery Compliance.” 2024. https://www.owndata.com/blog/the-growing-importance-of-backup-and-recovery-compliance
